The Latest Heist: US Quietly Snatches the Ukraine’s Gold Reserves

[Octoldit]

As the dust settles in Kiev, another money trail has been revealed…

According to reports out of Kiev (see links below), the US has quietly transfers 33 tons of Ukrainian gold out of the country and back to vaults in the US. Presumably, this sovereign wealth transfer would be counted as partial “collateral” for a fresh round of IMF, US FED, and ECB paper debt that is currently being organised for dumping into the Ukraine’s economic black hole.

Multiple inquiries to US Federal Reserve administrators into the location of the Ukraine’s gold have been met with the proverbial ‘pass the buck’, making tracking and tracking the final resting place of these 33 tonnes very difficult indeed – but one can expect that the NY Fed is probably the institution who has masterminded this financial heist.


Note how gold flows into New York, but has difficulty flowing out of US private banking hands as is the case with the ‘confiscation’ of Germany’s gold. Numerous attempts by Bundesbank to repatriate its gold reserves have been met with a brick wall, and to date, Germany has only recovered a miniscule 5 tonnes directly from the NY Fed – out of the total 674 tonnes (an additional 32 tonnes were recovered via French central bank).

It’s worth pointing out here that when NATO sacked Libya in 2011, one of the first items that came into question was the gold in Libya’s state-run central bank. Prior to the NATO takeover of that country, Libya had one of the highest per capita gold reserves in the world, alongside Lebanon, giving Libya a distinct advantage should it carry out former Libyan leader Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi’s long-term financial transition to a gold-backed Libyan Dinar. As you can imagine, this is no longer the case in Tripoli.

Additionally, like Libya, both Syria and Iran are two of the world’s last remaining nation states who both have state-run central banks and gold reserves which fall outside of the world’s private central banking syndicate.

Needless to say, you can see an obvious pattern emerging here.

And the story continues…

The Big Lie + What Happened To Ukraine’s Gold?

By PM Fund Manager Dave Kranzler
Investment Research Dynamics

The Big Lie is that Central Banks don’t care about gold. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Ben Bernanke, more than once, claimed that he didn’t understand gold. When Ron Paul asked Bernanke in front of Congress why Central Banks own gold if it’s irrelevant, Bernanke flippantly suggested that it was out of tradition. In both cases Bernanke was lying and he knew it.

In comparison, Greenspan seemed to have some respect for the laws of economics and – at least that I can recall – never would outright state that gold was not an economic factor. Greenspan lied as much as Bernanke did about everything else but he never committed himself to lie about gold. Most of you have probably read Greenspan’s 1966 essay, “Gold and Economic Freedom” (linked). I have read it several times because it explains as well as anything out there why gold works as a currency and why Government-issued fiat currency does not.

What I find amazing about The Big Lie about Central Banks and gold is that if gold really is considered to be irrelevant, the how come Central Banks – especially the Fed – are so secretive about their gold storage and trading activities? What’s even more amazing is that no one other than Ron Paul and GATA asks them about this. Think about it. GATA spent a lot of money on legal fees attempting to get the Fed to publicly disclose its records related to the Fed’s gold activities. The Fed spent even more money denying GATA’s quest.

And how come the Fed won’t submit to a public, independent audit of its gold vaults?
This brings me to the issue of the Ukraine’s gold. According to public records, the Government of Ukraine owns 33 tonnes of gold that was being safekept in Ukraine. Last week a Ukrainian newspaper reported that acting PM Arseny Yatsenyuk ordered the transfer of that gold to the United States. The actual report is here: LINK. Jesse’s Cafe Americain provided a translated version here: LINK.

On the assumption that the report is true, and so far I have not seen any commentary or articles suggesting it is not true, the biggest question is, how come the U.S. has absolutely no problem loading up and transporting 33 tonnes of gold from Ukraine to the U.S. but seems to have difficulty loading up and transporting any of Germany’s gold from New York to Berlin?

And how come the U.S. and Ukraine seem to care about that gold at all, if indeed gold is irrelevant? It would seem that it would be a lot less expensive and logistically complicated just to have the U.S. military post a few armed guards around the gold if they’re worried about theft. On the other hand, I’m sure Putin would be happy to buy the gold from Ukraine.

What makes the story even more interesting is that GATA’s Chris Powell has spent considerable time trying to get an answer to the question of whether or not the U.S. has taken custody of Ukraine’s gold. When he queried the NY Fed, they responded with:

“A spokesman for the New York Fed said simply: “Any inquiry regarding gold accounts should be directed to the account holder. You may want to contact the National Bank of Ukraine to discuss this report” (LINK).

After trying for two days to get an answer from the U.S. State Department, they finally responded by referring him to the NY Fed (LINK).

The final piece in verifying that the report is true is deflection from Ukraine. Mr. Powell has queried the National Bank of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Embassy in DC, and the Ukrainian mission to the UN in NYC. Crickets. As Chris states the case:

“The difficulty in getting a straight answer here is pretty good evidence that the Ukrainian gold indeed has been sent to the United States.”

Unfortunately, it is likely that the citizens of Ukraine will end up paying the same price for allowing the U.S. to “safekeep” their sovereign gold. That price is the comforting knowledge that their gold has been delivered safely to vaults in China under U.S./UK bullion bank contractual delivery obligations, where it will be locked away for centuries.

