As the man in the video says "Look at what happened in 2002 to Saddam Hussein for daring to sell oil in Euros and not dollars." Chavez is declaring financial war on Western Europe and the United States for the audacity of wanting his country's gold back.
Chavez will also be testing the gold to make sure it is not fake and tungsten filled.
This is really going to get interesting. One analyst has surmised Chavez may have already asked for the gold awhile back but was not getting the response he needed for getting it, so he took it public.
As I see it, England and the United States hands are forced in scrambling to find gold for Chavez. If they start beating the drums of war against him, it will not look good to other countries who have their gold stored in London and the U.S. I would say both countries are in a catch 22. They don't have the gold and it will be obvious if they start war drums.
Chavez is also very smart to publicize he would be putting his billions of reserves in China and Russia, so they would/will have his back in him getting his money and gold. They will also be watching this situation very carefully. Will the gold be fake? Will Chavez get his gold? Will the U.S. and England think of some reason to go to war with him and freeze his assets, so they don't have to send him his gold? Anyway you look at it, countries will know the reason why. Other countries will then hopefully get smart and ask for their gold that is being trusted with England and the U.S.
Chavez was also very smart in waiting until now to ask for his gold back. Due to the U.S. being in so many wars and now about to declare another one on Syria, the military is spread thin. NATO is spread thin too, due to them having the U.S.'s back in all the wars. So it is going to be pretty hard for the U.S. to start another war in S. America. Will the U.S. just try and have Chavez taken out and a friendly installed? Chavez is brilliant in any way of looking at this. His timing is good and now a catch 22 has been created.
If I was a country that had 211 tons of gold stored elsewhere, I would be wanting it back right now too. Besides there is absolutely nothing wrong with a country getting back what is rightfully theirs. Unless of course the countries that were trusted with it, misused that trust and actually sold it. Awwww..... but the U.S. and England would never have done something like that, they are such moral countries. Right?
I think, things are going to start getting really interesting and we certainly have not heard the end of this.
UPDATE 8/23/11 8:15am est - Funny thing happened yesterday -
U.S. Mint Suspended ALL Gold Coin sales. hhmmm.... me thinks
real physical gold may be hard to come by.
Update added - Take over of Tripoli, Libya,
The U.S. and NATO have been able to finally steal Libya's gold which is what they were most likely after, besides controlling the oil. Now Chavez will be able to get 144 tons of gold, the rest will have to be stolen from another country..... Syria next?
Edited to Add 7:58pm est 8/22/11:
Grant Williams "Things that make you go hhhmmm....."
From document linked below:
"-- It is common practce for most central banks to hold part of their gold reserves overseas in 'gold trading centres' (read London and New York).
"-- One of those central banks -- that of Venezuela -- wants its gold back.
-- That means that a group of banks (mainly in the UK and the United States) that are supposed to have that gold in their vaults need to give it back ...
"-- ... which in turn could potentally trigger a race to repatriate national gold holdings.
"-- Neither Fort Knox nor the Federal Reserve (the world's two biggest gold depositories) have been independently audited in recent times.
"-- The status of the gold held in the Bundesbank (home to the world's third-largest hoard) is somewhat unclear.
"-- The practice of leasing gold by central banks has been going on so long that it predates even the time when Alan Greenspan advocated sound money.
"-- The gold 'physical market' is approximately 100 times the size of the amount of actual underlying metal by which it is purportedly backed.
"-- The top four bullion banks, or 'commercials' on the COMEX, continue to run what we shall politely call 'significant' short positions."
Williams also speculates:
"If there is any delay in repatriating Venezuela's gold, it could potentially start a frantic scramble by central banks to claim their physical gold, and, if that happens, you can be assured that a fire will be lit under the gold price the likes of which we haven't yet seen -- even as gold has appreciated from $250 to $1,850 over the past 11 years."
Full "Things that make you go hhhhmmmmmm......." document - very good read!
Hmmm August 20 2011
