Asking for Vide-Gousset.

Over the last two years India's central bank has been bringing our gold back to India, "physically moving bullion that was stored in vaults abroad to domestic storage inside India." "The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) held 880.52 metric tonnes of gold as of end-March 2026," constituting 16.7% of India's foreign exchange reserves. The total value of our gold reserves is Rs 8.36 trillion and the value of the 680.05 tonnes stored in India is Rs 6.46 trillion. Zee. If RBI's move was a masterstroke, the Banque de France executed a double masterstroke. Instead of physically transferring the gold bars, "Between July 2025 and January 2026, it sold 129 tonnes of older non-standard gold bars" at record high prices at the time. "It then used the proceeds to purchase higher standard bullion on the European market and stored it in Paris." Making a profit of 12.8 billion euros. ET. From 1963 to 1966, "France secretly repatriated a vast portion of its gold -- in an operation dubbed Vide-Gousset (French for emptying the pocket). Under the operation, France brought back 3,000 tonnes from New York and London using ships and aircraft. A section of economists see this as one of the key triggers that put pressure on the Bretton Woods gold convertibility system." NDTV. In 1971, then President Richard Nixon abolished the Gold Standard, which ended the Bretton Woods system and ushered in fiat currencies. wikipedia. This was one of the reasons for the stagflation of the 1970s. As a result, "Central banks have a greater degree of control over their nations' money and the management of variables such as interest rates, overall money supply, and velocity." They can take radical monetary policy actions such as quantitative easing (QE). It has created a large market for hedging currency risks and "The financial crisis of 2007-2008, in particular, proved that central bank control is no guaranteed defense against severe recessions." Investopedia. "RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra...called for Indian banks to emerge as market-makers, urging a more active global role for domestic lenders as the central banks seeks to shift rupee price discovery onshore." "When offshore rates diverge from domestic spot and forward markets, arbitrage and hedging flows transmit those signals back onshore, allowing offshore sentiment to drive local pricing." TOI. Will foreign investors be comfortable with this system? In March, the RBI suddenly "announced new rules capping the open positions banks can hold in the onshore currency market at $100 million at the end of each trading day. The change, effective April 10, forces lenders to shrink their books, limiting their ability to run large one-sided bets against the rupee." This caused heavy losses to banks. ET. This does not look like price discovery. It looks as if the RBI wants all hedging to happen in India so that it can control it. Foreigners investing in India would want a better value for their investment. Betting is banned in India but Rs 250 billion have been wagered on the assembly election results on foreign platforms through the internet, using cryptocurrencies. The Federal. Repatriating gold is for protection. But you don't trade in gold. You trade in currencies. Market making is not possible if the RBI changes rules suddenly. Why should banks take the risk? It would be Vide-Gousset.    

Land routes need oil.

"Israel has supplied the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with an advanced laser-based air defence system, known as 'Iron Beam'," which is "designed to vaporise short-range rockets and drones." Israel has used these against the Hezbollah. "Israel has also sent an advanced surveillance system, 'Spectro', which can detect incoming drones from up to 20 km away." TOI. Iran thought that attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz would create global pressure that the US could not resist. Instead, the US blockade of Iranian ports has stopped Iran's fleet of shadow ships which used to go dark at sea before transferring their cargo to China. Hardliners in Iran believe that "Iran has to take the military initiative and start a shooting war again to send oil prices soaring and increase the pressure on Trump." WSJ. "Since its creation in 1979, the Islamic Republic has revolved around a supreme leader with final authority on all key matters of state. But the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has created a "different order dominated by commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) and marked by the absence of a decisive, authoritative referee." Reuters. "The IRGC-linked Tasnim news agency recently published a map of undersea internet cables crossing the Strait of Hormuz in a veiled warning." Now, Pakistan has operationalized six land routes which "connect major Pakistani ports, including Gwadar and Port Qasim to border crossings such as Taftan and Gabd, enabling direct land access to Iran with which Pakistan shares a border of over 900 km." India Today. Land routes cannot transfer large quantities of goods over long distances and, since both countries are almost bankrupt, who will pay for the diesel used by the trucks. Recently, "Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the US-Iran war has dealt a serious blow to Pakistan's economic progress made over the past two years." NDTV. Pakistan may be hoping to be paid in Iranian oil which can decrease shortage for the people. "The Trump administration is now calling Operation Epic Fury as Operation Economic Fury." "In total, 31 tankers laden with 53 million barrels of Iranian oil are 'stuck in the Gulf' and have a value of at least $4.8 billion." Iran has about 30 days before it faces severe shortage of storage. The US Treasury has frozen "half a billion dollars in regime-linked cryptocurrency, while also escalating pressure on Chinese 'teapot' refineries, foreign banks and sanctions-evasion networks facilitating Tehran's trade." ET. Iran is smuggling oil by tankers disguised as Iraqi vessels to get round the US blockade, according to maritime intelligence. Fox. Iran has offered to stop its attacks on ships in the Strait "in exchange for a full end to the war, a lifting of the US blockade of Iranian ports and postponement of nuclear talks." In short, a complete surrender by the US and Israel. The killing of Mahsa Amini for not wearing a hijab, (wikipedia) which is a religious reason and the killing of up to 30,000 Iranians on 8 and 9 January for protesting (Time) means that all IRGC and Basij gangsters are Takfiris (wikipedia). Iranians should shoot them on sight even if they are relatives. That will be an Islamic solution to all their problems. For an Islamic nation. And Islamic Guards.