Putin And Soros Divesting Their Western Assets

In the last seven months the People’s Republic of China has added more gold to their reserves – over 500 tons – than the entire holdings of the European Central Bank. They aren’t alone.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has been aggressively investing into the precious metal over the last five years – spending some $500 million monthly as he divests out of Dollars and Euros. Currently, 9% of Russia’s reserves are held in gold.

This, of course, begs the question: why?

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.

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No one else in the world plays global power politics as ruthlessly as Russia’s chilling strongman…

The big story is that the United States, which has dominated the world’s economy for several lifetimes, is in relative decline.

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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.

What will happen as the U.S. loses its preeminence?

Throughout history we’ve seen what happens when nations collapse under the weight of their own debt.

It has almost always led to war across the entire known world.

And when those nations collapsed and were overtaken, their conquerors often exterminated their populations and always confiscated their treasure, which usually amounted to gold, food and other physical resources.

Is this what is coming?

This is not merely economics, it is politics. As things decline in the west, foreign investors that have put their assets in the west are going lose control of those assets … especially if conflict breaks out. Russia and China, and other nations east of Europe, are moving their bets eastward to more stable economies, or they are bringing their wealth home in the form of gold into a secure environment.

Russia is investing $20 billion in their old but large sea port in Vladivostok and hosting an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit there with a view to moving their commerce toward Asia and pulling it out of Europe and America. Putin sees the wheels falling off Europe and America and doesn’t want get caught in the wreck. Smart man.

Financier George Soros, knows a thing or two about crisis and calamity. He’s seen the signs before and recently warned of a massive financial collapse, conflict across Europe and violent riots in America. In August he unloaded all of his holdings in major western financial institutions, and like Vladimir Putin, moved a portion of his wealth into gold.

In a depression gold may not be the best thing, but it is a lot better than deposits and investments in a crashing Wall Street. Anything is better than that. In fact, cash has always been king in a depression as long as the government remains in place … and I don’t see the U.S. Government going away anytime soon. Banks and general commerce will take the hit, but the U.S. Dollar will remain as it did during the Great Depression. As older folks will remember, at that time the dollar became scarce and more valuable.

If you believe that the economic recovery touted by the elite political class and mainstream experts is real, then by all means take out some more credit and buy a new car, pick up an investment property, and take a two week vacation to a far-off island.

If, however, you think that Vladimir Putin, George Soros, the Chinese and the many others who are warning of an unprecedented global crisis may have an understanding of geopolitics and the real state of the global economy, perhaps it’s time you quit investing in western commerce. Batten down the hatches and prepare for the coming depression. Bring your assets home, get out of banks, and eliminate debt. If you do that you will be in good stead when others are losing their security blankets.

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