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Fri, 05 Nov 2021
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Gold Bar

WGC says gold demand up 42% as countries abandon US dollar in expectation of geopolitical shift

Gold bars
© Reuters/Umit Bektas
Central banks around the world are turning to gold as an alternative to the US dollar, which they see as being undermined by America's aggressive trade policy and geopolitical uncertainty.

Demand for gold was up 42 percent year on year in the first quarter of 2018 among central banks, the World Gold Council (WGC) statistics say. Russia and Turkey are the largest net buyers.

Central banks added a net total of 193.3 tons of bullion in the half of 2018, an 8 percent increase from the 178.6 tons bought in the same period last year. This marks the strongest six months for central bank gold buying since 2015, the WGC notes.

Comment: There has been an increasing amount of news coverage on the stockpiling of gold:


Attention

Diplomat tells UN: Yes, Russia is getting ready for war - in case US attacks

Russian soldies
© Global Look Press / Kalashnikov Media
A Russian diplomat has both confirmed and denied what US war hawks have been calling out. Moscow is indeed preparing for war, he said - just in case the US starts one.

Speaking at the UN on Friday, Andrey Belousov, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Nonproliferation and Arms Control, said that Russia is indeed readying itself for war, so it can defend its people against American aggression.

At a recent meeting, the US stated that Russia is preparing for war. "Yes, Russia is preparing for war, I can confirm it."

Russia's military build-up and large-scale drills, often painted in the Western media as preparations for all-out war, are a defensive necessity, he said.

"We are preparing to defend our homeland, our territorial integrity, our principles, our values, our people."

Tornado1

Republicans & Democrats May Bark And Bite, But The Migrant Caravan Moves on

migrant caravan

'USA, here we come!'
On the eve of midterms, thousands of migrants are streaming towards the US through Mexico with dreams of entering America. The crisis has turned into a slippery political football in a coliseum called Washington.

For those of us living cozy, self-indulgent lives, complete with cappuccino mornings and cocktail sunsets, it is hard to imagine a level of economic deprivation so severe it could actually force people to pack their bags and trek thousands of miles in search of some semblance of happiness.

Yet that is exactly what is happening now as an estimated 10,000 poverty-stricken migrants, the majority from Honduras, have set off on a modern-day odyssey in the hope of reaching the 'Promised Land,' where potholes are filled with gold and cotton candy hangs heavy from trees. But what has made this march particularly sensational is that it is happening at the most pivotal moment as far as American politics is concerned.

Eye 1

Russia confirms US coordinated terrorist drone attack on Khmeimim airbase

S-400
© Sputnik / Dmitriy Vinogradov
Considering US behavior in Syria and the capabilities of Russian anti-aircraft defense systems, there can be no doubts: the Russian Defense has accurate and reliable data on the recent drone attack on the Russian base area of ​​Hymenim in Syria, military specialist

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin recently stated that a US reconnaissance aircraft coordinated the massive drone attack on Hmeymim's Russian airbase in Syria.

According to the deputy minister, it was an American Poseidon "with modern equipment" that carried out the control of the drones in that case.

Comment: Also see:


Eye 1

Delusional Tory MP claims Russia is "trying to damage UK democracy" calls for "foreign powers act"

russia uk flag
© REUTERS / PETER NICHOLLS
A Tory MP claims Britain must adopt a 'foreign powers act' to curb Russian influence that is threatening UK democracy, and warned that politicians must not be "paid influencers for others" - but why focus only on Russia?

Writing in The Times, Tory MP Bob Seely called on the UK government to consider the introduction of a 'foreign powers act,' in light of recent controversy surrounding House of Lords peers, such as Lord Greg Barker, who has come under scrutiny for his role as chairman of Russian energy firm EN+.

Seely, MP for the Isle of Wight, claims that British politicians acting as lobbyists for an "adversarial power" such as Russia, who he says is attempting to undermine UK democracy, looks dreadful.

"It's not just the accusations of lobbying but also the lack of transparency. Peers lobbying in private in support of a self-proclaimed adversarial power looks dreadful. Russia is trying to damage the credibility of democracy. If it can create division, it will do so," he wrote.

Comment: For more on the actual nefarious relationships with corrupt regimes, like Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the US, see: And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Perfidious Albion: If Russia is a Rogue State, What is the UK?


Newspaper

Business as usual: British Prince Andrew wants to strengthen Saudi ties, following Khashoggi murder

British Queen with MBS
© Reuters / Pool
Britain's Queen Elizabeth greets Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
Prince Andrew has come under fire after insisting he wants to build closer links with Saudi Arabia, via his Pitch@Palace initiative, despite the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the ongoing war in Yemen.

