The decrease in US debt holdings diminishes Russia's dependence on the US dollar. Instead, Moscow is boosting its bullion reserves.

Venezuela’s central bank in April paid $172 million to U.S. bank Citigroup to recover part of the gold it had put up as guarantee in a swap operation.

Gold is actually at a good point to turn up here, as it is close to a zone of support which is underpinned by the rising 200-day moving average in quite close proximity. This looks like a pretty good point to undertake more accumulation.

Silver appears to be in the very late stages of its Head-and-Shoulders bottom, and with the price still not far off the Right Shoulder lows, we are a very good point to continue accumulating silver investments – silver itself, silver coins, silver stocks and ETFs, and for those who are set up to do so and know what they are doing, silver futures and options.

A war with Iran would eliminate the largest non-USD oil exporter. One thing leads to another. The gold repatriations are a precursor to a currency war and armed conflict. That’s what drives US foreign policy.

As Dennis Gartman summarized in his Friday letter to clients, "at the current pace of sales, Venezuela will effectively be out of gold by May or June of next year. Having fallen from $21.3 billion seven years ago, it’s now down to $6.6 billion as of the end of January and we suspect that it’s sold another billion since then."