- In Shocking Interview, Macron Admits France Would Vote To Leave EU If Referendum Held
When Marine Le Pen lost last year’s French presidential election to Emmanuel Macron in what appeared to be a landslide, the establishment breathed a sigh of relief because not only was the notorious Eurosceptic populist defeated, but also the wind appeared to be turning, and after a tumultuous 2016, 2017 started off with a bang for the unelected Eurocrats in Brussels. After all, the people had spoken and they wanted more Europe (and Euro), not less.
Or maybe not.
The French president sent shockwaves across Europe after he conceded that French voters would quit the EU if France held an in/out referendum on continued membership in the Brussels-led bloc. Not surprisingly no other EU country has risked putting membership of the bloc to a public vote since Britain shocked member-states by voting to leave the bloc in 2016, despite polls which showed virtually no possibility of such an outcome.
Macron admitting that he would lose a French EU membership referendum.In an interview with BBC’s Andrew Marr, Emmanuel Macron admitted that he would lose a French referendum on EU membership. Asked about the Brexit vote, the candid president told Marr:
“I am not the one to judge or comment on the decision of your people.” But, he added “my interpretation is that a lot of the losers of globalisation suddenly decided it was no more for them.”
Marr then pushed the French president, regarded by many as the EU’s new leader, on whether Britain’s decision was a one-off. Quoted by Express, the BBC journalist asked: “If France had had the same referendum, it might have had the same result?”
Macron responded: “Yes, probably, probably. Yes. In a similar context. But we have a very different context in France” although he said he would not make it easy: “I wouldn’t take any bet though – I would have fought very hard to win.
“My understanding is that middle classes and working classes and the oldest decided that the recent decades were not in their favor, and the adjustments made by the EU were not in their favour.”
“I think the organization of EU went too far with freedom without cohesion, free markets without rules.”
The French leader hit out at David Cameron for holding a referendum with a simple yes / no response on membership, instead of asking how to improve the situation.
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Predictably, Twitter lit up after the interview was aired, with many questioning if the French leader had just admitted that he “does not listen to his own people” since he has refused to hold a referendum on the EU. For the sake of Europe’s unelected establishment, president Macron and the “European recovery”, one hopes we don’t find out any time soon…
- New Trump Ad For Wall: Democrats "Complicit" In All Murders By Illegal Immigrants
Hours after the government shutdown that the White House blamed on “obstructionist losers” who are holding government funding “hostage…over an unrelated immigration debate,” The Trump campaign posted an explosive new advertisement to the campaign website and YouTube channel on Saturday, featuring 37-year-old illegal immigrant Luis Bracamontes who killed two police deputies in 2014 after having been deported and returned to the U.S. multiple times.
Bracamontes showed no remorse in court proceedings which began in California last week – stating that his only regret was that he didn’t kill more police officers. His wife also faces charges in the killings.
Along with the ad, the White House also issued a press release entitled:
DEMOCRATS “COMPLICIT” IN ALL MURDERS BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
Both the video and press release can be viewed below (emphasis added):
New York, NY – Hours after Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer led Democrats to shut down the federal government, holding lawful citizens hostage over their demands for amnesty for illegal immigrants, Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. released a campaign ad calling out Democrats “who stand in our way” of progress and who are “complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants.”
The ad, titled “Complicit,” profiles an illegal immigrant on trial for the murder of two Sacramento police officers who stated his “only regret” is that he “just killed two” and that he wished he “killed more.” It contrasts Democrats, who stand by those who commit acts of “pure evil,” versus President Trump, who was elected to build a wall to stop illegal immigration and keep American families safe.
The Trump Campaign released the ad on the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s Inauguration as the 45th President of the United States. The powerful new ad reflects the stakes in the illegal immigration debate, and the reasons why the President will not allow the Schumer Shutdown to force his hand and grant amnesty for illegal immigrants.
“Donald Trump was elected President to build the wall and keep American families safe from evil, illegal immigrants who commit violent crimes against lawful U.S. citizens,” said Michael S. Glassner, Executive Director of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. “Yet, one year after President Trump’s Inauguration, Chuck Schumer and the Democrats continue to put the interests of illegal immigrants over those of Americans. Our new campaign ad draws attention to the stark contrast between ‘complicit’ Democrats and the President for his full commitment to build a wall and fix our border to protect Americans from drugs, murder and other atrocities,” he concluded.
