BLOG

G7 bans Russian gold exports

Western leaders are running out of ideas on how to hurt Russia’s economy. They met this past weekend and voted to ban gold exports from Russia. This changes nothing, since sanctions have already prevented western purchases (payments) from Russia.

https://www.kitco.com/news/2022-06-27/The-G7-ban-imports-of-Russian-gold.html

(Kitco News) - The G7 is set to announce a ban on imports of Russian gold it was announced this weekend. U.S. President Joe Biden said, “Together, the G7 will announce that we will ban the import of Russian gold, a major export that rakes in tens of billions of dollars for Russia”.

U.S. administration representative who spoke on condition of anonymity told reporters the G7 would make an official announcement on the gold import ban on Tuesday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement that the gold ban “will directly hit Russian oligarchs and strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine”.

This could have a significant effect on the gold market as Russia is the world’s second-largest producer of gold, according to the latest data from the World Gold Council, with around a 10% share of the globe’s output. This could be a real blow for the Russians as Gold is a major Russian export, worth $15.45bln to the Russian economy in 2021.

Really? Will this really “strike at the heart of Putin’s war machine”? India and China are the biggest markets for gold. While the West doubles down on its fiat currency, Russia itself is accumulating gold in preparation for a new gold standard.

https://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/why-is-russia-accumulating-so-much-gold/2019/04/27/

Russia is on a long-term gold-buying effort. Western/US sanctions are a big part of it. Indeed, sanctions are making Russia economically stronger. This was not the intent of policymakers.

In this respect, US sanctions against Russia are a failure and are backfiring.

This seems to be the G7 leaders’ latest contribution to stupidity. Or, biblically speaking, it is more evidence of Nebuchadnezzar’s madness. They seem to think that if they don’t buy gold from Russia, then no one else will either. But as we have already seen, most of the non-Western countries are ignoring the sanctions. Meanwhile, the Russian ruble continues to gain strength.

The only real result of sanctions is to drive a wedge between Asia/Africa/Mideast and Europe/US that has destroyed the globalist agenda. The only serious strategy that the West had was an economic strategy. They thought they could destroy Russia through sanctions, but this policy has backfired. The West has been hurt far more than Russia.

When the world goes back to the gold standard, the US and Europe will be ill prepared.