Gold Instead of the Dollar: What Are Russia and China Planning? — Krapivnik and Henningsen

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]Israelis are now buying up uh property all over southern Cyprus and they're locking the Greeks out. By the way, that's the native population.

[00:00:09]>> Uh and they also made a uh demand that the Greeks uh start rent to own Aian Islands to them.

[00:00:18]>> Oh yeah. These people don't they don't have any kind of Yeah. Yeah. Rent us out these islands and we'll eventually buy them from you. settlements like it'll be settlements. [snorts] Yeah, settlements in Greece. I mean, why not? It's uh so they have a lot of fa faith in the Holy Land clearly.

[00:00:37]>> Oh, yeah. Well, yeah, they there's 300,000 are going to be building a new colony in Argentina.

[00:00:43]>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, why what what are they hedging for there? I can't imagine.

[00:00:48]Um is are they down in southern Argentina? Are they baroce? Uh they are there was a law that was passed that any damaged uh natural reserves or fire damage could be sold to foreigners >> and then there's [clears throat] a lot of uh videos coming out of people setting fire uh to the >> big controversy before. Yeah.

[00:01:10]>> And now apparently they're going to uh have a a 300,000 man colony there. I I think it's in the south and you know uh coincidentally [snorts] berilloce in these areas were were settled by another uh wave of um uh immigrants uh after the second world war uh the ones that had uh you know with the pink swastikas on their socks.

[00:01:34]>> Yeah.

[00:01:35]>> Um those guys um they went down there the same place. It's so funny uh how history rhymes.

[00:01:43]>> It is, isn't it? uh you know the first time history rhymes well that first time history repeats as a tragedy second time it's a farce so yeah it's it's amazing it's it's absolutely amazing to watch this uh the way it's unfolding but and then again you know we' started talking about uh the Trump crime syndicate and people go oh derangement syndrome yeah but you know when you steal Venezuelan oil using the US milit military uh and uh Half of it's supposed to go to back to Venezuela somehow or other, but you know, in theory anyways. And the rest goes to an offshore non-transparent slush fund.

[00:02:23]>> Yeah. Yep.

[00:02:25]>> How does that work again?

[00:02:28]Well, remember when they were explaining this when Rubio was saying, "No, no, no.

[00:02:32]We're going to uh we're going to we're going to take their oil and then sell it at market value." I remember very clearly that was the sales pitch. But, you know, the way he explained it was like, well, we're going to sell it for them. Yeah.

[00:02:44]>> And then, you know, give them all the money. And I'm thinking to myself, because in order for them to help the Venezuelan people, I said, why didn't you just lift sanctions then? You know, let them sell it on the market at market value. Like, what's the difference? So, they they weren't being straight. And there is a lot of theft and embezzlement going on um to selected people who are given opportunities not just no bid contracts but like opportunities to be involved in handling facilitating certain things. The reason Trump is uh absolutely livid about the straits of Hormuse is when when he really started going uh postal on that was when Iran started charging.

[00:03:28]>> Okay. That's when Trump that's when that that's when his alarm goes off cuz he's like I want that money.

[00:03:33]>> Oh yeah.

[00:03:34]>> They're like daily metered traffic through I want that money.

[00:03:37]>> Yeah.

[00:03:38]>> Like how dare they? That's ours. You know that's our money. That's that's the mentality.

[00:03:44]>> I know it's yours is also >> that's the mentality. You know >> that's that's that's what he was really upset about. you and and and of course whatever his Israeli coterie is, they would want to position themselves either or his sons or Jared or whoever and they they will stable coin it.

[00:04:04]they'll stable coin it >> and that's exactly and they're just thinking wow you know this is wow we could really really use this one right now you know that'll just set us up for another hundred years but um that's how these people are thinking uh what the the Cuba thing is just quite frankly disgusting on a level that is very hard to even articulate Venezuela was bad but this idea that Cuba needs to be punished and we're going to bring freedom and and and and love and democracy to them after we've been punishing them with a brutal embargo. Cuba's done nothing to the US.

[00:04:42]And if you're still grinding the acts of the Batista regime and the collectivization programs that came in with Castro, that was 70 years ago.

