How’s the gold valued exactly on the books?  Is it $50 (the stamped value) or $1,500 (the numismatic value) or is it $5,000 (the target SDR value) which happens to be exactly 1% of the book value coincidentally.

Dave has done a lot of traveling… a whole lot.  As much as 150 days a year.  Dave knows a thing or two about hotels and how to make sure your laptop, passport and wallet make it with you regardless of what may happen along the way.  According to this report, Russia’s Vladmir Putin is making connections between the arrest of Egyptian Banker Mahmoud Abdel Salam Omar and IMF Head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, both accused of assaulting maids at plush Manhattan Hotels.

If you read our recent piece on RICS Bricks, you know that Russia is obviously motivated to undermine the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  Even when you consider the obvious motivations, the similarities in these two scenarios is striking. 

What’s the connection between hotel maids and these two arrests?  According to Putin (see correction below), both of these men possessed secret knowledge that there was no gold in Fort Knox.  According to the article, the reason that Strauss-Kahn left his cell phone behind was because he did not want to be followed by authorities.  Even I have to admit that is an interesting twist on the plot. The odds of such an elusive action seem reasonable, but Putin’s assertion that there are rogue elements within the CIA that provided the report on the empty nature of Fort Knox’s gold supply seems far-fetched on the surface. Then again, Strauss-Kahn has hired a PR firm in the past that was comprised of former CIA agents (http://www.tdinternational.com/WilliamGreen.html).

Here’s the Omar story from CNBC:  http://www.cnbc.com/id/43221009

Here’s the Putin story from CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43214487

Here’s the story from the EU Times.  Be careful on this website it launches a load of pop-ups: http://www.eutimes.net/2011/05/russia-says-imf-chief-jailed-for-discovering-all-us-gold-is-gone/

Here’s an interview with Grigory Marchenko, head of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, the man who would appear to be Russia’s choice to head the IMF. His own description of his qualifications as including “3 weeks of training” at the IMF shows his lack of political savvy. Then again, that’s probably a good thing. The interesting portion of the interview comes after the ten minute mark. The most important question for him would be who participates in the “collective mind” that he alludes to.

Keep in mind that RT.com is backed by the Russian Government and therefore the possibility that its reports promote the agenda of the Russian political leadership is likely. Also, it seems very strange to Dave that the IMF would have concerns that the sale of $15 billion in gold would in some way upset the gold market. http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/faq/goldfaqs.htm

According to this previous May 21 story from The Sun, it was Putin that wanted Strauss-Kahn out as head of the IMF.  If that was true, it may be another motivation for the Russian leader to direct the attention to the U.S.: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3593263/Russian-PM-Vladimir-Putin-bid-to-wreck-IMF-boss-Dominique-Strauss-Kahn.html

To Dave, the entire operation reeks of one too many counter-intelligence operative cooks in the kitchen. I have searched high and low for the FSB secret report that was reportedly posted to the Kremlin’s website. So far I am unable to find it.

Here’s a link to the original piece on RICs Bricks and the Hong Kong gold mercantile exchange.  The way Dave sees it, there was probably a connection between the sale of the IMF’s gold and the arrangements to clear through LCH Clearnet.  If so, then that begs the question as to the role of the CLS Bank as a possible loophole to avoid the Dodd-Frank requirements and the concept that Strauss-Kahn was disrupting this in some fashion.  In other words, if this arrangement would have been subject to Dodd-Frank, then it would have placed unwanted burdens on the ability to leverage the gold being sold by the IMF.  In the case of a 1% fractional reserve, $15 billion becomes $1.5 trillion and everything starts making sense.  Don’t try to buffalo Dave, because you might just end up on the receiving end of a stampede: http://tradewithdave.com/?p=6291

According to the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005, under which these gold coins were minted, they are legal tender according to setion 5103.  However, according to 5134 and 5136 they are numismatic.  Which is it $50 or $5,000?  Something’s cookin’ in the kitchen and it don’t smell like fried chicken.  http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ145.109.pdf

CORRECTION:  Here’s what the EU Times has to say about the credibility of their stories and their sources:

The European Union Times also known as The EU Times is an online copyrighted newspaper.  Most articles have external “credible” sources cited at the end of each article with the click-able word “Source”. If you click on “Source” you will end-up to an external source.

Dave commentary:  The portions of the story above that attempt to connect Putin with the fact that “Russia said” appears to be erroneous and was propogated by the EU Times and someone named Sorcha Faal.  Hard to say exactly what is happening here.  Whatever it is it stinks.

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http://tradewithdave.com/?p=6640

June 2, 2011