According to a Times of India report, moving 100 tons of gold over 4,000 miles was “a massive logistical exercise, requiring months of planning and precise execution.” Transporting 100 tons of gold required specialized aircraft and detailed security arrangements…
The reason being:
According to a World Gold Council survey in 2023, a “substantial share” of central banks expressed concern about potential sanctions after the U.S. and other Western countries froze almost half of Russia’s $650 billion gold and forex reserves in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
This is not true. They have to pay a firm to ship it. Unless they use their own Navy. But if you look at the shipping companies, it might be a reason they are doing so well this year.
But if it does who are we in The West to bring in sanctions? Do we have some moral right to dictate to the rest of the world how they should behave and dish out punishment if they don’t toe the line?
Ukraine will have long term implications for The West, something that Putin could never have dreamed of:
In February 2024, Moscow hosted the first ‘For the Freedom of Nations’ forum with 400 delegates from 60 countries, aiming to rally the countries of the Global South against ‘Western neo-colonialism’.
You’re right. We should have never come to Ukraine’s defense. We should have let Russia do what it wants. Maybe we need to dismantle NATO as well. Heck, we should only defend ourselves, not anyone else.
I wasn’t saying that, and I suspect that you know it.
BTW how many wars has the USA been in? Quite a few more that Russia:
Not to mention the covert operations the USA has been involved in:
The ‘numbers game’ isn’t really the point. I was pointing out the long term damage to The West’s financial system that the Ukraine war, or The West’s reaction to the war, appears to be causing.
Who are we as humans who share the same planet to do what we can to reduce the horrors of war without resorting to violence? That is a more interesting question to me. YMMV.
And to preempt Divitas, if that which we can do without resorting to violence comes at a financial cost, so be it. War itself certainly carries a financial cost. Those working for peace must also be prepared to pay the price of peace.
To say that peace is too costly is to surrender to war.
Think of that, If that was how the United States did things Divitias maybe speaking German right now instead of English. Heck his whole family line might not even be here.
First of all India has no history of attacking any of its neighbors, even though both Pakistan and China had waged multiple wars against India and Pakistan uses terrorism as a state policy.
Having said that, if India chooses to go to a war with their neighboring country, who is US to sanction? The west has very different set of rules for themselves and for others. It is nauseating.
Let us not forget that it is US weapons and money that is waging war in Israel and Ukraine. May be it is about time the world sanctions US.
Wow that pretty much summons it up for all of the people that are anti American. Well done. Although I do not agree with this it shows a real misunderstanding how the world works.
For 100 tons?? A typical 18 wheeler can carry more than 20 tons. 5 semis would be plenty to handle the load. If is going by ship, that’s 5 40 foot containers. That’s barely more than a rounding error on even a modest sized container ship. The smallest can carry 10,000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units), big ones are up to 25,000 TEUs.
The security costs likely overwhelm the pure shipping cost.
When you cannot refute the obvious fact, the easiest thing to do is to characterize it as “anti american”. This is as old as the republic itself.
When I lived in CA, Eric Swalwell was the congressman. In a townhall he was explaining why he is supporting the US-Iran nuclear deal. He was at great pains explaining in spite of Iran being a state sponsor of terrorism, US had to do this deal, etc. So someone asked about his support for Pakistan, a state that uses terrorism against India. Eric’s answer is Pakistan is not killing Jews, but Hindus. He realized it after he said that… he abruptly canceled the townhall… and walked out.
But that statement clearly captures American stand. Let us not forget Pakistan harbored Osama Bin Laden, but US has no problem in declaring them as “ally on war on terrorism”. US foreign policy is not build on any principles but transactional convenience. No nation had supported dictators, despots, military regimes, and sabotaged and thrown out democratically elected governments like US.
If pointing these inconvenient truths is anti-American, so be it.
Yes, I am. Because that’s what the article was about.
Of course, we’re both overlooking the fact that the article says the shipment was by air, not truck or boat.
But still, this shipment is a drop in the bucket. A quick search indicates over 50 million metric tons of freight are shipped by air annually. This 100 tons (whether short or long) is a small fraction of a percent of the global market.
No shipper is getting rich off of these kinds of gold shipments.
Hopefully, your comments were tongue in cheek and i just took it too seriously.