Showing posts with label gold. Show all posts

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Currency Wars Versus The Gold Standard

We Boggart Bloggers have reported that although the battle lines in NATO's proxy war in Ukraine are drawn along the border between Ukraine's Russian speaking eastern provinces and the western part of the country there is another battle being fought on the economic front as Russia, China and their allies manoeuvre to replace the US$ as global reserve currency. American trade policy in banning of Chinese technology, notably of Huawei, the world leader in G5 mobile technology is n intended not just to suppress competition to American technology but also to discourage inward investment to China. And Russia's invasion of Ukraine (following extreme provocation by Ukraine with support from the NATO powers it must be said,) gave the US government an excuse to cut Russia out of global currency markets.

That action, along with other economic sanctions set in train a series of events and rebounded badly on the West, particularly EU member states as misguided 'green energy' policies imposed by Brussels had made the EU heavily dependent on imported gas from Russia for domestic fuel and electricity generation. In the short term the rouble soared in value when Putin responded to western energy sanctions by setting his own payment terms. But since then, the rouble has declined as the US Federal Reserve has massively increased America's national debt in order to prop up the struggling dollar.

But Russia and China have not been standing still, Putin appointed one of his advisers, Sergei Glazyev, to design a trade settlement currency, initially for the Eurasian Economic Union. Simultaneously China was making deals with oil exporters and importers to use the Yuan as the default currency for settling oil contracts, thus beginning an assault on the 'Petrodollar, which has been the standard currency in which oil was traded since the early 1970s.

It is believed that the plan for a gold backed BRICS (Brazil, Russia,India, China, South Africa) international currency was extended at the recent BRICS summit last month. China’s yuan is a component in the IMF’s SDR, a hard-won privilege which might have been threatened if it backed gold as a trade settlement medium. India has a history of Keynesian monetary policies and is keen to develop trade links with the US and its allies, as demonstrated by its hosting of the G20 meeting last weekend and its prospective free trade agreement with the UK. These partners may fear that the consequences of implementing a gold standard might be destabilising for the global currency system before the BRICS alternative is ready to step up.

There is bound to be spreading dissent in NATO this winter as energy shortages begin to bite, in fact the process has already started in Germany where the domestic economy is in freefall without any help from the political incompetence of world leaders. The most recent salvo on the energy front in the war coincides with the onset of winter in the northern hemisphere. Russia and Saudi Arabia , the two biggest oil exporters, have jointly been squeezing oil supplies, pushing crude prices above the G7’s price caps as a means of giving the finger to Joe Biden's handlers who had given strict orders that oil supplies were not to be cut. One area where supply line shortages will hurt the Europeans more immediately is heating oil, which is also regarded as the proxy for diesel prices having increased in dollars by nearly 50% in the last quarter alone.

The importance of diesel is that logistics in Europe and America are almost entirely dependent upon it. No diesel and no freight can be moved by rail or road, not to mention by sea. On top of earlier OPEC+ cuts of 2 million barrels per day, the latest cuts of 1.3 million barrels per day cuts in oil output by Russia and Saudi Arabia are bringing pressure to bear on the supply of distillates (of which diesel is one) and Russia also plans to cut its diesel exports by a quarter, partly due to refinery maintenance (allegedly) and partly to divert supplies to its domestic economy. While the EU’s gas reserves are relatively full at 90% of capacity, it is not nearly enough to see the EU through the winter. From December onwards, there will be a scramble for more supplies. And the end of the agreement on Black Sea grain exports will put further pressure on food prices as well.

Russians are aware that effect of American monetary policy, whether intended or not, is undermining the true value of their oil, something they have been powerless to correct without binding the price of oil to gold. In spite of that it is a mistake to assume this bid to establish a gold standard is a result on the war. In our currency wars page Russia’s motivation to take control of energy values was behind its proposal for a new BRICS gold backed currency and that it was part of a two-step plan.

The first step was to send a signal to markets that the era of the fiat dollar was over, justifying the second step which was for Russia and China, followed by other nations in the BRICS camp to evolve their own currencies onto gold standards as a protective response to a declining dollar. But China was not going to take the offensive against the dollar, and the Keynesian Indians were not convinced.

Russia will take the BRICS presidency next year, so we can assume that the new BRICS currency has not gone away. Meanwhile, if Russia is to use the oil weapon against the West, then it must put the rouble onto a gold standard again as a matter of urgency (it was on a gold standard until Khrushchev devalued the rouble in 1961). If Russia prevaricates on this issue, then Putin’s legacy to be a latter-day Peter the Great will be destroyed by his own currency.

The possible consequences of a Russian gold standard

In the middle of a war, usually a government suspends its gold standard. This would suggest that Russia can only consider a gold standard after its special operation in Ukraine is over. But the modern equivalent of a gold standard, the currency board, has been successfully established in modern times in nations with far worse budget deficits than Russia. Russia was in the fortunate position of a budget deficit of only 2.3% of GDP last year, despite military spending. This year, military spending has soared, and at a guess the deficit will be about 5% of GDP this year, but government debt to GDP will still be about 20%.

Anything other than ball-park numbers for the Russian economy are difficult to come by, and the volatility of the rouble is a further analytical hazard. But some of these numbers are not substantially different from where Britain was economically in 1816, when a return to the gold standard was planned — the exception being her estimated debt to GDP number, which at nearly 200% was ten times that of Russia today. Therefore, there is no reason why Russia cannot put the rouble onto a gold standard immediately.

In doing so, the objective is simple: to ensure that the purchasing power of circulating credit retains its value in terms of goods and services with as little fluctuation as possible. It would allow savers to accumulate credit balances in their bank accounts, and for businessmen to calculate the profitability of their investments with greater certainty. With income tax currently at a flat 13% rate and corporation tax at 20%, in these conditions economic progress will advance surprisingly rapidly. And there is every reason to expect Russia would quickly become an economic counterweight to the sheer power of China, rather than living off the depletion of her natural resources. It is necessary not just for Russia to distance herself from the fate of the western fiat currency system, but also for President Putin’s legacy.