- "Make Trade, Not War" Is China's Daring Plan In The Middle East
Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,
Under the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing aims to connect western China to the eastern Mediterranean…
China’s “Go West” strategy was brought into sharp focus at a forum in Shanghai last weekend. Billed as the Belt and Road Initiative: Towards Greater Cooperation between China and the Middle East, it highlighted key aspects of Beijing’s wider plan.
The New Silk Roads, or the Belt and Road Initiative, involve six key economic corridors, connecting Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. One, in particular, extends through the Middle East to North Africa. This is where the Belt and Road meets MENA or the Middle East and North Africa.
Of course, Beijing’s massive economic project goes way beyond merely exporting China’s excess production capacity. That is part of the plan, along with building selected industrial bases in MENA countries by using technical and production expertise from the world’s second-largest economy.
Again, this is will connect western China to the eastern Mediterranean. It will mean developing a corridor through projects such as the Red Med railway. There are also plans to expand ports, such as Oman’s Duqm, as well as substantial investment in Turkey.
Belt and Road Initiative. Illustration: iStock
A look at the numbers tells a significant part of the story. In 2010, China-Arab trade was worth US$145 billion. By 2014, it had reached $250 billion and rising. China is now the largest exporter to assorted MENA nations, while MENA accounts for 40% of Beijing’s oil imports.
The next stage surrounding energy will be the implementation of a maze of LNG, or liquefied natural gas, pipelines, power grids, power plants and even green projects, sprouting up across the new Silk Road corridors and transit routes.
According to the Asian Development Bank, the myriad of Belt and Road infrastructure projects for the next 15 years could hit a staggering $26 trillion. Other less grandiose figures come in at $8 trillion during the next two decades.
The ongoing internationalization of the yuan will be key in the process as will the role of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Naturally, there will be challenges. Belt and Road Initiative projects will have to create local jobs, navigate complex public and private partnerships along with intractable geopolitical wobbles.
Enseng Ho, a professor from the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, is one of an army of researchers studying how historical links will play an important role in this new configuration.
An excellent example is the city of Yiwu in Zhejiang province. This has become a mecca for merchant pilgrims from Syria or east Africa and has profited the region, according to the Zhejiang provincial government.
In a wider Middle East context, Beijing’s aim is to harness, discipline and profit from what can be considered an Industrialization 2.0 process. The aim is to help oil producers, such as Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf states, diversify away from crude.
There is also reconstruction projections elsewhere, with China deeply involved in the commercial renaissance of post-war Syria.
As well as investing in its own future energy security, Beijing is keen to put together other long-term strategic investments.
Remixing the centuries-old Chinese trade connections with the Islamic world fits into the Globalization 2.0 concept President Xi Jinping rolled out at last year’s World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
But then, Beijing’s strategy is to avoid a geopolitical collision in the Middle East. Its aim is to: Make Trade, Not War.
From the United States’ point of view, the National Security Strategy document highlighted how China and Russia are trying to shape a new geopolitical environment in the region, which contrasts sharply from Washington’s aims and interests.
It pointed out that while Russia is trying to advance its position as the leading political and military power broker, China is pushing ahead with a “win, win” economic policy. In 2016, that was spelt out in Beijing’s first Arab Policy paper, with its emphasis on bilateral trade cooperation, joint development projects and military exchanges.
Since geopolitical wobbles are never far below the surface in the Middle East, China has even suggested it would be willing to act as a mediator between intractable rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Indeed, diplomacy is a key card for Beijing, according to Zhao Tingyang, a noted philosopher, at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
In his 2006 paper, entitled Rethinking Empire from a Chinese Concept “All-Under-Heaven”, Zhao argued that the country show follow a principle of harmony based loosely on the Confucian notion of “all under heaven” or Tianxia in Mandarin.
Confucius, one would imagine, would be pleased by the Belt and Road Initiative. You could call it: “Make Trade, Not War All Under Heaven.”