[00:04:51]>> Well, how much of that is being run by uh our our little friend there, Marco Rubio?

[00:04:57]>> Well, yeah, he does. He does have feel like he's got his little stake here. He sees himself as, you know, like like he is like um he's so he's got two job titles right now. National security adviser and secretary of state.

[00:05:12]>> His third job is campaigning for 2028 for president. That's his third job. Uh footman to the Israeli lobby. There's a fourth job. Fifth job, voice viceroy of Venezuela unofficially. And sixth job is viceroy of uh Cuba, the the the free republic of Cuba uh presided over by viceroy Marco Rubio.

[00:05:36]Well, you know, in his a lot of people don't know this about Marco Rubio, but his the roots of his family and he mentioned in his speech in Spain, uh his family uh comes from that middling aristocracy in the Spanish Empire that was used actually as viceroys in the different colonies. So his his ancestors were viceroy over Cuba and other areas.

[00:06:00]And he even says that, you know, they'd be shocked if they knew that the uh uh you know, the the offspring of uh his so- and so clan has returned and is now, you know, reading this lecture to to the Spanish government and all that, but and I think in his mind, you know, that's that's his aim. He he wants to be he quite literally wants to be the viceroy of these territories, basically the local undisputed ruler in in somebody else's name, but still the the local undisputed. He's um he's very friendly with the Nabboa family in uh Ecuador and uh implicated in the massive cocaine trafficking uh into Europe and hidden in Nabboa banana fruit packages, >> the Nabboa uh fruit company, I think it's called. Um, and then also tangential to uh another big cocaine trafficker, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who now we found out recently that Israel for some reason was very very uh interested in lifting his getting him pardoned and they put the pressure on Trump. Probably Rubio was involved in that as well because you're talking about Israel, you're talking about Rubio, you know, you're talking about Paul Singer. Paul Singer got got a nice little uh spiv uh off of uh the pain and suffering of this of the Venezuelan people by hoovering up the distressed assets of the uh um Sitco uh what the remains of Sitco the Venezuelan state petroleum company after the United States uh uh through sanctioning managed to bankrupt their foreign subsidiaries and then Paul Singer comes in the billion in and then to get paid back from his lousy assets. The payoff was the US invading and taking over Venezuela and taking control of the oil and he positioned himself to profit off that as well. So yeah, that's how business is going right now.

[00:07:52]>> But do you think Venezuela is over? I mean, look, we we understand Rodriguez sold out. Uh but then again, there's a lot of people around Rodriguez that aren't exactly happy with that. Then there's uh Machada and her crew that just got tossed under the bus even after she gave her uh Nobel Peace Prize. She didn't earn it anyways, but at least she didn't give away the million dollar portion of it to Trump.

[00:08:15]>> She gave it to Trump. I mean, stupidest thing. And so >> I mean, talk about graveling at that point. God, that that's got to go. She needs a separate prize for for graveling. Uh that and then she gets tossed. She gets tossed under the bus.

[00:08:28]>> Yeah, it's it's really bad. Um, I I I don't know the extent.

[00:08:35]Craig Murray might know more than anybody, but I don't know the extent to which Deli Rodriguez, the vice president, quote, sold out. It I'm sure it was much more complicated than that sort of straightforward assessment. Um, because you're, you know, that place would be crawling with CIA operatives.

[00:08:56]Oh, yeah.

[00:08:57]>> For decades. So, I'm sure they had a hundred different ways to triangulate um the the the people in power there, but I will say that um I can say it's what normally happens with these US operations is they don't deliver anything after the fact. Um in fact, the economy will generally get worse. The the wealth gap will generally increase.

[00:09:22]uh there'll be more corruption and pilfering and then and then so that that's only going to embolden the Chavista movement and and all the grassroots movements and and young socialists will will will catch on to the messaging of their elders as it were and it these things tend to revitalize like things like the Chavista movement.

[00:09:44]So I think and that's they can't stop you can't stop popular movements especially when it's very clear that what was promised you got the opposite.

