Geopolitical stress points to upcoming war events - what should expats do?

From the nuclear missile laden saber rattling from North Korea to the French Embassy bombing in Libya today to an Iran linked terror plot in Canada to potential conflict between China and Japan (see video) or between China and Vietnam or between China and India, not to mention everyday bad news from Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, geopolitical stress seems to be climbing to new heights globally. A great article in Salon.com today summarizes the basis of all this geopolitical stress as being resource shortage driven. According to the article, "although the global supply of most basic commodities has grown enormously since the end of World War II, analysts see the persistence of resource-related conflict in areas where materials remain scarce or there is anxiety about the future reliability of supplies".

The question for expats and other investors is how should they hedge themselves against such an event. It is highly recommended that expats should have exposure in their portfolio to resource based funds such as water resources funds, food commodities, oil and gas, forestry as well as precious metals. These are exactly the resources that shoot up when geopolitical conflicts escalate.