The Spoils of War and Regime ChangeBy www.globalresearch.ca/author/michel-chossudovsky Global Research, March 14, 2014A Russian Internet news site Iskra (“Spark”) based in Zaporozhye,eastern Ukraine, reported on March 7, that “Ukraine’s gold reserveshad been hastily airlifted to the United States from Borispol Airporteast of Kiev”.This alleged airlift and confiscation of Ukraine’s gold reservesby the New York Federal Reserve has not been confirmed by the Westernmedia.According to Iskra News:At 2 a.m. this morning [March 7] anunmarked transport plane was on the runway at Borispol Airport (right)[east of Kiev]. According to airport staff, before the plane came to theairport, four trucks and two Volkswagen minibuses arrived, all thetruck license plates missing.Fifteenpeople in black uniforms, masks, and body armor stepped out, some armedwith machine guns. They loaded the plane with more than 40 heavy boxes.After that a mysterious man arrived and entered the plane.All loading was done in a hurry.The plane took off on an emergency basis.Those who saw this mysterious specialoperation immediately notified the airport officials, who told thecallers not to meddle in other people’s affairs.Later a returned call from a seniorofficial of the former Ministry of Revenue reported that tonight, on theorders of one of the new leaders of Ukraine, the United States had taken custody of all the gold reserves in Ukraine.” Сегодня ночью из “Борисполя” в США страртовал самолёт с золотым запасом Украины, iskra-news.info. Zaporozhye, Ukraine, March 7, 2014, translated from Russian by thehttp://www.gata.org/node/13754, emphasis added)Following this disclosure, GATA’s Secretary Treasurer Chris Powellrequested the New Federal Reserve and the US State Department toindicate whether the NY Fed had “taken custody” of Ukraine’s Gold.A spokesman for the New York Fed saidsimply: “Any inquiry regarding gold accounts should be directed to theaccount holder. You may want to contact the National Bank of Ukraine todiscuss this report.”GATA’s similar inquiry of last night to the U.S. State Department has not yet prompted any reply.Last night GATA called this issue to theattention of about 30 mainstream financial journalists and newsletterwriters in the admittedly bizarre hope that they might pose the questionas well.1) The first rule of mainstream financialjournalism and particularly financial journalism about gold is never toput a specific critical question about the monetary metal to any of theprimary participants in the gold market, central banks. That is, nearlyall gold market reporting is, by design, irrelevant distraction atbest, disinformation at worst.2) The true location and disposition ofnational gold reserves are secrets far more sensitive than the locationand disposition of nuclear weapons. Chris Powell, Secretary/TreasurerWhile the unconfirmed report regarding Ukraine’s gold reserves hasnot been the object of coverage by the mainstream financial news, thestory was nonetheless picked up by the Shanghai Metals Market at www.metal.com/newscontent/58480_ukraine-gold-reserves-report which states, quoting a report from the Ukrainian government, thatUkraine’s gold reserves had been “moved on an aircraft from … Kiev tothe United States… in 40 sealed boxes” loaded on an unidentifiedaircraft.The unconfirmed source quoted by Metal.com, says that the operationto airlift Ukraine’s gold had been ordered by the acting Prime MinisterArseny Yatsenyuk with a view to safe-keeping Ukraine’s gold reserves atthe NY Fed, against a possible Russian invasion which could lead to theconfiscation of Ukraine’s gold reserves.On March 10, kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2014/3/ , a prominent online financial blog site published an incisive interview with William Kaye, a Hong Kong based hedge fund manager at Pacific Group Ltd. who had previously worked for Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions. ‎The Spoils of War and Regime ChangeOf significance in this interview with William Kaye is the analogybetween Ukraine, Iraq and Libya. Lest we forget, both Iraq and Libya hadtheir gold reserves confiscated by the US:Kaye: “Thereare now reports coming from Ukraine that all of the Ukrainian gold hasbeen airlifted, at 2 AM Ukrainian time, out of the main airport,Boryspil Airport, in Kiev, and is being flown to New York — thepresumable destination being the New York Fed….Now that’s 33 tons of gold which is worth somewhere between $1.5 billion – $2 billion. Thatwould amount to a very nice down payment to the $5 billion thatAssistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland boasted that the UnitedStates has already spent in their efforts to destabilize Ukraine, and put in place their own unelected government.Eric King:“Whether the United States is taking down Saddam Hussein in Iraq, orMuammar Gaddafi in Libya, there always seems to be gold at the end ofthe rainbow, which the U.S. then appropriates.”Kaye: “That’sa good point, Eric. The United States installed a former banker inUkraine who is very friendly to the West. He is also a guy with centralbank experience. This would have been his first major decision totransport that gold out of Ukraine to the United States.Youmay recall that allegedly the logistical requirements prevented the NewYork Fed from returning the 300 tons of gold the United States storesfor Germany back to Germany. After a year of waiting, the New York Fedonly sent Germany 5 tons of gold. So only 5 tons of gold was sent fromthe Fed to Germany, and it wasn’t even the 5 tons that had beenoriginally stored with the Fed.Even the Bundesbankhas admitted that the gold sent to them by the New York Fed had to bemelted down and tested for purity because it wasn’t Germany’s originalbars. So how is it, since logistical requirements are supposedly such amajor issue, that in one airlift, assuming this report is accurate, allthe gold Ukraine possessed in their vault was taken out of Ukraine anddelivered to the New York Fed?I think anybody with any active brain cells knows that just like Germany, Ukraine will have to wait a very long time, and very likely will never see that gold again. Meaning, that gold is gone.” ( kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/KWN_DailyWeb/Entries/2014/3/ March 10, 2014, emphasis added)