The Duke of York was addressing a host of entrepreneurs at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi on Thursday when he made his comments - declaring that he hoped his initiative would expand into other Gulf states and also Saudi Arabia.

"We have been expanding over the past two years to include other members of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)," the Duke of York said.

Comment: As we've been saying for two decades now, psychopaths rule our world.


Bad Guys

Russia's FSB busts Daesh terror cell planning 'high-profile' attacks in Moscow

FSB anti-terrorist

The undated photo shows the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Alpha Spetsnaz unit during an anti-terrorism maneuver.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has dismantled a Daesh Takfiri terror cell reportedly planning to execute "high-profile" terrorist attacks in Moscow.

The FSB announced the arrests on Friday by releasing a report stating that the terrorists arrested in the Moscow region were guided by Syria-based agents originating from Central Asia, adding that "the detained persons planned to carry out high-profile terrorist attacks in Moscow, using both firearms and improvised explosive devices. Automatic firearms had been confiscated during searches, as well as money, communication means, reports about preparations for terrorist attacks, and a manual for putting together homemade explosive devices."

The FSB further claimed the group had also taken part in "serious crimes" in order to fund its activities, alongside resources it had already received from abroad, further detailing that "the cell members took every possible effort to keep their activities secret and avoid drawing the attention of law enforcement agencies."


Comment: See also: Central Asian states have become a 'terrorist breeding ground'


Attention

Paul Craig Roberts: The Triumph of Evil

USA trump saudi arms sales
The murder of Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey is unprecedented in its audacity. The response from Washington and the Canadian government is to sell more weapons to Saudi Arabia, weapons that are being used by the Saudis in their destruction of the Yemeni population. The Russian response, if the report I saw was not fake news, is to sell the Saudis the S-400 air defense system.

What we can conclude from this is that armament profits take precedence over murder and genocide.

Genocide is what is going on in Yemen. I heard a report today on NPR that Yemeni are dying from starvation and from a cholera epidemic that has resulted from the Saudi destruction of the infrastructure in Yemen. The aid worker giving the report was obviously sincere and upset, but had difficulty connecting the high death rate to the Washington-sponsored war, blaming instead a 20% devaluation of the Yemen currency that raised food prices out of the reach of most Yemeni. She said that the solution to the crisis was to stabilize the currency!

It is difficult to understand why in the Western media and among Western politicians there is so much demonization of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, China, and Russia. It is not these demonized countries that are murdering people in their embassies, conducting wars of aggression (war crimes under the Nuremburg Standard), and embargoing food and medical supplies to the populations that are being bombed. These crimes are being done by Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States and its NATO vassals.

Obviously, the Yemeni, like the Palestinians, don't count. Their slaughter doesn't cause a moral ripple in the West.

Jet1

So many people are employed selling arms to the Saudis, it would be unfair to kick them out of a job

Saudi arms deal cartoon
© Peter Brookes

This is a different situation to Iraq, because the arms we sell to Saudi Arabia are real, and therefore fairly harmless, whereas Saddam had those non-existent ones, and those things are lethal


It's clear now that what Jeremy Corbyn should have done every time he met a Middle Eastern politician "linked to violence". Instead of speaking in a meeting with them and shaking their hand, he should have behaved responsibly, and sold them £4.7bn worth of weapons like we do with Saudi Arabia.

Even the CIA now seems to accept the Saudis murdered their opponent by dismembering him and disposing of him in boxes. This is why it's alright to continue selling them arms, because at least they're tidy.

It's the tyrants who leave bits everywhere we should be tough with, because it would be immoral to sell Tornado fighter planes to a regime that left it to the cleaners to clear up after they'd murdered someone.

Comment: He was doing so well until that last bit.

Trump has unequivocally condemned the 'mail-bomb attacks'. And while Democrat public figures may not have themselves concocted this pre-election scheme, the deep state interests in 'the intelligence community' who pull their strings almost certainly did.

Anyway, on Saudi Arabia, it's great to see MSM reporters finally engage a bit of dark humor when commenting on the absurdity of it all.


Oil Well

Rosneft CEO: US sanctions are attempt to dominate global oil markets

Oil workers
© Reuters / Jim Urquhart
Sanctions, imposed by Washington against Russia and other countries, are nothing but an attempt to promote US companies in energy and other global markets, said Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin.

According to Sechin, the US "gets used to the role of the regulator of the world oil market," by replacing OPEC with the "US-PEC." In attempting to reach its goals, the US just ignores the interests of the rest of the world.

For example, sanctions against Russia and Moscow's retaliation hurts key US ally, Germany, Sechin says.

"The US accounted for only about 0.6 percent of the losses from the sanctions imposed against Russia, while Germany faced as much as 40 percent of the losses," said the head of Rosneft at the XI Eurasian Economic Forum in Verona on Thursday.