Or gold bullets? Both?

For several months now I too have been examining the idea of on-going economic "warfare" and I am developing the notion that you may be correct in your assertion. I still don't understand world economics very well but I'm learning what I can.

It is my observation that oil-euros-dollars are not the only players in this game. While most in the West refuse to accept the monetary role of gold and silver, there are many others in the world that still see these precious metals as safe havens for money. That's a long and old arguement, of course, I'll not go into that at this point.

The rise of precious metals prices can have a nasty impact on financial institutions. Especially those playing margin, short position, and derivative games. When the Hunt Bro's played their silver game back in the 70's and early 80's, they almost destroyed a few banks. Instead they took it on the chin and the government had to step in. The current precious metals bull market (despite the recent correction) has had many financial institutions (and some mining companies) running around like crazy to close their short and margin positions.

Look into who is buying gold these days: Russia, China, Saudi Arabia. China recently made it legal for citizens to own physical gold and they are about to open an ETF for gold shares. The central banks of Russia and China have been increasing their holdings. China has also kicked around the idea of a separate Yuan that would be backed by gold.

Look into who is selling gold. The British Treasury (under the Direction of Gordon Brown - who's possibly set to replace Blair as PM) has come under fire for selling hundreds of tons of gold in the late 90's at the very bottom of the market. Small sellersare starting to cash in. Too soon, in my opinion.

The US was going to introduce a new .9999 gold coin this year to challange the maple leaf in international markets (they tend to prefer a pure gold coin overseas) but I've not seen any recent annoucements. I looked for an image of the design, I've seen it, and it was nice, but I can't find it now. It will be called the gold buffalo. One of the members of the mint panel that recommended the new coin was ousted recently in connection with the infamous "coin-gate" in Ohio. Don't know if that has anything to do with it or if the US wants to slow its gold sales.

If you look into the role of gold in the current market, you are bound to come across commentary by "gold bugs" who claim that the price of gold has been suppressed to keep it from having any monetary attraction at all, therby validating fiat currencies. (refered to in those circles as "faith based currency") I haven't convinced myself that is true; but if it is, then the price could also be manipulated upwards (by cornering), resulting in the squeeze on finacial institutions I mentioned earlier.