The method of ensuring monetary stability is equally simple: to bind credit denominated in roubles to gold, which both in law and naturally is the money of the people. It is the highest form of credit, there being no counterparty risk. It’s purchasing power in the general sense has held steady through millennia. Importantly, it removes the currency from political control and dollar influences. It allows for the creation and destruction of credit determined solely by the needs of the Russian people, both as businessmen and consumers.

De - Dollarisation: China, Brazil Make Deal To Ditch US Dollar For Bilateral Trades
China and Brazil this week concluded a deal to conduct trade between their nations in their own in their own currencies, ditching the established reserve currency for global trade, US dollar as an intermediary, the Brazilian announced said on Wednesday. This is Beijing’s latest strike against the almighty greenback in its currency war aimed at shifting the balance of geopolitical and economic power from west to east.

NATO Rhetoric About Russian Threat is 'Absurd'
The reasons being given for the latest NATO military buildup in Eastern Europe, the idea that the Russian 'Russian threat' to Eastern Europe grows every day is "simply absurd," according to former US diplomat and Senate policy advisor Jim Jatras. Effectively, Jatras says, the buildup is an attempt by the US to keep Germany and France on board with Washington's world domination agenda and ...

The Demise Of Dollar Hegemony: Russia Breaks Wall Streets's Oil-Price Monopoly
Significant moves in the global chess game have just rendered the huffing and puffing of warmonger Obama meaningless and will break Wall Street's monopoly in controlling oil markets. The move is part of Vladimir Putin's long-term strategy of decoupling Russia’s economy and especially its very significant export of oil, from the US dollar, in effect ...

Naked Bankers Go For Gold
... That gold sale in 2013 was a naked short. The seller had no gold to sell. COMEX reported having gold only equal to about half of the short sale in its vaults, and not all of that was available for delivery (quite a lot of it belonged to the german government) In effect the naked shorting of gold could only work because really the right hand was selling to the left hand.

The Demise Of Dollar Hegemony: Russia Breaks Wall Streets's Oil-Price Monopoly In a move that went almost completely unreported in mainstream media, Russia has recently opened a market for the trading of physical and 'paper' oil (futures) in Moscow in Roubles. This is the most blatant challenge yet to the domination of the US dollar in world trade.

WMD in Mayfair
Recalling yesterday's Machiavelli Blog which commented on events surrounding the unfortunate death of the alleged former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, it seems the murder investigation has now found evidence of many caches (well OK, traces) of radio active toxins in various fashionable establishments in London's West End frequented by former Russian intelligence agents.

China launches global yuan payment system
China’s Central Bank has started a global payment system which provides cross-border transactions in yuan. The China International Payment System (CIPS) intends to internationalize the yuan and challenge the US dollar's dominance.

Refugee Crisis Or Existential Battle With USA for Europe
It has been clear for some years now that the USA, backed by its main NATO and EU military allies the UK and France (the FUKUS axis has been trying to provoke Russian into firing the shot that will be heard around the world and recognised as the startiung signal for World War Three.
Nothing is ever as it seems to be however, and views from middle east and far eastern journals suggest the USA is also working at destabilizing EU nations in order to force their support in its wars.

EU and US talk of war with Russia
The European People’s Party (EPP) is the largest political group in the European Parliament, and they are unerringly supportive of America's efforts to start a war with Russia. “The time of talk and persuasion with Russia is over," MEP and Vice-President of the EPP told a meeting on Tuesday, 21 April, “Now it’s time for a tough policy, and concentration on defence and security ...”

The Mediterranean Boat People Crisis - How Does Europe Deal With The Mediterranean Migrant Crisis
The numbers of migrants trying to cross from the Libya on the coast of north Africa to one of the EU's southern nations is increasing. Europe's impoverished southern nations can't cope. And in the better off nations of northern Europe immigration is a toxic issue which is fuelling the rise of anti EU parties from France to Finnland in the north and Hungary in the east. What can be done?

This Is Why The US Just Lost Its Superpower Status According To Larry Summers
As more and more countries flock to join the Chinese led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank after Britain, France Australia, India and other traditional US allies defied Washington to associate themselves with China's initiative, conservative economic pundit Larry Summers once a contender for the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve delivered a sharp rebuke ...

The True Debt Disaster America Faces - Only A Fraction Of Government Debt Is Known To The Public
Politicians and the media talk about the $17 trillion debt the US Government owes to creditors. They are lying, the $17 trillion is a fraction of what america owes. The real figure is $200 trillon. And Obama's loonytoons economics are driving that up at an accelerating rate.

U.S. versus Russia War: Top Russian Politics Scolar Stephen Cohen Tells The Truth
We have been blogging for four years about the US drive for war, provocation of Russia in Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and elsewhere made it obvious. But I'm just a news junkie with a strong sense of curiosity and have wondered why the US seems set on this course. Good to see experts like Stephen Cohen, a prominent expert on, Russia are coming onside.

Does It matter If The Dollar Is Replaced?
"Without delving too deeply into Austrian economic and capital theory, just let me point out that money printing disrupts the structure of production by fraudulently changing the “price discovery process” of capitalism. Capital is allocated to projects that will never be profitably completed. Bubbles get created and collapse and businesses are suddenly damaged en mass, thus, destroying wealth. (Zero Hedge)"

What the BRICS plus Germany are really up to in the Currency Wars?
The move led by Russia and China to dump the Petrodollar has escalated into a currency war, not the kind of war we assciate Obama with but give him time. Some wars as in Ukraine, by proxy are not going so well. Others, like the one against Islamic State aka ISIS aka ISIL in the middle east are going worse. Disintegration of The American Economic Empire is manifesting itself in moves by wannabe global players towards creating a multipolar world ...

EXPLORE:
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Monday, July 10, 2023

The Gold Standard Is Back: BRICS To Intro Gold-Backed Reserve Currency

QTR Fringe Finance via Zero Hedge

Remember back when the Russia/Ukraine war had just started, and I predicted that Russia and China would launch their own gold backed currency?

At the time, this idea sounded completely foreign, and I was ridiculed for bringing it up. Today, it just become reality. 41+ countries look like they could be returning to a gold standard.

The images plastered all over RT this weekend had headlines like “New Money, New World” and “Gold Standard Will Be Of Great Benefit To Strengthening New Singly Currency”.

