there are more than 16,000 sanctions imposed against Russia 11,000 of them aimed at individuals 4600 at entities including financial institutions and the remaining directed at ships and aircraft European airspace is close to Russian planes and hundreds of Western companies have pulled out of Russia completely Western sanctions against Russia should have crippled the economy it should have stopped Russia's military it should have crash Russia's currency but remarkably none of this has happened if you go to Russian grocery stores the iOS are full prices are low and people are living a normal life despite famous Western Brands pulling out of Russia completely their latest products are still on the shelves of new stores like this one selling the latest iPhones and MacBooks so how did Russia do it how could any country in today's day of age survive a record 16,000 sanctions what's even more challenging for Western countries to figure out is how did the Russian economy grow by 3. 6% last year better than any G7 country and is now forecasted to grow an additional 2 . 6% this year of course it's no secret by now that Russia has shifted to a wartime economy for the first time in modern history Russia is set to spend 6% of its gross domestic product on the military as defense spending will exceed social spending in 2024 the war in Ukraine is not only the kremlin's biggest priority it is now also the main driver of Russia's economic growth at a time when Ukraine's president zalinski is scrambling to acquire arms funds and recruits Putin seems confident that he can win the war on his conditions meanwhile some of the most prominent American geopolitical voices are starting to say the hard part out loud Steven Walt a professor of international relations at Harvard University recently advocated in this article for foreign policy that NATO should not accept Ukraine for Ukraine sake I also recently sat down with Colonel Douglas McGregor the former adviser to the US Secretary of Defense who shared this insight about zinsky the zalinski regime in KF because I reject the notion that zalinski is the popularly elected leader of Ukraine I have serious doubts about that I don't think he enjoys much legitimacy inside his own country anymore he's widely hated but he's also widely feared because of the Ukrainian secret police that threatens anybody that challenges zinsky he is now a fatally wounded animal he's dying his regime is dying Ukraine is defeated and as a result he's striking out in any way that he can as a last gasp effort to one persuade people that there is some life left in his regime two that he could miraculously recover and win and three as a matter of personal Vengeance uh for what he thinks has been done to him while the future of zalinski and Ukraine remain uncertain we know Russia will be led by Putin for the foreseeable future so how have 16,000 economic sanctions from some of the most powerful countries on Earth fail to derail him the answer might surprise you but if you've been watching the precious metal Market over the past few months you'll have seen the price of gold continues to shatter all-time highs the answer is Putin started using an incredible gold strategy he stole from the United States in order to bypass economic sanctions which ironically was led by the US it's actually a very interesting case study on global economics but one you can also Implement in your own investing portfolio but more on that later in order for Western lead sanctions to be successful they needed to be strategic targeting the environment it works in the economic sanctions from the West targeted shipping and trading into Russia but the gold market is a massive Market that was completely left untouched from Western sanctions according to the world gold Council Russia is now the second largest producer of Gold at 324.
50 metric tons in 2023 which only Trails China at 374 metric tons what's more Russia is forecasted to increase gold production by 4% a year until 2026 here is something you probably haven't heard in Western media before but something the Carnegie endowment for peace published just a few weeks ago in this article entitled why Russia has been so resilient to Western export controls incredibly Russia has been preparing for economic sanctions since 2013 and managed to isolate its economy from transactions requiring US Dollars once again when you break down the facts of what's happened with these economic sanctions it's incredible how ineffective they've been in stopping Russia's growing economy let's take semiconductor chips for example Russia's domestic chip Market is both outdated and under ized in theory Western sanctions should have crippled Russia's tech industry Russian factories operated 65 nanometer chip technology which is about 15 years behind the US the US thought that they had Russia trapped in a corner there was no chance for Russia to develop these chips domestically by cutting off Russia's access to the newest ships that should have been it Russia's tech industry should have been over its military couldn't possibly build more Armory and advanced weapons the West will win and Russia will be defeated but none of that came to fruition and within one year Russia supplies have rebounded to pre-war levels so how did Russia pull this off they did so by using a three-point strategy first Russia started importing run-of-the-mill computer chips and components found in consumer products that often come from us manufacturers but are rarely subject to export controls second Russia used a third-party network of traders who have access to components for tanks missiles and drones and third Russia took advantage of changing geopolitics the shift we've seen around the globe moving from a unipolar world contr controlled by the US to a multi-polar world with multiple superpowers gave Russia incredible leverage countries like China India turkey and the United Arab Emirates all chose to ignore Western sanctions and not only sustain trading ties but expand them no surprise here but the country benefiting the most from this expansion and trade was China in 2020 the total trade value between Russia and China was valued at $17 billion but fast forward to 2023 and the total trade value between these two strategic Partners is now valued at $240 billion a 124% increase in just 3 years half of Russia's oil and petroleum was exported to China in 2023 and according to Chinese Customs data Russia is now China's top oil supplier but if you think Imports to Russia are only coming from countries like China and North Korea think again I'm filming today's video in London and whilst reading the times this morning a new story broke out on the details of how British luxury cars are still being sold in Russia despite sanctions whilst the UK government stood in Alliance with the US by imposing economic sanctions once again profits and the chance to cash in among Russia's Elite wealth was just too much of an opportunity to pass Rolls-Royce and Bentley shifted their focus to neighboring countries and started importing their luxury vehicles to Belarus Armenia azerbijan and Kazakhstan now look at the trade numbers and it will shock you the number of Jaguar Land Rovers shipped to Kazakhstan has increased by 5,000 190% since before the Russian invasion meanwhile UK car exports to aeran have increased 79% vers pre-invasion there was certainly a time in history where economic sanctions carried much more weight and consequences but in today's global economy it seems sanctions are effectively useless but now let's break down the economic strategy Putin stole from the United States and how he used it to stabilize his currency and economy in 2022 Putin decided to Peg Russia's currency the ru to Gold 5,000 rubles was the standard and could be used to purchase 1 ounce of gold of course the United States was the last major economy to use the gold standard the US dollar used to be one of the most stable and valuable currencies in the world but the purchasing power of the dollar is decreasing every year and has only accelerated even more in recent years with Rising US inflation usually the rationale for holding on to gold reserves is to use them to settle foreign transactions at both home and abroad gold can be swapped for currencies to settle transactions and then swapped back into bullion because the world is filled with so much uncertainty and instability central banks around the globe are stockpiling the asset over 1,073 metric tons of gold were purchased in 2022 alone 2023 was just slightly lower meaning that in the past two years alone central banks around the globe have spent over $220 billion acquiring gold now due to Western sanctions against Russia the UK United States and Canada will not Russian gold but don't forget 85% of the globe is not sanctioning Russia one of the biggest customers that have emerged is the United Arab Emirates who imported 96. 4 metric tons of gold that's worth over $6 billion alone in 2022 that figure represents a 15x increase from pre-war Imports another big client of Russia is the independent country of Switzerland in 20122 Switzerland imported 75 metric tons of Russian gold worth $ 4. 87 billion and in 2023 Switzerland followed the business model of Britain's Luxury Auto exports importing an incredible 8.
