March 12th, 2019
Via The Banker, an article on how Kazakhstan has bold ambitions to become not just a strong regional player, but one of the world’s top economies in the next 30 years: Since 2002, Kazakhstan has en-joyed strong economic development, with the World Bank report-ing a sixfold increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in this time to […]
Read more »Uzbekistan
March 11th, 2019
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on Uzbekistan, a dynamic frontier market: On the second floor of an office building in downtown Tashkent, entrepreneur Akmal Khodjanov is pitching his business to around a dozen foreign investors and corporate financiers. His company, Vak-Mak, has cornered the market for vacuum-packed corn on the cob in Uzbekistan. […]
Read more »March 8th, 2019
Via The Asia Times, a look at the Pakistani Army’s $100 billion commercial empire covers industries including banking, cement and real estate: The business conglomerate that is the Pakistani Army, which has fingers in multiple pies across the business spectrum, has now moved into the oil business. Recent growth of businesses controlled by the powerful […]
Read more »Behind North Korea’s YouTube Ambitions
March 1st, 2019
Via The Diplomat, an interesting look at Pyongyang’s efforts to use social media monetization as a loophole to international sanctions: North Korea is famous for operating propaganda websites on an industrial scale. It is understood that North Korea currently operates more than 160 propaganda sites. These include news and tourism websites as well as online communities, all of […]
Read more »February 28th, 2019
Via The American Enterprise Institute, an interesting comparison of Somaliland versus Kurdistan: Throughout 1988, MiG-17 fighter jets would take off from an airfield on the outskirts of town. Locals referred to it as the 4-4-4: Within four minutes, they’d be over the city. They would drop four bombs, and then the pilots would collect a $4,000 reward […]
Read more »How North Korea’s Economy Defies Sanctions
February 26th, 2019
Courtesy of The Wall Street Journal, a look at how North Korea’s day-to-day commerce in the country has remained resilient, rice prices are stable and gasoline prices have eased: The U.S. has been leading a world-wide campaign to pressure North Korea into giving up its nuclear arsenal through an increasingly stringent sanctions regime. Available evidence suggests it’s not […]
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