“The official announcement is expected to be made during the BRICS summit in August in South Africa,” Kitco reported over the weekend.

"At first glance, a new transaction unit, backed by gold, sounds like good money – and it could be, first and foremost, a major challenge to the US dollar's hegemony," Thorsten Polleit, chief economist at Degussa, said. ... Continue reading >>>

Sunday, April 23, 2023

Dedollarisation Gathers Pace As Biden's Administration Gathers Dust

In spite of our resident money and finance expert, along with myself and other contributors regularly being described as anti - American clowns, employees of Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping, Nazis, capitalist scum and a some rather more colourful things when we write about currency wars and the decline of the US$ as China, Russia, Iran and other emerging economies plot and conspire to replace the US$ as global reserve currency, de - dollarisation is a fact. From Brazil to Saudi Arabia, and from India to Argentina, and increasing number of nations are 'reportedly' shifting away from the dollar hegemon.

The Dollar Index (or any other index tracking movements in the currency market) reveals an underlying trend. Year on year for the past decade the dollar's share of world trade is declining. This is a relative measure of course, US pseudo - patriots will be able to point to increases in the total amount of trade done in dollars, it's true. But the global economy is growing too, and the amount of trade done in dollars as a proportion of all international trade is steadily declining.

Picture: Zero Hedge

The dollar's fecal emissions are some way from hitting any rapidly rotating wind turbine yet, but Stephen Jen, a currency trading guru who now runs money at Eurizon SLJ, recently speelled out exactly how rapidly the de-dollarization is ocurring.

Jen, warned in a recent briefing, that the dollar is losing its reserve status at a faster pace than generally accepted, as many analysts have failed to account for last year’s frantic swings in exchange rates.

“The dollar suffered a stunning collapse in 2022 in its market share as a reserve currency, presumably due to its muscular use of sanctions,” Jen and his colleague Joana Freire wrote.
“Exceptional actions taken by the US and its allies against Russia have startled large reserve-holding countries,” most of which are emerging economies from the so-called Global South, they said.

As this FT infographic illustrates, if you adjust for price changes the dollar’s share of official global reserve currencies (values of a currency held by foreign governments,) has gone from about 73 per cent in 2001 to around 55 per cent in 2021.

Then, last year, it fell to 47 percent of total global reserves.

Source: Eurizon SLJ Capital

More ominously, the USD is losing its market share as a reserve currency at a much faster rate than is commonly believed.

"After steady declines in its global market share for the past two decades, in 2022 the dollar lost market share at a pace 10 times as rapidly. Analysts have failed to detect this big change because they calculate the nominal value of the world’s central banks’ dollar holdings without considering the changes in the price of the dollar. Adjusting for these price changes, the dollar, we calculate, has lost some 11 percent of its market share since 2016 and double that amount since 2008.
This erosion in the USD’s reserve currency status has accelerated precipitously since the start of the war in Ukraine. Exceptional actions taken by the US and its allies against Russia have startled large reserve-holding countries, most of which are from the Global South.
...Without the need for us to take sides in this debate on Ukraine, it seems reasonable to speculate that the main driver of the collapse in USD’s reserve status in 2022 may have reflected a panicked reaction to property rights being jeopardised. What we witnessed in 2022 was sort of a ‘defund-the-global-police’ moment, whereby many reserve managers in the world disagreed with the conduct of both Russia and the US."

To put it bluntly the greenback’s share in global reserves slid last year at 10 times the average speed of the past two decades as a number of countries looked for alternatives after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered sanctions.

As any economist or corporate CFO will tell you there are two pillars that maintain the US dollar in is dominant position and thus prop up the entire American economy: its role as the reserve currency of choice, and its dominant use in global finance and trade. Investors far too often confuse these two different concepts.

Stephen Jen argues. "While the Global South seems unwilling to continue to hold dollar assets, they have lacked the ability to divest from the US dollar as an international currency, particularly for financial transactions."

While it will be very difficult to overcome the strong network effects that have been behind the dollar’s international currency status, the bid led by China, Russia and Iran, now joined by Saudi Arabia, India and Brazil loks strong enough to be capable of doing just that.The key to topple the dollar’s throne as an international currency is predicated on the relative developments and stability in the various financial markets, but with China Russia and Iran having recently cooperated in launching the Petroyuan and announced plans for a gold backed reserve currency to rival the dollar the outlook is bleak for the world's more powerful economy and in the light of internal divisions and the loonytoons policies of the current government it is only likely to become bleaker.

RELATED:

Sunday, April 16, 2023

The Petrodollar is Dead to China

We Boggart Bloggers have written extensively about the efforts of China and Russia to either float a new global reserve currency, backed by gold, to replace the US$ or at least serve as a rival and an alternative to the dollar. Now, post pandemic, post Great reset, and with war in Ukraine still threatening to plunge the world into its biggest economic crisis ever. The signs were there ten years ago, but now we see it happening. Saudi Arabia has effectively killed the petrodollar by agreeing with China, the world's biggest importer of oil and petroleum products, to accept payment for Saudi oil in Chinese yuan.

For more history on the dedollarization of world trad go to out Currency Wars page.

For a summary of how things stand now read the embedded article below.

Authored by Goldfix;

In 2017 while researching option marketmaking business ideas in Energy overseas, much was learned about the growing rift between the BRICS and the G7 as it manifested even back then.

Making Markets in NYMEX Oil and Natural Gas Options...

One byproduct of this explorative experience was seeing1 how global commodity supply/demand pricing dynamics could handicap global trade trends.Regarding Gold, this is what we learned back then:

Since 2013 global players in Gold (and Oil) had been slowly opening up shop in the East and closing it in the West. Demand had been moving eastward, and related businesses followed that demand.

Over some years, a slow but unmistakable drift from the US to China was observed in Gold businesses. Between 2013 and 2017, gold demand in Asia caused a great migration eastward of vaults, physical and financial trading operations, and finally exchanges themselves to open shop there. Why? Because that is where the demand was.

What was also learned and observed was a growing but inextricable tie forming between Oil, Gold, and the Chinese Yuan. That learning gelled during a conversation between a physical oil trader and this author.