All this skullduggery over a barbarous relic that has been deemed irrelevant by the U.S. Federal Reserve…

Source: 21centurywire The Latest Heist: US Quietly Snatches the Ukraine?s Gold Reserves

 

[waltky]

Ukraine not payin' it's gas bill, wants us to back `em on it...

PUTIN: UKRAINE DEBT THREATENS EUROPE GAS SUPPLIES
Apr 10,`14 -- Vladimir Putin warned Europe on Thursday that it may face a shutdown of Russian natural gas supplies if it fails to help Ukraine settle its enormous Russian gas bill - a debt that far exceeds a bailout package offered by the International Monetary Fund.

The Russian president's letter to 18 mostly Eastern European leaders, released Thursday by the Kremlin, aimed to divide the 28-nation European Union and siphon off to Russia the billions that the international community plans to lend to Ukraine. It was all part of Russia's efforts to retain control over its struggling neighbor, which is teetering on the verge of financial ruin and facing a pro-Russian separatist mutiny in the east. Putin's message is clear: The EU has tried to lure Ukraine from Russia's orbit and into its fold, so it should now foot Ukraine's gas bill - or face the country's economic collapse and a disruption of its own gas supplies.

The tough warning raises the ante ahead of international talks on settling the Ukrainian crisis that for the first time will bring together the United States, the European Union, Russia and Ukraine. The U.S. State Department on Thursday condemned what it called "Russia's efforts to use energy as a tool of coercion against Ukraine." Hundreds of pro-Russian protesters - some armed - were still occupying Ukrainian government buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk while authorities sought a peaceful solution Thursday to the five-day standoff. And in northwest Romania, U.S. and Romanian forces kicked off a week of joint military exercises.

The amount that Putin claims Ukraine owes is growing by billions every week - and his letter raises the specter of a new gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine that could affect much of Europe. In 2009, Moscow turned off gas supplies to Kiev in the dead of winter, leading to freezing cities across Eastern Europe as Russian gas stopped moving through Ukrainian pipelines to other nations. In the letter, Putin said Ukraine owes Russia $17 billion due to the termination of gas discounts and potentially another $18.4 billion as a take-or-pay fine under their 2009 gas contract. He added that on top of that $35.4 billion, Russia also holds $3 billion in Ukrainian government bonds.

The total amount is far greater than the estimated $14 billion to $18 billion bailout that the International Monetary Fund is considering for Ukraine. Putin warned that Ukraine's mounting debt is forcing Moscow to demand advance payments for further gas supplies. He said that if Ukraine failed to make such payments, Russia's state-controlled gas giant Gazprom will "completely or partially cease gas deliveries." Putin told the leaders that a shutdown of Russian gas supplies will increase the risk of Ukraine siphoning off gas intended for the rest of Europe and will make it difficult to accumulate sufficient reserves to guarantee uninterrupted delivery to European customers next winter. He urged quick talks between Russia and European consumers of Russian gas.

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US WARNS RUSSIA OF TOUGHER SANCTIONS OVER UKRAINE
Apr 10,`14 WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told his Russian counterpart on Thursday that Russia could face tougher economic sanctions because of its actions in Ukraine.

The U.S. Treasury said that Lew warned Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov that the United States is prepared to impose "additional significant sanctions" if Russia escalates the Ukraine situation. Treasury said in a statement that Lew described Russia's annexation of Crimea as "illegal and illegitimate." Lew's discussions with Siluanov came in advance of meetings Thursday of finance officials from the Group of Seven major industrial countries and the Group of 20 nations, which includes the G-7 countries and emerging economies such as China, Brazil and India. Russia is a member of the G-20 but not the G-7. The G-7 nations are the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy.

Last month, President Barack Obama met with other G-7 leaders and the group confirmed that it was indefinitely suspending cooperation with Russia, which for more than a decade had joined with the G-7 countries to form the Group of Eight nations. That larger group was to hold a summit later this year in Sochi, Russia. But the G-7 nations have said they will boycott that meeting. It was unclear how much support the United States would receive from other countries to strengthen the sanctions imposed on Russia. After the G-7 talks, the group issued a joint statement that confirmed that the situation in Ukraine had been discussed, including the country's financing needs, but the statement did not indicate that the group had endorsed tougher sanctions.

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin told reporters before the discussions that France preferred to focus on the economic support being provided to Ukraine. That effort is being led by the International Monetary Fund, which says it will provide up to $18 billion in loan guarantees to Kiev to help the country get its economy moving again. "The question is not to talk about sanctions. The question is to get started ... as quickly as possible" working to get the IMF's support program implemented. The U.S. delegation to the G-7 and G-20 talks was led by Lew and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

A G-20 dinner Thursday night included a tribute to former Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, who died earlier in the day. Flaherty, who took the Cabinet position in 2006, was the longest-serving G-7 finance minister before he announced three weeks ago that he was stepping down. A friend said he had died of a massive heart attack. Australian Treasury Minister Joe Hockey, the current chair of the G-20, told the group, "Canada is poorer for his passing and we are all poorer." In the G-7 statement, the group praised Flaherty as "a greatly valued and forthright colleague and friend."

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