The Central Asia Squeeze: What Does China Want In Central Asia?
August 13th, 2023
Courtesy of The Wire China, commentary on China’s Central Asian ambitions: Illustration by Carlo Giambarresi Xi Jinping spoke slowly and carefully as he addressed the inaugural China-Central Asia Summit in May. With the flags of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan draped neatly behind him, China’s paramount leader described the need to “renew our millennia-old friendship […]
Read more »Global Remittances Hit New Record: Fueled by Record Migration, Prop Up Autocrats
August 6th, 2023
Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, a report on the growing scale and importance of remittances to the developing world, which hit a record $647 billion, aiding the poor but helping keep strongmen from Nicaragua to Tajikistan in power: More people than ever are migrating worldwide, with millions of people sending home record amounts of cash […]
Read more »Iran’s Approach to the North and South Transport Corridors: Obstacles & Future Prospects
June 26th, 2023
Via Silk Road Briefing, commentary on Iran’s approach to the North and South Transport Corridors: The International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) was established by Iran, Russia and India in September 2000, and subsequently expanded with the admission of 13 major corridor members such as Azerbaijan, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, and […]
Read more »Time For Central Asia To Create Its Own New Silk Road
June 23rd, 2023
Via 19FortyFive, commentary on need for Central Asia to become less reliant on China: Like a bad hangover, the world is quickly moving to look past Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative, which connects China to global markets. But sobering up won’t be so easy. To construct resilient, profitable supply chains, the West will have to […]
Read more »Railing Central Asia Into The World Economy
May 4th, 2023
Via The Geopolitics, commentary on the potential that railway linkages offer Central Asia: If there is one key to unlocking the doors of any economy, it is certainly a railway. Since its invention and construction between Manchester and Liverpool in the United Kingdom, railways have dramatically boosted trade, which is why they also played high […]
Read more »Central Asia’s Economic Prospects in 2023
January 11th, 2023
Via The Diplomat, a look at Central Asia’s economic prospects in the year ahead: The World Bank’s latest Global Economic Prospects report warns of a sharp downturn, with the clouds of a possible recession gathering amid high inflation and interest rates, sluggish investment, and the reverberations of the Russian war in Ukraine. According to the World Bank’s […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.