Stratfor does geopolitical risk consulting. It's sort of a weird field, I work for a hedge fund so I know that some people do hire these guys / subscribe to th

Stratfor does geopolitical risk consulting. It's sort of a weird field, I work for a hedge fund so I know that some people do hire these guys / subscribe to their research. Personally, I think a lot of geopolitical risk analysis work is kind of BS. They are incentivized to freak you out and make you scare of the world so you'll keep buying their research. I was just at a conference where a guy from one risk firm claimed that there was a 60% chance of an attack by the US/Israel on Iran. But he had no real systematic process at work and no track record of making accurate positions, so it's tough to probability weight that kind of scenario from an investor's perspective. I don't think it's the greatest way to try to make money, but I can understand that guys that are investing in very oil specific/security sensitive plays, this kind of research could add a bit incremental value.