We know what’s coming and we are prepared.
🇩🇪🇺🇸 Where’s the gold? Germany’s conservatives sound the alarm over reserves in the US
Can the United States be trusted with Germany’s gold?
[S]ome politicians in Germany are worried that what was for decades seen as one of the world’s most reliable storehouses might not be so secure after all.
Germany holds the world’s second-largest gold reserves, and keeps 37 percent of them — some 1,236 metric tons, worth €113 billion — in the vaults of the New York Federal Reserve. Those holdings of precious metal guarantee that, should the need ever arise, the Bundesbank has access to something it can change into U.S. dollars (or any other hard currency).
The very idea that they might not be safe would have been considered ridiculous from 1945 ... until a couple of weeks ago. But the certainties of Germany’s postwar existence have been turned on their head and — as the recent scrapping of a notorious cap on public borrowing showed — the unthinkable is suddenly very thinkable indeed. All the more so given evidence of U.S. President Donald Trump’s willingness to push the limits of his powers and assert presidential primacy over the judicial system.
German tabloid Bild, owned by POLITICO parent company Axel Springer, reported on Thursday that outgoing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) lawmaker Marco Wanderwitz is one of those concerned.
Already in 2012, Wanderwitz had unsuccessfully requested to inspect the gold holdings as part of an effort to pressure the bank to either take a more active role as a custodian, or to repatriate it to Germany.
“Of course, the question now arises again,” Wanderwitz said in comments reported by Bild.
https://www.politico.eu/article/gold-germany-conservatives-sound-alarm-over-reserves-usa/
📝🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 - On the Brink: Showdown in the Middle East
Amid an escalating American buildup, it’s clear Witkoff’s list of demands is more of a request for surrender. Accepting the abolition of its nuclear program and limitations on its ballistic missile force would leave Iran powerless to defend itself in any future conflict, which is the entire point of asking for these “concessions”. This demarche is a poison pill meant to justify further action when Iran rightly refuses it or, should they be foolish enough to actually accept it, will make the job of Israel and the U.S. easier when they inevitably tear up any agreement to conduct strikes anyway. The goal here for Tel Aviv and Washington isn’t peace and anybody who thinks they actually care about protesters needs to get their head checked; they want a final showdown with Iran to remove it as an obstacle to themselves in the Middle East.
For those that don’t remember, in the lead up to the 12 Day War last year...
The Democrats got new talking points, but the question is why this sudden shift in direction that betrays a part of their lunatic base. Something really shifty is going on over there.
EDWARD DOWD
🇺🇸 White House: U.S. exits Hague tribunals and Venice Commission
The United States is withdrawing from two international criminal tribunals based in The Hague and from the Venice Commission, as part of a broader disengagement from 66 global organizations, according to a White House statement.
The U.S. will no longer participate in the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which prosecutes remaining cases from the former Yugoslavia and the Rwandan genocide. The move reflects a wider recalibration of American foreign policy under President Donald Trump, aimed at distancing the U.S. from bodies seen as undermining national sovereignty or offering limited return on investment.
This withdrawal underscores Washington’s shift away from multilateral judicial structures and toward a more unilateral, interest-driven approach in international affairs.
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