[00:09:55]I mean look at the United States. I mean, even a country that's so like anodine and totally cocked like America, the American political system that they're even, you know, they're threat they will and perhaps could threaten to overturn the fake populist uh revolution of of MAGA. Um with a counterrevolution that's probably more uh more sort of tethered to reality, uh you could say. Um, and and the economy is a big part of that. Trump didn't deliver. Same with Venezuela. I I can't see how they're going to they're going to deliver. You know, the problem is even with sanctions, what happens is, and this is the thing about Venezuela, listen, the the the the economic uh the financial department in the government of Nicholas Maduro, they took a situation of hyperinflation that was one of the worst in history. Literally, you could just burn the money. It was just spiraling out of control. Spend your paycheck by if you got it on Friday, spend it on before Monday.

[00:11:01]Otherwise, it's going to be worthless, right?

[00:11:03]>> So, they they turned that around >> to the point where they almost got they capped they got inflation down to under 10% a year at one point. The anybody that does that after being the target of economic warfare where everything's in freef fall for like two years like 400 500% inflation to to to rein that in to get under and stable like they deserve uh some kind of major award and all gold medals in like for Nobel Prize in economics because and they while they're under sanctions while they're under embargo I mean so that's not an incomp competent government. In my opinion, that's a very competent government. And and so [clears throat] the US was probably insensed by their comeback story in Venezuela. That's why they went in hard and heavy to take out Maduro.

[00:11:58]And they'll say, "Oh, Maduro was corrupt. He threw the last election."

[00:12:01]Well, he you say he threw the last election according to who? Venezuelan NOS's in New York City. Yeah.

[00:12:07]>> In Miami. Like really show us the receipts. how did he uh uh steal the election uh the the last election. So that that's never been made clear. The other thing is and I don't want to get off on a too much of a tangent, but when your country is under attack of subtrafuge by NOS's, Soros, USCID, CIA, NE, plus the external manipulation of your economy, your currency, and you've got literally spooks running around everywhere in your country. and causing literal riots at the border with Colombia a couple of years ago and literally trying to destabilize your country.

[00:12:48]>> Right?

[00:12:49]>> If the government puts a heavy hand down at some point during elections, so what?

[00:12:56]It's within their purview to do a certain amount of that because you're talking about stability, national stability. And stability for any government comes first. And you can audit it, you can criticize this. Oh, that wasn't done right. Oh, they broke procedure there. Fine. But, you know, if you're in charge and you're running things, you can't just let it all go to pot because people can die and get killed and a lot of harm can be done.

[00:13:23]So, that that's what Venezuelan government did. As far as my study of that situation, >> the um well, you know, the the one thing I I can say that they did badly uh in my opinion is they used a lot of the money out of the oil and gas industry uh for the social projects because that's why the oil and gas industry went down because there was enough money. But on the flip side, the US also banned exporting any equipment uh to to But the real question though is why did they leave their reserves in the US?

[00:13:58]>> You know what? This is a good question.

[00:14:00]Why did they leave their gold reserves in the UK?

[00:14:03]>> Yeah.

[00:14:03]>> Uh because they were promised at the time, see things have been done that nobody could have foreseen like the abrogation of international law, the piracy, the theft. um a lot of 20 years ago there's like there was this no matter how bad it was that people were going still going to play good cricket on certain things [laughter] and uh and so they they probably got nice return leasing their gold out to a New York bank getting a nice little return. Um it's literally money for nothing. The only problem is what happens when you ask for it back.

[00:14:38]>> Yeah. Yeah. The Germans found out what happens when they ask for your money back. When >> [laughter] >> uh did Merkel ever get her whole reserves back? I don't know.

[00:14:45][clears throat] I don't know. That's a That's another one. Yeah. So, um Yeah.

[00:14:51]So, Venezuela, same sort of boat.

[00:14:53]They're in there. Um that story is not over. That story is not over. I I don't >> I don't think it is. I don't think it Yeah. You know, let's see. When was the last time uh there was a full audit of Fort Knox? I think it was 1956, somewhere around there. 1958. I mean physical, not just counting, but actually uh drilling, taking core samples to make sure it's actual gold all the way through, you know, things like that. I think that was just done once in like 1958 >> and everybody just trusts.