- "Brazen Plot To Exonerate Hillary Clinton" And Frame Trump Unraveling, Says Former Fed Prosecutor
A former Federal Prosecutor sat down with The Daily Caller to give perhaps the most comprehensive rundown of the Obama Administration’s “brazen plot to exonerate Hillary Clinton” and “frame an incoming president with a false Russian conspiracy.”
In this highly recommended 30 minute interview with Joe diGenova, the former Special Counsel who went after both the Teamsters and former NY Governor Elliot Spitzer, paints a very clear picture of collusion is painted between the Obama administration, the FBI, the Clinton campaign and opposition research firm Fusion GPS.
From the Daily Caller:
The FBI used to spy on Russians. This time they spied on us. what this story is about – a brazen plot to exonerate Hillary Clinton from a clear violation of the law with regard to the way she handled classified information with her classified server. Absolutely a crime, absolutely a felony. It’s about finding out why – as the Inspector General is doing at the department of justice – why Comey and the senior DOJ officials conducted a fake criminal investigation of Hillary Clinton. Followed none of the regular rules, gave her every break in the book, immunized all kinds of people, allowed the destruction of evidence, no grand jury, no subpoenas, no search warrant. That’s not an investigation, that’s a Potemkin village. It’s a farce.
And everybody knew it was a farce. The problem was, she didn’t win. And because she didn’t wain, the farce became a very serious opera. It wasn’t a comic opera anymore, it was a tragic opera. And she was going to be the focus.
What this is about, this is about a lavabo, a cleansing of FBI and the upper echelons of the Department of Justice.
We’re going to discover that the Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, her deputy Sally Yates, the head of the national security division John Carlin, Bruce Ohr and other senior DOJ officials, and regrettably, lying attorneys. People who were senior career civil servants violated the law, perhaps committed crimes, and covered up crimes by a presidential candidate – but more than that, they tried to frame an incoming president with a false Russian conspiracy that never existed, and they knew it, and they plotted to ruin him as a candidate and then destroy him as a president. That’s why this is important. That’s why connecting the dots is important.
DiGenova condemned the FBI for working so closely with the controversial Fusion GPS, a political hit squad paid by the DNC and Clinton campaign to create and spread the discredited Steele dossier about President Donald Trump. Without a justifiable law enforcement or national security reason, he says, the FBI “created false facts so that they could get surveillance warrants. Those are all crimes.” He adds, using official FISA-702 “queries” and surveillance was done “to create a false case against a candidate, and then a president.” –Daily Caller
During the interview, DiGenova holds up and references a previously unreported and heavily redacted 99-page FISA court opinion from April, 2017, which “describes systematic and on-going violations of the law [by the FBI and their contractors using unauthorized disclosures of raw intelligence on Americans]. This is stunning stuff.”
NSA Admiral Mike Rodgers: An American Hero
diGenova also discusses the immense risks taken by retiring NSA director, Mike Rogers – who briefed Trump on Nov. 7, 2016 about the Obama administration’s surveillance of the Trump team. The next day, the Presidental transition team was moved out of Trump tower and into the president-elect’s Bedminster, NJ golf course until they could sweep for bugs.
Uranium One and other matters
Also discussed in the interview are the Uranium One scandal, Mueller’s “tainted” probe, and the consequences of the Democrats regaining control in the November midterms – which would most certainly lead to an effort to impeach Trump.
“It’s important for the House to complete its work now,” says diGenova.
* * *
The 99-page FISA court opinion is below (link)
- 200 Million Investors May Have Lost Everything In Largest Ponzi Scheme In China's History
China has had its share of ponzi-like investment scheme blow ups in the past, most recently last April as we described in “Investors Rage After 3 Billion Yuan Vanish From China’s Largest Private Bank” and previously in “Chinese Investors Find Out They Got Fleeced By A $7 Billion Ponzi Scheme.” But nothing quite like this, and no, it does not involve cryptocurrencies.
According to the Asia Times, at the height of its business operations, online investment company, Qbao.com, had around 200 million registered users. With its “get rich quick” promises and tantalizing tales of up 80% returns, the company had a cult-like following with investors known as Baofen or fans of Qbao, not to mention potential clients clamoring to sign up for the financial firm’s products, leading to as many as 2 million new users every day in late 2017. Even the full name of the company, Qianbao, had the veneer of success, as it translates into “money treasure.“
Unfortunately for up to 200 millions ordinary Chinese, dreams of overnight riches became a nightmare when the founder of the site, Zhang Xiaolei, was placed in police custody after turning himself in just before the start of the new year.