The physical oil trader (paraphrased) said this in 2017:

A few months ago, Russia did some Oil deals with China amounting to about $3BB testing Blockchain connectivity. The deals somehow were done through Seychelles and called for settlement in Yuan with a kind-of embedded call [EDIT- his words not mine-VBL] to convert to Gold on demand. So basically Russia and China did a Gold-for-Oil trade and used Blockchain to verify the Gold in Shanghai for custodial chain purposes.

We had been discussing blockchain potential in Oil and Gold clearing trades. But, long story short, the whole mechanism for Gold remonetization worldwide was witnessed in a single mind-blowing moment. Since then this author has written and spoken (NY Mines and Money) on the obsession many times to anyone in earshot.

Golden Yuan 2017 Articles…

What I saw as a test of Blockchain between Russia and China was much further along than originally seen.Deals are being done… And the info I got was that the gold paid to Russia never left the Chinese vault.

Source: Golden Yuan: Crude Backed By Gold is Here

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Sunday, May 08, 2022

As the war in Ukraine cripples western economies the global power balance slides further to the east

authored by Quoth The Raven, Fringe Finance

Russia Is Returning To The Gold Standard And China Is Going To Be Next

The most profound seismic shift in the global monetary bedrock in decades is happening right before our eyes, and no one seems to notice or care. Eventually, they will have to.

No sooner was it that I wrote an article talking about how Russia was going to back the ruble with gold than “one of the Russia’s most powerful security/intelligence officers and a close ally of Putin” has admitted the country’s intentions to do just that.

And I’m predicting that no sooner will the gravity of this decision finally sink in with the West that China will follow closely in Russia’s footsteps and do the same.

Russia backing its currency with gold represents one of the most drastic changes to the foreign currency market in decades. As of 2022, precisely zero countries still adhere to a gold standard, though many countries still hold gold in reserve.

**Gold reserves of largest gold holding countries worldwide as of March 2022****(in metric tons) / Statista**

The new global monetary system is likely going to look like Russia, China, India, Saudi Arabia and other countries with commodity-backed, sound money on one side - and the west and our allies, with our “infinite” fiat, under the tutelage of rocket surgeon Neel Kashkari, on the other.

Despite the enormity of the situation, the news hasn’t really been digested by global markets yet. The FX market has been relatively calm, but for the ruble strengthening, and gold prices have crashed so far this week, with front month futures falling nearly $50/oz. on Monday, back down to about $1,860/oz.

Today’s content is free, but if you enjoy it and have the means to support the blog, I’d be humbled by your subscription:

Aside from the FX market, the news also hasn’t been digested by US politicians or financial “thought leaders” yet.

However, there are underground rumblings starting to catch the ears of those who are actively listening. Ronan Manly wrote for BullionStar.com last week:

On Tuesday 26 April in an interview with newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta (RG), the Secretary of the Russian Federation’s Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said that Russian experts are working on a project to back the Russian ruble with gold and other commodities.

Manly was kind enough to translate the interview with RG, which stated Russia’s intentions to back the ruble with gold in crystal clear fashion:

RG Question: And what do we need to do to ensure the ruble’s sovereignty?
Nikolai Patrushev: “For any national financial system to be sovereignized, its means of payment must have intrinsic value and price stability, without being pegged to the dollar.
Now experts are working on a project proposed by the scientific community to create a two-circuit monetary and financial system.
In particular, it is proposed to determine the value of the ruble, which should be backed by both gold and a group of goods that are currency values, and to put the ruble exchange rate in line with the real purchasing power parity.”

Manly concludes, matter-of-factly:

So there you have it. The Russian Government is actively working on creating a gold and commodity backed Russian ruble with intrinsic value which is outside the orbit of the US dollar.
…
What we are seeing now is Nikolai Patrushev and the Kremlin confirming this simple equation of linking the Russian ruble to gold and commodities. In other words, the beginning of a multilateral gold and commodity backed monetary system, i.e. Bretton Woods III.

https://quoththeraven.substack.com/p/russia-is-returning-to-the-gold-standard?s=r

MORE POSTS ON THE CURRENCY WAR

Sunday, July 11, 2021

The Dollar's Final Crash

11 July 2021

Authored by Egon von Greyerz via GoldSwitzerland.com,

Was Richard Nixon a real gold friend who understood the futility of tying a weakening dollar to gold which is the only currency that has survived in history?

So was Nixon actually the instigator of the movement to FreeGold?

I doubt it. He was just another desperate leader who was running out of real money and needed to create unlimited amounts of fiat money. Although his fatal decision to close the gold window was clearly the beginning of the end of the current monetary system.

But although the decision was fatal, Nixon was clearly not personally responsible. What the world saw in August 1971 was just another desperate leader who realised that he couldn’t stick to the monetary or fiscal disciplines necessary to maintain a sound economy and a sound currency.

In history, Nixon should be seen as the rule rather than the exception. Since every currency has been slaughtered throughout history, one particular leader will also be required to be the executor.

So in 1971, history had elected Tricky Dick to be the inevitable destroyer of the dollar.

Continue reading >>>

more on Currency Wars

More Nations backing Away From The US$
Russia Just Sent out a Message NATO Should Better Listen To
The key paragraph from the latest official Russian naval doctrine is that Putin and his military advisers have sent a clear message that NATO encroachment is unacceptable. To be honest, there is nothing earth shattering in this, The Daily Stirrer and many other alternative media news and analysis sites have been warning for about two years that Obama's foreign policy was making conflict inevitable.