[00:15:25]>> Yeah.

[00:15:27]Yep.

[00:15:28]>> You say, Yeah. It's interesting. R Russia shipped um quite a bit of gold.

[00:15:32]They've exported quite a bit of gold in the last um couple of uh six months or so. That's not that that that's actually I mean someone might look at it like oh that's crisis management or they're in trouble but actually no Russia's been steadily accumulating gold for the last 10 years >> and strategically and so is China and that's what it's for. you know, you've got it. You you use it to get things like foreign currency or you use it to be uh to to rebalance your books. Uh if your economy looks like it's a little bit on the shake and Russia's quite adept at this, they've proven they've absolutely proven their metal financially since 200 I would say since 2013.

[00:16:18]Russia has shown at every every single uh turn that they are able to engineer uh stability on their with their economy. They've been able to balance out their domestic payments, their other obligations.

[00:16:33]And you know, Christina Lagarde was like completely blown away by the skill of the Russian uh e economists and and Putin's finds. You could see it at the St. Petersburg economic forum. She just like yeah you know almost like in awe of the like the financial juristp prudence of Russia you know [laughter] she could see as a banker as a major central banker she she respected them and that says a lot >> the Russian there's some that that's flown under the radar in the west but the Russian government opened a uh opened a market for gold a St. Petersburg uh stock market uh strictly for physical gold, no paper on gold. And you had to bring that physical gold in uh it goes into a holding bank and within 24 hours the the purchaser gets his physical gold. Um and that came in last November. And right I mean gold right now is down because everybody's needing liquidity thanks to Uncle Uncle Trump. But gold started going up because uh [snorts] you know this is actual physical gold and city of London and Wall Street have no control over you know making it's absolute transparent.

[00:17:49]It's price fixing uh at at the market level. You can see how that price is well price fix price discovery that's the proper word. Meanwhile you got price fixing uh in the west because you know everybody knows gold is well below its market value.

[00:18:05]>> Yeah. So I don't know how they respond to that one.

[00:18:10]>> Yeah. I mean um the per capita Russia and China have acquired the most in gold reserves um in the last 10 15 years. And so there's a lot of and and the the gold that Russia's passing to China right now it's still staying within the bricks world.

[00:18:30]So you you just have this more bigger accumulation of of gold reserves between BRICS countries between Russia and China and um and so yeah, they're in a very very strong position to back u some kind of an international SDR or currency that's backed by a basket of commodities including gold but not exclusively but that's a big one if you want to talk about anchoring uh the trust in your money or finan natural system of the value of your currency and you've got decent gold reserves and you've got oil and you've got other minerals let's say it it's the ideal basket of currency so so you have the resource workhouse of the world which is the Russian Federation you have the manufacturing workhouse which is China um so that creates a nice anchor um for that sort of bricks global south uh constellation of let's say you know where the money is shift ing right now where where business is shifting where political power is shifting.

[00:19:34]>> Don't don't forget though and people forget this Russia has the fourth largest manufacturing base in the world too. It's a lot smaller in China but you know it's somewhere between uh the US and India on the side. Russia has a very large and I I spent a lot of time in heavy uh manufacturing heavy equipment and parts because you know oil gas services supply chain side and I've watched a lot of these businesses go from total wrecks to looking brand new uh you know massive investments upgrades uh new companies opening up. So there there's a large manufacturing base there.

[00:20:09]>> Yeah. Russia's also very people don't um don't many don't know Russia's very strong in construction bu and building and engineering um I mean they're the best in among the best in the world undoubtedly >> Kirch bridge how many people said that thing would never exist you can't build a bridge there or >> oh that one >> state bridge yeah it's all uh CGI I I've been on that bridge it's not CGI >> but did did they not build that in record time.

[00:20:40]>> Yeah.

[00:20:40]>> I mean, even even from a Chinese workflow standpoint, it was quick.

[00:20:45]>> And it's actually two bridges >> because you have the [clears throat] automobile bridge and parallel you have a rail line.

[00:20:50]>> That's right.