Zhang Xiaolei, founder of Qbao.com, the online platform also known as QianbaoHe has been accused of illegally raising 70 billion yuan or some $11 billion, according to sources close to the Chinese authorities and reported in the mainland media. If those allegations are true, this would be the largest online investment fraud in China’s history.
“This shows the reality that many Chinese people are still short of money and are crazy for high-returning investment channels,” Li Chao, an analyst at market consultancy iResearch in Beijing, told the state-owned Global Times.
So “crazy” that they risk losing it all; indeed, that looks nearly certain after Zhang walked into a police station on Dec. 26 in Nanjing, the capital of East China’s Jiangsu province, where Qbao.com was wheeled out in a blaze of publicity nearly eight years ago.
The authorities believe investors may have become the victims of a giant Ponzi-type scam, where new clients ended up paying inflated returns to established customers without their knowledge. Before the internet investment company was closed down, it was attracting nearly two million users every day in late 2017 from its headquarters in Shanghai.
“Police are calling on Qbao investors in all regions to report to local public security authorities and cooperate in investigations after the company owner, Zhang Xiaolei, was [held] in custody for suspicion of an illegal fundraising crime,” the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, investors are in denial: many clients are convinced this is all a massive mistake, even though the online finance industry has been plagued by scandals, as Chinese regulators struggle to get grips with the problem.
In February 2016, a leading online peer-to-peer lending service, Ezubao, was accused of swindling more than 900,000 investors out of more than 50 billion yuan in less than two years. A court in Beijing later sentenced Ding Ning, the architect of the $9 billion Ezubao online financial fraud, to life imprisonment, which finally closed the chapter on one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in modern mainland history.
But if the allegations concerning Qbao.com and Zhang are true, this could dwarf that case.
“I became very tired of comforting other investors, some of whom were so anxious that they nearly killed themselves,” Mu Qing, who became a Baofen investor, told Global Times. “But we all trusted Qbao, and we will wait [to see what happens].”
On Dec. 27, along with millions of other clients, Mu had his account on Qao.com frozen.
What happens next depends on the Chinese police investigation and the decision by the central bank to launch an inqury. It has ordered all commercial banks in Jiangsu province to roll out internal inspections for potential loans linked to Qbao.com or its affiliated companies.
“Qbao investors put all their trust in Zhang,” one former executive of the company told Caixin’s media website. “It was like a cult.”
But that “trust” has slowly turned to disdain and anger as the details of Zhang’s online world trickles into the public domain. In the end, the fall out could leave them broke in more ways than one.
Of course, investor denial will eventually turn to acceptance, but first comes the anger stage, and if indeed 200 million Chinese may have lost a substantial portion, if not all, of their net worth, the anger will be tangible and could prove to be a true black swan for a country which – as we have profiled since early 2016 – has been teetering on the verge of social unrest.
- Nomi Prins: "The Fed Is Scared To Death Of Crashing The Global Financial System"
Via Greg Hunter’s USA Watchdog blog,
Two time, best-selling author Nomi Prins says central bankers have no idea how to stop the easy money policies that they started after the financial meltdown of 2008.
Prins explains, “So, when the Fed says they are going to remove assets from their $4.5 trillion book by not reinvesting the interest payment…the reality is they haven’t really done that. They have reduced their book by about $10 billion off of $4.5 trillion since they mentioned they were going to start ‘tapering.”
The media discusses this as a major tightening move. Somehow all of our economies have finally worked because of central bank activity. Growth is real. It’s all positive. The markets are evidence of that because of the levels they are at; and, therefore, these central banks, starting with the Fed, are going to reverse course of these last 10 years.
“The reality is if you look at the actual activity of the central banks, beyond the Fed raising rates by a little bit, there hasn’t been and there isn’t being a reversal of course because they are scared to death that too much of a reversal is going to cause a major crash throughout the financial system.