De - dollarization Moves Ahead - Once Again We Told You So,
What Putin Wants
China Warns U.S. to Stop Its Ukrainian Proxy War Against Russia
The World Rejects USA Attempt To Manipulate Venezuela
India's Ruling BJP Party Crushed In Regional Poll
Another Conspiracy Theory Becomes Fact: Oil Collapse Is All About Obama's Proxy War With Russia.
G77 Nations vow to destroy petrodollar and America’s New World Order
American Dollar Dumped
Iran's Oil and the US Dollar
Money From Rock Better Than Money From Air
Currency Wars

Sunday, January 31, 2016

More Evidence That Hillary Clinton Leaked Secrets damaging To The USA

Hillary Clinton's gloating reaction on hearing that Muammar Gadaffi had been murdered bt the mob did nothing to enhance her reputation outside the USA. The world has always thought of her as a stupid, arrogant rich bitch (Image source)

American voters and especially those likely to vote on the issues and qualities of the candidates rather from party loyalty have come to hate the political establishment and the corporate controlled mainstream media with a passion. Politicians are less trusted than lawyers, used car salesmen, people who peddle investment plans and the dodgy characters who sell remedies that are guaranteed to cure absolutely everything. And with good reason, given the dishonest conduct the current president and the two who preceded him were caught out in. But is seems Democratic nomination front runner Hillary Clinton beats them all. And she was only Secretary Of State when she stabbed her country in the back.

We have been reporting here the scandal that has grown around Hillary Clinton's use of a private, unsecured e mail server in her own office to handle US Government information that was classified 'beyond top secret' was likely to engulf her bid for the presidency and destroy her political career totally.

For her enemies among whom we must number leading Republican contender Donald Trump, and rival for the Democratic Party nomination Bernies Sanders, Hillary’s e mails truly are truly the gifts that keep on giving.

While France led the proponents of the UN Security Council Resolution that would create a no-fly zone and a 'humanitarian' bombing campaign in Libya, it claimed that its primary concern was the protection of Libyan civilians. Considering the current state of affairs in that unfortunate country, one must rethink the authenticity of this concern. As many "conspiracy theorists" will claim, one of the real reasons to go to Libya was Gaddafi’s planned gold dinar. (I personally had heard nothing of this, my information was that the west wanted a puppet government in Tripoli to give Wall Street control of Libyan oilfields. Hillary's e mails shine a different light on events however.

One of the 3,000 emails released by the State Department on New Year’s Eve (where real news is sent to die quietly, or as one of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's aides once put it, a good day to bury bad news) reveals evidence that NATO’s plot to overthrow Gaddafi was primarily driven by their desire to block the creation of a gold-backed African currency, and second the Libyan oil reserves.

The email in question, titled "France’s client and Qaddafi’s gold." was sent to Clinton by her unofficial adviser Sydney Blumenthal

From Foreign Policy Journal:

"The email identifies French President Nicholas Sarkozy as leading the attack on Libya with five specific purposes in mind: to obtain Libyan oil, ensure French influence in the region, increase Sarkozy’s reputation domestically, assert French military power, and to prevent Gaddafi’s influence in what is considered ‘Francophone Africa.’

"Most astounding is the lengthy section delineating the huge threat that Gaddafi’s gold and silver reserves, estimated at “143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver,” posed to the French franc (CFA) circulating as a prime African currency."

The e mail that damned Clinton was originally released online but has now been taken down, (having probably been deemed to damaging to the US diplomatic reputation at a time when relations with Russia and China are more strained than the laces on an overweight domiatrice's corset - here's the link for what it's worth.) I have managed to obtain a snippet of the most damaging paragraphs from a source I trust.

"This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an alternative to the French franc (CFA).

"(Source Comment: According to knowledgeable individuals this quantity of gold and silver is valued at more than $7 billion. French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to commit France to the attack on Libya. According to these individuals Sarkozy’s plans are driven by the following issues:

a. A desire to gain a greater share of Libya oil production,

b. Increase French influence in North Africa,

c. Improve his internal political situation in France,

d. Provide the French military with an opportunity to reassert its position in the world,

e. Address the concern of his advisers over Gaddafi’s long term plans to supplant France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa)”

When French security services discovered Gaddafi’s plans, they decided to convene the FUKUS axis and launch a regime change attack against Mad Dog's regime.

Sadly, Gaddafi had earlier warned Europe (in a “prophetic” phone conversations with Blair) that his fall would prompt the rise of Islamic extremism in the West and unleash a tide of immigrants that would destabilise Europe. The warning went unheeded; Libyan lives and the security of the European working class are acceptable collateral damage, if the larger goal lines the pockets of politicians and the elite so much better after all?

All that is fine if the deals are kept secret, but with a dizzy bitch like Hillary playing fast and loose with official secrets, disaster is inevitable.

RELATED POSTS:

The FBI Just Indicted Hillary Clinton over Libyan War Crimes - sadly this article was an April Fool

Unfortunately its only an April fool joke but this article provides are rare chance to see all that despicable, arrogant, spoiled bitch Hillary Clintons recent ethical violations catalogued so people can see she really thinks she is above the law. The USA is on the road to tyranny, thankfully we have Vladimir Putin to defend freedom.

The Final Curtain For Hillary's Presidential Dream
The Obama Administration helped ignite the civil war in Syria as “the best way to help Israel,” a newly-released Hillary Clinton email published by Wikileaks has confirmed. Silly Hilly, then Secretary Of State wrote: "The best way to help Israel deal with Iran’s growing nuclear capability is to help the people of Syria overthrow the regime of Bashar Assad."

Servergate: Hillary Clinton arrogant, ignorant or both

Servergate: 'Immune' Hillary IT-Staffer Reportedly A "Devastating Witness" - FBI
We reported a little while ago, in our series of posts chronicling the downfall of Hillary Clinton after the story of how, while Secretary Of State, she made use of personal IT equipment to handle government material classified as 'beyond top secret. The story broke just as Hillary's campaign ran into stormy waters are Bernie Sanders, originally written off as a fringe candidate began to gain momentum ...

New Report Shows How Hillary Clinton Sold Obama on Regime Change in Libya

We have no compunction about lobbying against Hillary as responsible citizens of the world who put the interests of people in the USA, Europe and the third world ahead of the interests of a global wealthy elite who profit from war and are quite prepared to use financial muscle to make sure corporate profit wins out over public interest.

Mighty Trump Blows Off Rebublic Challengers
No surprises in the US Presidential primaries last night, but another chance to maintain my run of flatulence related headlines as Donald Trump continues to dominate the Republican contest.
Is Bernie Sanders Pulling Clear Of Democrats 'Anointed One' Hillary?