[00:20:51]>> That's actually a separate bridge, separate platform, a bit lower going down the whole length >> and it's been attacked with uh direct military strikes and uh to my knowledge, it's uh it it recovered. They managed to to repair it very quickly.

[00:21:07]>> It's 16 km. I mean, you can't blow the whole thing up. I mean, it gets you good, but it's going to take up quite a bit of effort. If you blow any one small section up, it takes about a month to repair it, uh, bring it in. So, yeah, they they did they they the Ukrainians did it twice. They did it with a a truck bomb. And apparently that truck driver had no clue what he was driving across it.

[00:21:28]>> Uh, and he the second time it was a I think a drone uh that took out from underneath.

[00:21:34]>> But again, they blew up one arch. uh part of the bridge is closed and yeah they still had traffic going on in the other lanes and then they had to replace uh that portion.

[00:21:44]>> Yeah, that that uh that is in the the peninsula not not on the Crimean side but on the the Russian side that's where some of the best red wine in the world is made by the way.

[00:21:57]>> Yep.

[00:21:58]>> It's among the best in the world.

[00:22:00]There's a few uh famous places there.

[00:22:03]that area is uh great agriculture uh land.

[00:22:08]>> An interesting thing be before 2022 uh the Italians were actually buying a lot of the grape grape material uh from Russia for their wines. It's not not something they advertised very often. If you looked in the right place and you'd pop up, you'd see exports to Italy, grape material, things like that, wine materials. But yeah, they they they were doing that. So >> yeah, Kazia, that whole area, it's absolutely perfect >> uh growing conditions. Georgia, obviously Georgia has this long and storied great uh agricultural and and vineyard history.

[00:22:46]>> Oh yeah. Yeah.

[00:22:47]>> As well, >> by Georgia legend, that's all the wine came from Georgia. That was [laughter] I don't know how much I trust that, but you know, >> the Bible probably in the Bible. Yeah.

[00:22:57]all the way back to biblical times.

[00:23:00]>> God promised us wine here. That that's why we got wine, you know. Um but yeah, that that that's true. That's very true.

[00:23:07]And and they underestimate all of it on a constant basis. Don't really hear much about it in the West.

[00:23:14]>> Yeah.

[00:23:14]>> Just ignore it. Go away. Those are things to fall back on because you know infrastructure, engineering, construction, uh internal industries, uh commodities, resources. And so no matter what happening with the fluctuations of the tumultuous global financial over overly leveraged financialized economy, those fundamentals are very much solidly in place. And it means that those countries that have those can weather the storm.

[00:23:45]Iran's one of those.

[00:23:46]>> Yep.

[00:23:47]>> Iran. Iran's one of those. China can weather the storm. Uh just by the sheer nature of their economic prowess and their cap massive capabilities on every front. Russia of course from a resource point of view. You know, oil crisis, energy crisis, it's not going to be a domestic crisis for them per se. or gasoline or pro has gone up about uh seven rubles, six rubles or >> Yeah. And that's a crisis.

[00:24:17]>> Yeah. Well, we produce most of it.

[00:24:19][laughter] >> There's Russians complaining about that right now. Seven rubles.

[00:24:23]>> It's outrageous.

[00:24:24]>> Of course. Of course. [laughter] You know, and that's that's one of those little interesting points because quite literally the country can block itself off from the rest of the world and and it may not have all the high tech that it needs, but it can survive, it can feed itself, and it can continue prospering, continue building. It's got basically everything it needs.

[00:24:45]>> Yeah. No, the US that's the US um that's behind the kind of uh Fortress USA uh grand strategy thought >> is that the US can pull its draw bridges up, the whole world can go to hell in a hand basket and they'll just like show up to sweep up the ashes afterwards. But the the difference between the US and Russia is Russia's attached to the European continent and the whole of Asia. So they they they always they're always going to have a viable export trade no matter what. So aside from the domestic economy and situation, they have constant viable clients for export.

[00:25:22]And the United States if they make enemies with the entire world and decide to invade, attack, strangle, abuse, pillage, and plunder everybody, including everybody in the Western Hemisphere, they might find problems at some point with their external trade.

[00:25:40]And I think Trump's kind of shown with the tariff wars um how illconceived ideas of you know US hedgeimonyy can backfire badly.