Everything is connected. All the banks are connected. Money flows around the world in less than nanoseconds, and all of it has the propensity to collapse if that carpet the central banks have created is dragged from beneath the floor of all this activity.”
Prins, who just finished traveling the globe to research her upcoming book, thinks there is one big thing that can take the entire system down. Prins, a former top Wall Street banker, contends:
“There hasn’t been any real growth in the real economy. That is an indication of the misfire of this entire plan. There has been tremendous growth in stock markets and bond markets.
If you look at localities or states or governments whose debt to GDP levels are well over 100%, in Japan it’s over 200%, in the United States it over 100%, and this is the same throughout the world. These are levels that they have never been, and they are all at their historic highs.
That’s why debt will ultimately be the destructor of the system. In order for that to happen, the cheapness of money that allow states, municipalities and corporations to continue to borrow at these cheap levels has to go away…
At some point, there will be a mistake. There might be a tiny smidge of an interest rate hike at some central bank, probably the Fed, which ripples throughout the system as a mistake, not because real growth has happened, and that’s why interest rates have been raised. That will incur defaults throughout the system. People will incur personal defaults, and that will cause problems in the mortgage market… then it becomes a knock-on credit crisis, and then banks start not to lend… Then we have the makings of a broad crisis.”
Prins doesn’t think we get a crash in 2018, but warns when the markets crash, “they will come down fast.”
So, how is Prins protecting herself?
Prins says,
“I’m buying gold… I would also be a buyer of silver because silver is a used hard asset, and it’s at really cheap levels right now. I would be a buyer as a percentage of my portfolio. I have done exactly what I am telling you is a good idea to do, which is to take money from the stock market and put it into hard assets.”
Join Greg Hunter as he goes One-on-One with Nomi Prins, author of the upcoming book titled “Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World.”
* * *
After the Interview:
You can find free information and analysis from Nomi Prins at NomiPrins.com. Prins is giving USAWatchdog.com viewers a special link to buy her new book at a hefty discount.
Prins says this pre-order link will give USAWatchdog.com buyers of “Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World” a 40% discount up until it officially releases on May 1, 2018.
- No Deal: Government Shutdown To Continue For 3rd Day As Senate Sets Monday Noon Vote
Any hope that the 2-day government shutdown could be suddenly resolved with an early morning vote on Monday morning died moments ago when Chuck Schumer said “there is no deal” while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he is canceling the previously scheduled 1am procedural vote and instead the Senate will vote on the stopgap spending bill at noon Eastern on Monday, with the government set to remain closed at least until the vote.
#BREAKING Shutdown to continue. No vote tonight. Schumer says there is no deal. No procedural vote tonight. Procedural vote to break filibuster on Feb 8 CR at noon Monday
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 22, 2018
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McConnell also said that his intention is to resolve several issues including immigration as quickly as possible, and to move to DACA on Feb. 8 if no deal has been done by then and govt stays open.
Meanwhile, the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, objecting to earlier vote timing, said “we have yet to reach an agreement on path forward.”
As discussed earlier, a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill had stoked hopes that a deal to end the shutdown might be reached before furloughs for hundreds of thousands of government workers kick in on Monday. Instead, the Senate is now set to vote at noon on Monday to end debate on a measure that would fund the government through Feb. 8.
Furthermore, by the looks of things…
Just left the gallery seats overlooking Senate. After Schumer’s objection, McConnell physically turned away from him and looked toward Flake. Schumer got up, huddled w/ Hassan, then stepped out of the Senate as Flake spoke softly across the room.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) January 22, 2018
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… this shutdown may indeed continue “for weeks” as Goldman predicted on Friday. And while the market may not care for now, should the funding gap extend into late February and early March, just days ahead of the debt ceiling X-Date, the S&P will – sooner or later – be reacquainted with gravity.
Even on Monday, it remains unclear if there will be 60 votes to end debate, given opposition from Senate Democrats to the measure. And, as explained yesterday, without a drop in the stock market to “mediate” and force politicians to negotiate, the question now is how deeply the two sides will dig in further as the work week begins.
Finally, for those wondering if there was any reaction in the market to the ongoing shutdown news, the answer: of course not.