22 billion dollar of gold from the UAE and another 3. 92 billion from usbekistan of course all the gold from both the UAE and usbekistan come directly from Russia so once again a creative workaround from US economic sanctions the result is Russian gold worth hundreds of billions of dollars is now being freely traded at top dollar while avoiding every one of the 16,000 sanctions now for Putin's plan for economic resilience through gold to work gold needs to increase in value over the long term the last few months have been great news for gold investors just last week a CNBC article showed how gold hit record highs propelled by us interest rate cut expectations and strong Safe Haven demand but honestly Russia pegging its currency to gold and using it for stability in fearful times is an investing strategy that you can steal as well in my opinion precious metals should abs absolutely be part of a balanced investing portfolio I've been an active gold investor for years and have partnered with Lear Capital to be my precious metals expert and sponsor of my video today because Lear has been helping investors like me purchase gold and silver for almost 30 years they have over 3 billion and trusted transactions thousands of five-star reviews and are the only gold company with a 24-hour risk-free purchase guarantee but everyone this is not a hard pitch from me I'm not trying to sell you anything in today's video many of you know that I'm an active investor and and I simply share opportunities I see in today's everchanging world the best thing about Lear is the quality education you can receive about investing in Precious Metals simply call Lear Capital for your free gold and silver investor kit they'll send you a must-read report that explains how the price of gold Rises right along with our Rising US debt and makes a great case for gold reaching $3,200 an ounce with us debt hitting 34 trillion in printing precious medals can be the Difference Maker for your savings in retirement call today and mention my name and Lear Capital is going to gift you $250 in credit simply for just contacting them simply call 800489 6450 that's 800489 6450 or go to Lear cyrus. com now while gold remains an incredible asset to own it's not the only strategy that Russia has for its future last month Russia announced a new brics currency that will incorporate digital assets and cryptocurrencies on the blockchain Russia is a founding member of the bricks Alliance along with China and India and here are the words of Russian Diplomat Yuri usikov who states we believe that creating an independent bricks payment system is an important goal for the future which would be based on state-of-the-art tools such as digital Technologies and blockchain the main thing is to make sure it is convenient for governments common people and businesses as well as cost-effective and free of politics boasting the largest economy in Latin America Brazil's president Lula D Silva has been a vocal supporter of developing countries finding a way to avoid the US dollar in foreign trade last year when visiting Shanghai he stated every night I asked myself why all countries have to base their trade on the dollar why can't we do trade based on our own currencies who was it that decided the dollar was the currency after The Disappearance of the gold standard everywhere you look there are incredible things happening in geopolitics Russia is pegging its currency to Gold bringing back the gold standard we have a new cryptocurrency that is potentially being launched by brics all of this is going to change everything we know about the world of global finance and Bricks founding member China is making the most aggressive moves stockpiling gold for the past 16 months while simultaneously reducing its US dollar reserves but again it's not just China like I mentioned earlier in the video the world gold Council reported that central banks bought over a th000 tons of gold in 2023 this even prompted Thomas Hill a former State Department employee to speak out on why the world moving away from the US dollar should alarm our lawmakers the bricks L dollarization effort should alarm US policy makers it is clear that traditional us allies such as Egypt Saudi Arabia and the UAE are all exploring ways to dollarize and that Beijing is helping that process move forward everyone as I've preached for a long time on this channel the multi-polar world is here and there has never been more uncertainty for the future of our world the Russia Ukraine conflict continues to provide unsec and instability in Europe Israel's war in Gaza threatens to escalate into a larger Regional War throughout the Middle East potentially even bringing in Turkey which is the gateway to Europe and even tensions in the Taiwan straight in South China CA could see the two largest superpowers in the world in the United States and China escalate into a conflict that would do nothing but harm for the future of humanity with a potential new US President coming in 2024 who knows what the future will bring but as always you can count on this channel for bringing you the best insights into Global geopolitics and once again a huge thank you to L capital for sponsoring today's video and trust me even if you know nothing about investing in Precious Metals it's worth your time to give their capital A call they're happy to chat with you send you more information and once again this is not a hard pitcher sell they're just going to give you more information so that you can be more knowledgeable about how gold is playing an important role in geopolitics and the future of our world today simply call 800489 6450 or go to Le cyrus.