Free Republic

In this shocking interview, Martin Armstrong delivers what may be the most important forecast of his career: Ukraine will disappear. This isn’t a guess. It’s based on decades of data from the Socrates AI forecasting system — and it’s never issued a warning like this before. We also cover: --Why Ukraine is finished, no matter what the West says --Why Europe needs war to stay afloat --How the next economic collapse will ripple from the periphery inward --And what you can do to prepare before the clock runs out Armstrong’s model has never been wrong about direction — and now...

Big traders are betting the ranch that oil prices will keep rising, testing the pain threshold of an economy that is not exactly setting records as is. Large noncommercial speculators – firms that play the futures markets without taking delivery – added to their long position in West Texas Intermediate crude by 50,200 contracts last week, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. The surge of speculative money into the oil futures pits shows that big financial players are expecting the price of WTI crude to surge well above the recent $105 or so seen last week. If they are...

September 29, 2006 -- Billionaire liberal financier George Soros, who spent millions of his fortune trying to oust President Bush in 2004, yesterday said he hopes to stay out of politics from now on. "I'm interested in policy and not in politics."

GENEVA (Reuters) - Investors who have seen energy prices rocket due to scarce supplies are starting to wager that forecasted shortages will cause the value of water to skyrocket, offering big gains to companies active in the sector. Unlike globally traded commodities like oil, gold or wheat, water tends to be priced locally by authorities who provide it as a public good, generally drawing from nearby sources such as lakes or river basins. "Water is not treated like oil because you usually do not transport it over very long distances," said Wolfgang Grabs, who heads the water resources division of...