- 15 Year Old Hacker Impersonated CIA Director And Other High Ranking Officials In Massive Data Breach
A 15-year-old “hacktivist” who tricked AOL and Verizon customer support operators into believing he was then-CIA Director John Brennan, was able to crack into Brennan’s accounts and access highly sensitive documents concerning US military and intelligence operations in Afghanistan and Iran, a UK court has heard.
Kane Gamble AKA “Cracka”Kane Gamble, now 18, was able to access Brennan’s emails, contacts, and his iCloud storage account after several successful attempts to manipulate information out of the call center employees. Brennan’s emails were sent to WikiLeaks and published on October 26, 2015.
Gamble used similar “social engineering” techniques to gain accdess to former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, tricked the FBI helpdesk into believing he was then-Deputy Director Mark Giuliano.
It was a common misconception that the group were hackers when in fact they used “social engineering” to gain access to emails, phones, computers and law enforcement portals.
“It involves manipulating people, invariably call centre or help desk staff, into permitting acts or divulging confidential information,” the prosecutor said. –Telegraph
Gamble founded the five-man hacktivist group “Crackas With Attitude” (CWA) – telling a Journalist “It all started by me getting more and more annoyed about how corrupt and cold blooded the US Government are so I decided to do something about it.” The 15-year old then proceeded to unleash mayhem on his victims to “fuck the gov” according to court records, by taunting them online, downloading pornography onto their computers, and even taking control of their iPads and TV screens.
Gamble used similar techniques to hack the home broadband of Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and was able listened to [sic] his voicemails and send texts from his phone.
He bombarded Mr Johnson and his wife with calls, asking her: “Am I scaring you?” and left messages threatening to “bang his daughter”, the court heard.
Sometime in October, 2015, the 16-year-old Gamble convinced the FBI’s help desk that the was Deputy Director Mark Giuliano – pretending to be the former FBI boss while using information he had obtained after accessing the FBI’s Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (Leap). From this access, Gamble gained intelligence and details of government employees and police officers. Gamble then bombarded Giuliano’s family and associates with calls, forcing them to post an armed guard at their home.
“This has to be the biggest hack, I have access to all the details the Feds use for background checks.” –Kane Gamble
Gamble pleaded guilty to ten violations of the UK’s computer misuse act in October, 2017. Two Americans charged with participating in Crackas With Attitude -computer science student Justin Liverman and Andrew Boggs, both of North Carolina – were arrested in 2016 and sentenced to five and two years in prison respectively after pleading guilty to criminal hacking conspiracy.
Court documents filed in the cases against Boggs and Liverman allege they conspired with “Cracka” to infiltrate the internet accounts of several senior U.S. officials and their families, causing more than $1.5 million in losses.
Gamble admitted to setting his sights on other U.S. government targets including former President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Avril Haines, and his senior science and technology adviser, John Holdren, local media reported.-Washington Times
At one point, the FBI realized that their system had been breached and the password was changed, but Gamble was able to regain access by calling the FBI helpdesk as Mr. Giuliano. The young hactivist also used his access to sensitive information to post the personal details of officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri.
Gamble’s eight month cracking spree came to and end in February, 2016 after he accessed the details of 20,000 FBI employees from the DOJ’s network, as well as files on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The FBI and US Secret Service immediately called police in the UK and Gamble was arrested at his Leicestershire home he shared with his mother.
Gamble awaits sentencing at yet to be determined date.
- Central Bank Of Russia Adds A Record 223 Tons Of Gold In 2017
Submitted by Louis Cammarosano of Smaulgld
The Russian Central Bank added 300,000 ounces (9.3 tons) of gold to its reserves in December, bringing the total acquisitions of the precious metal in 2017 to a record 223 tons.
Since June 2015, the Central Bank of Russia has added over 558 tons of gold, and December’s 9.3 ton addition brings the official Russian gold holdings to 1838.211 tons; the sixth most of any nation, close behind the People’s Bank of China. In dollar terms, Russia’s gold reserves are now worth $76.647 billion and constitute 17.7% of overall Russian reserves.
Meanwhile, Russian holdings of U.S. Treasuries were just above $100 billion for eighth month in a row.
The message – as Russia continues to add gold to its official reserves while keeping its holdings of US Treasurys generally unchanged – needs no explanation.
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