[00:25:52]>> Yeah.

[00:25:53]>> Yeah. Because you know belt and road initiative it's a whole job is to avoid the US Navy >> you know go go around it. But what has the US, you know, the US, I remember the US came up with lots of different theories of what they're gonna the counter belt and the road initiatives and things like that. But at the end of the day, what have they come up with?

[00:26:12]We'll just call revolutions in your countries along the way. I mean, other than that, what what have they what have they got to offer the world? What what I'm not I'm not talking about, you know, you had the American dream. I mean, that's dead. That's obviously anybody in the US that's dead. So, what Okay. So what's your civilizational idea now?

[00:26:32]>> Right. Yeah. What's your compelling future for the world? What are you selling? Right.

[00:26:37]>> Rape and pillage. [laughter] >> The punishment. All all stick, no carrot.

[00:26:42]>> Yeah.

[00:26:42]>> You know, >> well, we get your owners rich and then the rest of you peasants can go die off.

[00:26:47]Um >> it's it's not a clear sales pitch right now. That's the problem. People don't understand, you know, that's the source of US power.

[00:26:54]>> Yeah.

[00:26:55]>> It's it's it's an idea. It's it's the perception of being an honest broker.

[00:27:00]The perception of being uh a a good resourceful ally whether they are honest or whether they are always an ally that's another argument but it's that perception. Everything rests on that.

[00:27:14]>> Absolutely.

[00:27:15]>> And when you lose that you lose your power. That's what I learned studying international relations in history is that is really that once you lose that level of confidence then it's just a question of time before everything begins to collapse and I think they're in that phase now.

[00:27:33]>> You know Hollywood is actually one of the best weapons the US used to have.

[00:27:38]>> Absolutely.

[00:27:38]>> Hollywood produced movies that gave you hope. Oh look how life is great here.

[00:27:43]Everybody's cool. They're partying.

[00:27:45]It's, you know, it's, you know, they're living it up. Of course, now Hollywood just produces absolute crap that nobody wants to see, period. Uh, it's it's preachy, annoying, and depressing. But that Hollywood was actually that hope that they were projecting was actually a very powerful weapon. the big the most powerful the most the most you know I I could get into it but that you know the US government filmed or they sorry they funded all the cinemas in France after the war >> really >> to yes very pro- US films and because that was they they believe that was their best shot to balance off the the the socialist political forces uh in France after the for so this has always been a big priority you know film and uh TV and and stuff like that and it is it is powerful but they stopped but they they started concentrating less on heroes and more on villains in Hollywood and dystopic uh not compelling so compelling futures and that's what and I think it's now just begun to fold in on itself >> uh because it lost that magic that it was exporting as you rightly say you So it's they went to they went dark basically >> dark and dystopic.

[00:29:05]>> They have if you look at if you look at the the movies in the 60s and the 70s you know the dark movies most of them weren't that dark uh to begin with. Uh but they were a lot more the you know the Jimmy Stewart type movies that people remember. It's like wow yeah I want to live like that. I want to have that house and the Christmas tree and all that. And now it's, you know, it I mean, if you just look at the number of movies, um, if you look at just the number of movies, uh, that, uh, are just post-apocalyptic. I think it's like every second one. Zombies, aliens, just >> Yeah, the Earth has been destroyed 100 times over in Hollywood. Are you talking about, you know, [laughter] but um, >> there was even a joke. Uh, it was an Russian joke. Uh, a boy's asking his grandpa, "Grandpa, why in the American movies the aliens always attacking America?" It's like, "They know where the bad guys live." [laughter] That's that's the answer. So, it's But, you know, that's that just a reflection of of society as a whole. So, Patrick, I want to thank you. Uh, we we got a a hard uh stop. I got a another call coming up.

[00:30:21]>> I want to thank you for for joining. Uh I'd love to continue the conversation.

[00:30:26]>> Yeah, it's been an absolute pleasure.

[00:30:27]Thanks, Dus.

[00:30:28]>> It's always a pleasure. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Uh leave your comments uh and ask questions.

[00:30:34]Questions, that that's the key.