Offering further proof that it’s “Sanders’ moment,” Bernie Sanders makes enormous gains and poses a real threat to Hillary Clinton’s once-wide lead among Democrats, according to two polls released Friday.Fox News‘ latest national poll finds that more Democratic primary voters now back Sanders at 47 percent, up from 37 percent in January. Clinton’s support, on the other hand, is at 44 percent

New Poll Shows Clinton, Sanders Tied As Hillary's Lead Crumbles
A new opinion poll from Quinnnipac University shows Hillary Clinton's lead in the contest to become the Democratic Party Presidential nomineee has almost completely evaporated. From a lead of around thirty points in early December, the numbers are now 44% Clinton, 42% Sanders, which is such a narrow gap the only two contenders left in the race are in a statistical tie.

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Saturday, January 16, 2016

Die Hard With A Tribal Mask: 23 Dead After Al-Qaeda Storms West African Hotel

French special forces troops surround the Hotel Splendid in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

In September last year, in reporting the spread of Islamic extremism in Africa we reported that thanks to the FUKUS axis (France, UK, USA) taking out Libyan strongman Muammar Gadaffi and turning Libya into a failed state with three rival groups claiming to be the government, Al Qaeda and ISIS had been handed a convenient operations base with no local dictator to oppose them, from which they could infiltrate central and southern Africa. Most vulnerable nations were Chad, Mali, Niger (under attack from the south as well, Boko Haram terrorists make regular incursions into its territory) and Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) which does not have a border with Libya but is a target for extremists anyway , because security in these poor African states.seldom extends far beyond the Presidential palace.

The renewed turmoil in the landlocked country which is Africa’s fourth-largest gold producer and which has been torn by civil conflicts since it gained independence from France in 1960. Coup d'etats in 1966, 1970, 1977 and 1983, with changes of political style from the new regimes each time destabilised the country and obstructed progress.

In October of 2014, President Blaise Compaoré, who had ruled as head of a totalitarian regime since 1990, holding power by suppressing opposition, stepped down after nearly three decades as President. On Thursday, October 30 of that year, Compaoré sought to pass legislation that would have paved the way for a new 5-year term.

Here's how WSJ describes what happened next: "That ambition was thwarted by tens of thousands of his compatriots, who swarmed the streets of the capital Ouagadougou. They set fire to the parliament building where the vote had been scheduled to take place, among other government offices. They tore through hotels and shops seen as pro-regime. Up to 30 people were killed in rioting."

Since then anarchy and chaos have ruled, making Burkina Faso a natural target for the Islamic jihad.

A year later later, an abortive attempt by western powers to establish democratic rule by holding free elections was derailed when General Gilbert Diendere (a former chief military adviser for Compaoré) seized power in a military coup. The move coincided with a government committee's decision to disband the presidential guard, an elite group of Compaoré loyalists.

Shortly after that as a result of widespread civil unrest, Diendere stood down and interim president Michel Kafando who had been arrested arrested during the coup, was returned to power. Two months later, Burkina Faso witnessed its first democratic power change in five-and-a-half decades when the country elected Roch Marc Christian Kabore president.

In all that political betrayal and backstabbing rule of law collapsed and the security situation in Burkina Faso descended into chaos as history repeated itself 'first as tragedy then as farce', as the saying goes. Thus Al Queda were able to cross equally lawless and chaotic Niger and into the capital city of Burkina Faso to lay seige to an hotel. It was the second attack on an hotel used by westerners in a West African capital since November 2015.

Al Qaeda terrorists burned cars to prevent security forces approaching the Hotel Splendid

As Al-Qaeda fighters stormed the "Splendid" Hotel in Ouagadougou nearly two dozen people were killed in the initial assault and three gunmen - members of AQIM or, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb - took some 126 people hostage. The militants also conducted "operations" at the nearby Restaurant Cappuccino where ten bodies were found in the wake of the violence.

A team led by French Special Operations troops forced their way into the Splendid, shot the gunmen, described by Burkina Faso's security minister as "an Arab and three black Africans, and freed the hostages, 33 of whom were injured.

"Clashes ended after a period of sustained gunfire and explosions that appeared to focus on the Restaurant Cappuccino early on Saturday," a witness told Reuters. "The Splendid Hotel is popular with Westerners and French soldiers based in Burkina Faso." One hostage said the attackers were targeting "white people."

A witness report from Edward Bunker, an American health worker was broadcast by the BBC, Bunker told the news crew

The operation was reportedly held up by a series of booby traps. "What's making our job more difficult is that they've rigged the access to the upper floors," a Burkinabe officer, said on Saturday.

We have warned in The Daily Stirrer and our other sites since 2005 that Al Qaeda cannot be dealt with diplomatically, these people are extremists and fanatics and whatever demands they make that western powers concede, will only result in further and more unacceptable demands. We must draw the line now to stop the advance of Islamic extremism.

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READ MORE ON: Africa >> Terror >> Libya >> ISIS >> Al Qaeda

Another Humanitarian Crisis Looms In Africa

French Legislator Proposes Alliance With Russia to Prevent More Attacks
After the terrorist bombings in Brussels yesterday Europe went into a kind of meltdown as various politicians competed to show who was the most clueless on how to deal with terror and Muslim extremism, which has been imported into the streets of European cities by the idiotic, politically correct, open doors immigration policy imposed on most member nations by the bureaucrats who run the EU.

Pentagon Admits US Ground Troops Involved in Somalia Raid

Pentagon officials confirmed that US ground troops were involved in a raid against a town in Somalia held by fighters of the ISIS afilliated al-Shabaab terror group. The US troops arrived by helicopter to engage the terrorists in a raid which also involved Somali forces, and which they say killed “more than 10? fighters.

Islamic State and the Paris atrocity
Obama's Al Qaeda allies
Boko Haram attack kills seven in NE Nigeria village: locals
Boko Haram kills four on highway in NE Nigeria
France sees dozens of anti-Muslim incidents.
No doubt our leaders and the media will condemn the backlash from ordinary French people to the Charlie Hebdo massacre. Random attacks on decent Muslims are wrong. but how long do the elites expect us to keep showing tolerance when they have done nothing about a long standing problem.

