What is it that Vladimir Putin knows (other than ‘Barack Obama’ is a fool)?
According to the World Gold Council, Russia has more than doubled its gold reserves in the past five years. Putin has taken advantage of the financial crisis to build the world’s fifth-biggest gold pile in a handful of years, and is buying about half a billion dollars’ worth every month.
We will soon be the first people in two hundred years to live in a world not dominated by either Pax Americana or Pax Britannica. This sort of changing of the guard has never been peaceful. The declines of the Spanish, French and British empires were all accompanied by conflict. The decline of British hegemony was a leading cause of the First and Second World Wars. Gold is the most liquid reserve in times of turmoil, or worse.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-is-putin-stockpiling-gold-2012-09-05
