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Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

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Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#91

Post by [deleted] »

jeroenhd wrote: post #78
ggm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't this basically justify why they have qualms? To not seek to repatriate in this circumstance would seem politically unwise, if you value the gold. If of course it's just a bargaining tool, you would think there is a quit pro quo. Whilst the impact of a refusal to repatriate would be high remember the gold is probably not performing very much of a role, beyond a defensive one, and is nothing like the whole of t…

I wouldn't expect the US to care too much about things like "NATO allies" with a head of state that expressed repeated desire to leave NATO. > On what grounds could the US refuse? "You need our trade more than we need your trade" is a very useful property to have when it comes to international law. Putting people you don't like on sanction lists, like people investigating your ally's war crimes, also seems to work pr…

[deleted]

Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#92

Post by FpUser »

SuperShibe wrote: post #87

The Germans in this article all appear to be aligned to either BSW (populist far-left, pro-Russia, anti-US) or AfD (populist far-right, pro-Russia). BSW wasn't even elected into the parliament and AfD, while being part of the parliament, has virtually no power due to not being part of the government coalition and all other parties sharing an informal agreement to not pass legislations with the help of AfD. What I'm t…

So repatriating your own property is now pro-Russian propaganda? Unless country is defenseless what is wrong with keeping one's things at one's place

Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#93

Post by patrickk »

> A secret report by Germany’s Federal Audit Office leaked to the public last week states that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York refuses to allow Bundebank staff to even view the gold, triggering suspicions that the vaults are empty as well as calls for the gold to be shipped back to Berlin.

> The Fed implements stringent security controls, and refuses even Bundesbank staff full access to the German gold hoard. A team of personnel demanding access in 2007 were only allowed to visit the anteroom of the reserves, and when Bundebank auditors visited in May 2011 only one of nine compartments was opened for direct handling.

> The Federal Reserve’s fervent secrecy has engendered suspicion and concern, with some claiming that Germany’s gold has long ago disappeared or been lent out, and that only promissory notes of nominal value are sitting in the vault.

https://www.mining.com/germans-begin-to-demand-their-gold-ba...

Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#94

Post by petesergeant »

junga wrote: post #8
amelius wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or a deep sea diving movie

Honest question: does this necessarily require the physical transport of gold?

No, they could sell the gold in the US to purchase gold that’s already physically closer for a slight premium. Possibly that ends up being cheaper than actual transport.

Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#95

Post by tomw1808 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #81
reactordev wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Considering the US only has 8,000 tonnes of gold total, this is going to be interesting. I don’t think their gold is just sitting in a closet in manhattan.

https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/goldvault.html > As of 2024, the vault housed approximately 507,000 gold bars, with a combined weight of 6,331 metric tons. The vault is able to support this weight because it rests on the bedrock of Manhattan Island, 80 feet below street level and 50 feet below sea level. > Following the verification process, the gold is moved to one of the vault’s 122 compartments, where each…

actually the closet isn't fancy, its just the content.

Like HN, I don't visit the site for the great design, I come for the golden content.

...

Sry, I had to...

Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#96

Post by littlestymaar »

FpUser wrote: post #92
SuperShibe wrote: post #87

The Germans in this article all appear to be aligned to either BSW (populist far-left, pro-Russia, anti-US) or AfD (populist far-right, pro-Russia). BSW wasn't even elected into the parliament and AfD, while being part of the parliament, has virtually no power due to not being part of the government coalition and all other parties sharing an informal agreement to not pass legislations with the help of AfD. What I'm t…

So repatriating your own property is now pro-Russian propaganda? Unless country is defenseless what is wrong with keeping one's things at one's place

Both things can be true at once: the politicians talking can have legitimates arguments while being part of pro-Russian parties that don't have power in Germany and do not represent the German government opinion.

Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#97

Post by djtango »

quchen wrote: post #52
pixelpoet wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was famously answered by Archimedes in his Eureka moment: https://www.longlongtimeago.com/once-upon-a-time/great-disco...

No, that measures volume, not gold content. Anything at least as dense as gold, maybe with with gaps in it to match the density, and a layer of gold around it is indistinguishable from pure gold this way. A more reliable and still relatively cheap test is via conductivity.

Yes IIRC cutting with Tungsten is quite good at circumventing these tests

Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#98

Post by pydry »

FpUser wrote: post #92
SuperShibe wrote: post #87

The Germans in this article all appear to be aligned to either BSW (populist far-left, pro-Russia, anti-US) or AfD (populist far-right, pro-Russia). BSW wasn't even elected into the parliament and AfD, while being part of the parliament, has virtually no power due to not being part of the government coalition and all other parties sharing an informal agreement to not pass legislations with the help of AfD. What I'm t…

So repatriating your own property is now pro-Russian propaganda? Unless country is defenseless what is wrong with keeping one's things at one's place

In general America considers non puppets to be puppets of another country and considers only its own puppets to be truly "free".

This is as true in the middle east, europe, africa, south america or asia.

Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#99

Post by fanwood »

SuperShibe wrote: post #87

The Germans in this article all appear to be aligned to either BSW (populist far-left, pro-Russia, anti-US) or AfD (populist far-right, pro-Russia). BSW wasn't even elected into the parliament and AfD, while being part of the parliament, has virtually no power due to not being part of the government coalition and all other parties sharing an informal agreement to not pass legislations with the help of AfD. What I'm t…

It's still a very good idea given the US instability and complete lack of trust in this administration

Re: Germany and Italy pressed to bring $245B of gold home from US

#100

Post by vintermann »

bluecalm wrote: post #61
holowoodman wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The official line in Germany is actually that Ukraine most probably did it: https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/ndr-wdr/nordstream-17... https://www.br.de/nachrichten/deutschland-welt/nord-stream-s... https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/nord-stream-pipeline-explos... Knowledge or agreement by Selensky is unclear, but there seem to be hints. Poland might have been complicit or at least turned a blind eye and seems to…

From purely incentive based analysis I would bet on Ukraine/Poland as well. I am Polish and the news was received very warmly here by both citizens and government officials.

Even if someone else did it other than the obvious culprit, it could not have been done without US blessing and assistance.
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