The US Helped Overthrow Gadaffi And Create A Liberal Democracy. Now It Is A Failed State.
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Russian Pilots shot By Syrian Rebels While Parachuting To Safety

France is trying to create a coalition to destroy Isil, but President Obama isn't interested

U.S. Government Moves To Exploit Paris Terror Attacks To Abolish Privacy

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Tuesday, January 05, 2016

The Mysterious Case Of Dubai's Disappearing Gold

Dubai, where eastern magic makes gold disappear (Image source)

On 26 December 2015, we reported the strange case of Dubai's disappearing gold, an long established gold many other nations that have taken advantage of this smuggling ring involving Turkey, Iran, and Dubai (as well as many other nations that have taken advantage of this very convenient arrangement to circumvent trade sanctions) which reveals that corruption in the global trade network reaches right to the top of the pyramid. The involvement of President Erdogan and members of his family in NATO member Turkey in illegal oil trades with ISIS has already been exposed as has Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, the son of the ruler of Abu Dhabi and one of the world's richest people. The gold handled by the ring runs to a value of billions of dollars.

The story came to light when previously unknown Dubai gold trading house, Gold.AE suddenly announced it was going out of business. This news sparked wide interest in Gold AE and it was discovered the trader had been the middle man through which Turkish physical gold was moved "legally" to Dubai, from where it travelled on to Iran (after Dubai 'investors' had pocketed millions in fees and commissions, as payment for sanctions busting trades.

Gold.AE - a subsidiary of Gold Holding, the largest gold-focused investment holding company headquartered in Dubai. announced it had suddenly and unexpectedly gone out of business, after an inquiry by minority shareholders revealed that "there had been substantial financial transfers from the company's account to the personal accounts of senior management and majority shareholders."

In a nutshell, the company which had been used as the front for a multi billion dollar sanctions busting operation over many years was insolvent having been thoroughly plundered of most of its holdings. Client accounts had of course been stripped bare.

A press release from Dubai's financial regulator stated:

In order to try and secure/recover monies that had been taken out of the accounts of the company, Mr. Gauthier in his capacity as manager has filed various cases as against the recipients of the funds from the Company (Dubai Police ( Bur Dubai Police Station), Case No: 24378). The minority shareholders are doing everything within their powers to support him in his efforts to recover these monies that were withdrawn from Gold AE in questionable circumstances.

DMCC has alleged that some of these activities undertaken by the previous management are in breach of DMCC's rules and as such they have taken the decision to terminate the license of the Company. We are working closely with DMCC to find a solution and in the meanwhile, we request that you bear with us. In the meanwhile, as a statutory consequence of the license being terminated, the trading platform of the Company has to shut down as of the date of termination of the license which is 24th November 2015.

However, since as Gold.AE admitted a Swiss bank account had been uncovered, it is very unlikely that any of the funds involved will be recovered. The Mr. Gauthier referred to is the former CEO of Godld AE, the makor shareholders of which included SBK Business Holding www.sbkholding.com; Sheik Sultan Bin Khalifa bin sultan Al-nahyan; Sheik Malek Hmood Alsabah; Abu-alhaj Holding; Aruntani Sac.

Now that the respectable gold-trading company at the centre of what was probably the world's biggest and most successful smuggling operation since the pirate Blackbeard ruled the Spanish Main has vaporised tons of physical gold and unknown amounts of client cash, even more questions arise about the stability of the global economy and the integrity of those who run it.

Some answers can be found at the Arabian Business website, which has jumped on the case and reports it is understood the previous management team were replaced in March, resulting in the appointment of Andres Gauthier as CEO (sic) and Mohammed Nico Consari as managing director.

Why the previous management team was replaced, or why it took nearly 9 months for an update to clients to be issued is not explained. When the information was release to clients however the notification made brutally clear that no money remained in the gold trading operation.

And now comes the whitewash which will ensure any link between the criminal Gold.AE and its parent, SBK Holdings-owned Gold Holdings is immediately erased. A spokesperson for the Dubai International finacial Centre (DIFC) has already said:

"We wish to make it clear that although Gold AE is a subsidiary of M/s Gold Holding, which is a DIFC-based holding company, Gold AE and M/s Gold Holding Ltd are two separate entities.

"We wish also to clarify that M/s Gold Holding Ltd is, to our knowledge, not involved in any trading operations, client-facing business affecting clients of Gold AE or the provision of any financial services. Accordingly, it is not regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority."

Why the scramble to exonerate Gold Holding Ltd? Because as we reported yesterday, it is owned by this man: Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sultan is the advisor to the President of UAE, the eldest son of Emir Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Abu Dhabi. Sultan may just be most important young person in Dubai, which makes him among the top 20 most important, not to mention wealthiest, in the world. It would not be good for his reputation if it emerged that not only is one of his companies involved in a huge gold smuggling scandal, but that the aforementioned company vanished in a puff of greasy, smelly, brown smoke after an unprecedented case of management fraud was exposed.

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Smart Phones Will Not Make Banking Safer

Yet the war on cash goes on. The latest move is to encourage people to use their smartphone to do their online banking. My first reaction on reading this was, "They're having a laugh aren't they?" laptops and tablets are ridiculously easy to hijack, smartphones don't even need to be hacked, like tired old slappers whose sexual allure has gone south, but who still crave attention, they will offer themselves without needing to be asked.

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Saturday, December 26, 2015

The Gold Scandal That Goes To The Very Top

Dubai, wealth and privilege rub shoulders with corruption and dodgy dealing (Image source)

Best known known for luxury shopping, over-the-top architecture including the world's tallest building, a lively social scene, and a facade of secular open - mindedness, Dubai ought to be even better known for the underbelly of corruption and unrestricted criminality among the billionaires, oligarchs, princes, shieks and sultans, who quietly dominate dominate the global power and financial structure and have set up bases there because the local Shiek take a very benign view of anything that earns money for Dubai without actually breaking any laws in Dubai (and Dubai has very few laws covering offshore activities of financial traders).

First, the background.

Only a few short ago Iran was a pariah state subject to international financial sanctions due to its nuclear weapons program. Israel had repeatedly threatened it would attack preemptively to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Iran had to find ways to keep its economy running, and in order to circumvent these sanctions, it resorted to the oldest trade currency known: gold.

