SOTT EXCLUSIVE: A picture worth a thousand gold bullion

Putin on gold: "I got this."

Gold is still in the news, as several European states have called for the repatriation of their gold bullion reserves held in the United States (and other foreign banks). As Aeneas Georg wrote in his recent SOTT Exclusive, Gold, gold, gold! Dutch gold boosted, Ukrainian gold looted, Russia buying BIG, Swiss vote gold-quake, the Dutch government has successfully, and secretly, repatriated 20% of its total gold holdings from the United States. (The U.S. still holds 31%.)

This trend comes at the same time as the revelation that the U.S. emptied the coffers in Ukraine, airlifting their gold reserves out of the country soon after the U.S.-backed coup early this year. (And following which, Iraq bought 36 tonnes of gold from the U.S., the biggest purchase by a country in three years.) Also, countries like Russia and China are buying up gold as fast as they can. Russia, in particular, is selling off oil in exchange for gold. (See: SOTT EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Russian economist Mikhail Khazin: On gold, the imminent collapse of Western neo-liberalism, and Eurasianism) As Dimitry Kalinichenko recently put it:

The twist of Putin's game is that the mechanism for the sale of Russian energy to the West only for gold now works regardless of whether the West agrees to pay for Russian oil and gas with its artificially cheap gold, or not.

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Thus, in exchange for Russian oil, gas and uranium, the West pays Russia with dollars, purchasing power of which is artificially inflated against oil and gold by the efforts (manipulations) of the West. However, Putin uses these dollars only to withdraw physical gold from the West in exchange at a price denominated in US dollars, artificially lowered by the same West.

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The problem of the West is that the stocks of physical gold in possession of the West are not unlimited. Therefore, the more the West devalues oil and gold against the US dollar, the faster it loses devaluing Gold from its not infinite reserves.

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Thus, Russia poses a real threat to the American model of petrodollar world domination.

The other countries looking to get their gold back include Germany, Switzerland and France. And this is where things get interesting.

Sputnik recently put up this infographic:

Notice poor Germany and Switzerland down there. Switzerland is holding a referendum on the subject, instead of just demanding it, like the Dutch. (Will we see a repeat of the Scottish referendum, with a rigged/swayed "No" vote avoiding the hassle of trying to strongarm the U.S. into giving back what it probably doesn't even have anymore?) As for Germany, in 2013 they planned to repatriate ALL of their gold held in the U.S. (around 1500 tonnes). But after managing to repatriate a measly 5 tons in all of 2013, the plan fizzled out.

"The Americans are taking good care of our gold," Norbert Barthle, the budget spokesman for Merkel's Christian Democratic bloc in parliament, said in an interview. "Objectively, there's absolutely no reason for mistrust."

Right... As Aeneas pointed out, it's more likely the Germans were simply told: there is no gold, forget about it. So how did the Dutch manage to get so much? Might this have something to do with it?

Cover-up: Malaysia barred from MH17 investigation - because they don't blame Russia?

With the Dutch leading the investigation, the logic being that the flight originated from the Netherlands and the majority of the passengers were Dutch, it has formed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT). At the onset of its creation it seemed obvious that Malaysia would too be included, considering it lost the second largest number of citizens to the disaster and the plane itself was registered in Malaysia. Instead, JIT would end up comprised of Belgium, Ukraine, and Australia, specifically excluding Malaysia.

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Ukraine's involvement in the investigation is particularly troublesome. ... And to compound this already glaring conflict of interest, it was revealed recently that an alleged "secret deal" was struck by JIT in which any member could bar the release of evidence. With all members of JIT being pro-NATO and decidedly arrayed against Moscow, such a "deal" could prevent crucial evidence from being revealed that would effect an otherwise distorted conclusion drawn by the investigators aimed specifically at advancing their greater political agenda in Eastern Europe. Had Malaysia been a member of JIT, the ability of other members to withhold evidence would have been greatly diminished and it is likely such a bizarre deal would not have been conceivable, real or imaged, in the first place.

So what's going on here? Is the Netherlands taking a page out of the U.S.'s playbook and using information gleaned in the MH17 investigation to blackmail their 'friends' across the ocean? Or, perhaps more likely, is the U.S. paying of the Netherlands to keep what they know quiet?

Harrison Koehli

Harrison Koehli hails from Edmonton, Alberta. A graduate of studies in music performance, Harrison is also an editor for Red Pill Press and has been interviewed on several North American radio shows in recognition of his contributions to advancing the study of ponerology. In addition to music and books, Harrison enjoys tobacco and bacon (often at the same time) and dislikes cell phones, vegetables, and fascists.