This, in itself, is not surprising nor is it news which rogue state Iran collaborated with to breach the international embargo and obtain the gold needed to finance trade with other countries, notably those along the Pacific Rim. A Reuters article from October 2012 explained, in broad terms, just how Iran's intricate smuggling operation worked.

To see one of Iran's financial lifelines at work, pay a visit to Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport and find a gate for a flight to Dubai. Couriers carrying millions of dollars worth of gold bullion in their luggage have been flying from Istanbul to Dubai, where the gold is shipped on to Iran, according to industry sources with knowledge of the business.

The sums involved are enormous. Official Turkish trade data suggests nearly $2 billion worth of gold was sent to Dubai on behalf of Iranian buyers in August. The shipments help Tehran manage its finances in the face of Western financial sanctions.

The sanctions, imposed over Iran's disputed nuclear program, have largely frozen it out of the global banking system, making it hard for it to conduct international money transfers. By using physical gold, Iran can continue to move its wealth across borders.

"Every currency in the world has an identity, but gold means value without identity. The value is absolute wherever you go," said a trader in Dubai with knowledge of the gold trade between Turkey and Iran.

The identity of the ultimate destination of the gold in Iran is not known. But the scale of the operation through Dubai and its sudden growth suggest the Iranian government plays a role.

The Dubai trader and other sources familiar with the business spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, because of the political and commercial sensitivity of the matter.

Iran sells oil and gas to Turkey, with payments made to state Iranian institutions. U.S. and European banking sanctions ban payments in U.S. dollars or euros so Iran gets paid in Turkish lira. Lira are of limited value for buying goods on international markets but ideal for a gold buying spree in Turkey.

Three years ago then, Turkey was buying oil from Iran and paying in gold. Now with sanctions on Iran lifted, The Turkish family of Recep Erdogan are taking oil from ISIS and paying in dollars, for the simple reason that there is no banking embargo against the Islamic State like there was against Iran in 2012. One almost wonders why the international community was far stricter with Iran than it is with ISIS now.

Direct gold exports to Iran from Turkey, long a major consumer and stockpiler of gold, hit $1.8 billion in July - equivalent to over a fifth of Turkey's entire trade deficit in that month.

In August, however, a sudden plunge in Turkey's direct gold exports to Iran coincided with a leap in its sales of the precious metal to the UAE. Turkey exported a total $2.3 billion worth of gold in August, of which $2.1 billion was gold bullion. Just over $1.9 billion, about 36 metric tons, was sent to the UAE, latest available data from Turkey's Statistics Office shows. In July Turkey exported only $7 million of gold to the UAE. At the same time Turkey's direct gold exports to Iran, which had been fluctuating between $1.2 billion and about $1.8 billion each month since April, slumped to just $180 million in August.

The Dubai-based trader said that from August, direct shipments to Iran were largely replaced by indirect ones through Dubai, apparently because Tehran wanted to avoid publicity.

"The trade from Turkey directly to Iran has stopped because there was just too much publicity around it," said the trader.

However, instead of suddenly having a craving for Turkish gold, Dubai was merely a middleman which would then resell Turkey's gold to Iran, in exchange for a very generous commission.

It is not clear how the gold is moved from Dubai to Iran, but with the two countries only a distance of only about 150 kilometers (100 miles)apart at the shortest sea crossing there is always substantial traffic between the two economies, much of it transported by wooden dhows and other ships crossing the Gulf. And like many other things in Dubai, customs controls can be very lax if 'the right people have been appraised of the geopolitical importance of the trades'.

A gold trader in Turkey said Tehran had shifted to indirect imports because the direct shipments were widely reported in Turkish and international media earlier this year. "Now on paper it looks like the gold is going to Dubai, not to Iran," he said.

Iranian gold buyers may want to conceal their Turkish gold deliveries for fear of attracting attention from the United States, which is pressing countries around the world to shrink their economic ties with Iran.

The buyers may also want to protect their purchases from any possible interference by Turkey's government. Turkey's close relationship with Iran has begun to sour as the two states find themselves on opposite sides of the civil war in Syria.

Fear not: if the family of Turkish President and international illegal oil trader Recep Erdogan were guaranteed, say 5% of the total transaction price, it would turn a blind eye, even if the Ayatollahs were singing lullabies and war chants to Assad in his bedroom.

But why gold?

Simples: while Iran's banks were locked out of SWIFT international money transfer system (until mid-2015 when Obama's historic nuclear deal with Iran was announced and let Iran back into the global financial community), and commerce was virtually impossible in fiat currency terms, the UN sanctions did not prohibit most forms of trade. As a result there was no suggestion that the gold trade involving Dubai was violating international sanctions. In fact, the west tacitly encouraged, and Turkey latched on to this great source of trade arbitrage, and unbridled corruption with both hands.

What should concern us us that the levels of oversight (including electronic surveillance) of markets by Western government and the numbers of 'intelligence gathering' operatives they have on the ground in middle eastern countries, western governments cannot possibly have been unaware of this latest example of Turkey's involvement in the Sunni Muslim plot to establish an Islamic Caliphate, why has nothing been done again. Is it the case once again that the Obama administration has sided with Islamist nutters and left Vladimir Putin to save western civilisation?

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MAIN KEYWORDS: Money >> Dollar >> Oil >> Turkey

Moscow And Beijing Join Forces To Bypass US Dollar In Global Markets, Shift To Gold Trade

Throughout this omnibus volume we have been reporting for several years on the moves by Russia, China, their allies and other nations in the Asia - Pacific zone to bypass the US dollar as the reserve currency for global trade. We have now learned the Russian central bank opened its first overseas office in Beijing on March 14, marking a majot step towards forging a Beijing-Moscow alliance to bypass the US dollar in cross border trading, and to phase-in a gold-backed universal currency of trade.

Debt Crisis
Middle East
Politics, Economy
Turkey Links To ISIS
ISIS Oil expopse "Raqqa's Rockefellers", Bilal Erdogan, KRG Crude, And The Israel Connection
Turkish Convoy Allegedly Carrying Weapons To ISIS Bombed In Syria
Turkish Convoy Allegedly Carrying Weapons To ISIS Bombed In Syria
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