Over the three centuries of the existence of the global drug trade, gold has always played a significant role as a means of payment in the drug market. Moreover, in those days when the world drug trade was just taking shape, the main goal of the potion traders was to obtain the "yellow metal". The active imposition of drugs on China by the British East India Company and other English merchants was dictated by their desire to get the countless reserves of gold that China had accumulated for centuries.
The accumulation took place due to the fact that Chinese merchants brought silk, porcelain, spices, and other oriental exotics to Europe, receiving silver and gold money for this. At the same time, China's imports of goods remained several times less. The trade surplus contributed to the build-up of precious metals inventories in China. Two "opium wars", unleashed by England (with the participation of France in the second war), were called upon to return the once lost gold. Having put many millions of Chinese on the needle, Great Britain provided such a reserve of the precious metal, which made it possible to introduce the gold standard - first in Great Britain itself, and then to impose it on the whole of Europe. The Rothschilds (primarily the London bank “N. M. Rothschild”) were behind all these drug-gold projects in the 19th century. It is noteworthy that even today serious researchers are inclined to assert that the current Rothschild clan primarily specializes in goods such as gold and drugs.
One of the markets where payments for drug shipments are usually made in gold is Hong Kong. Dollar bills are not trusted there. It is now one of the largest opium and gold markets in the world. John Coleman writes about this in his book. Moreover, he believes that the price of gold in this market is derived from the price of opium.
“I have done extensive research,” says J. Coleman, “in order to establish the relationship between the price of gold and the price of opium. I used to say to those who wanted to listen to me: "If you want to know the price of gold, find out what the price of one pound or kilogram of opium is in Hong Kong."
In his book, J. Coleman reports that socialist China, which carries out these operations through Hong Kong, has large profits from the opium trade. The gold received from this trade is accumulated in reserves that are not reflected in official statistics. According to J. Coleman and some other researchers, China, thanks to drug operations, is now one of the first places in terms of reserves of the "yellow metal". J. Coleman cites the following case as an example:
“Look what happened in 1977, a critical year for gold prices. The Bank of China shocked forecasters by suddenly and without warning dumping 80 tons of gold on the market at dumping prices. As a result, the gold price fell sharply. Experts wondered where so much gold came from in China. It was gold paid to China in the Hong Kong gold market for large quantities of opium."
Now, in some drug markets, gold is used not just as a medium of exchange (of payment), but also as a measure of value - to reduce the risks of fluctuations in the purchasing power of official money. In particular, in Afghanistan. Andrey Devyatov writes:
“Payments for the supply of opium are not carried out in“zeros”of paper money, but in accounting units of precious metals (for the United States - in ounces, for China - in lians), and payment is accepted not only with food and consumer goods, but also with weapons” [A. NS. Devyatov. On the scale of the world war for drugs // Samizdat magazine (Internet)].
At certain moments of history in individual countries, something happened that is not described in any textbook on money: drugs took the place of gold as the universal equivalent. In this capacity, drugs were called "white gold", "narcotic gold" or "cocaine gold". Some researchers have noticed that "white gold" was especially confident in taking the place of "yellow" in those moments when the official gold standard collapsed and paper money depreciated. This happened for the first time after the First World War and the collapse of the temporarily restored gold standard in the 1930s, and the second time after the collapse of the gold-dollar standard in 1971 (Washington's refusal to exchange dollars for the precious metal).
In the Celestial Empire, there is an active consolidation of enterprises for the extraction of so-called rare earth metals (REM), government control over the industry is strengthening, large investments are directed to the creation of "production chains" for the deep processing of metals. Finally, funds are generously allocated from the state foreign exchange reserves for the purchase of foreign deposits of the RKZ. By the way, according to some foreign analysts, China is already in 2015 capable of becoming a net importer of rare earth metals. China clearly does not want to play the role of a raw material appendage of Western "civilization". All this threatens the escalation of an ordinary "trade dispute" into a trade war. China's tough position is understandable: the story with metals has gone beyond the trivial showdown over the level of duties or government subsidies and is a poorly camouflaged attempt by the West to take control of the mineral deposits in the Middle Kingdom. An unceremoniousness reminiscent of London's demands on Beijing on the eve of the Opium Wars.
Let me remind you that the "opium wars" were carried out in order to achieve the "opening" of the domestic Chinese market for the supply of opium from Bengal by British merchants and pumping out of the country silver, gold, tea, cotton, porcelain and silk (of course, the main and final beneficiary of this trade remained the British crown). The first war (1840-1842) ended with the Nanking Treaty. The agreement provided for the payment of indemnity by the Qing empire in the amount of 15 million silver lians (about 21 million dollars at the then exchange rate - a huge amount), the transfer of the island of Hong Kong to Great Britain and the opening of Chinese ports for British trade. The English crown received a gigantic source of income through the sale of opium. The first "Opium War" was the beginning of a long period of weakening of the state and civil unrest in the Qing empire, which led to the enslavement of the country by the European powers and the forced drug addiction of the population. So, in 1842 the population of the empire was 416 million people, of which 2 million are drug addicts, in 1881 - 369 million people, of which 120 million are drug addicts.
The second war (1858-1860) with the participation of England and France ended with the signing of the Beijing Treaty, according to which the Qing government agreed to pay Britain and France 8 million lians in indemnity, open Tianjin for foreign trade, and allow the Chinese to be used as coolies (workers as slaves) in colonies of Great Britain and France.
Many Chinese are well aware of the events and aftermath of the "Opium Wars"; their behavior in the 21st century is to some extent related to this memory. On the one hand, this memory gives them fear and a desire not to irritate the "barbarians" (as the Chinese called the English conquerors in the 19th century). On the other hand, the same memory forces them to exert all their strength in order to become a strong country capable of repelling military encroachments from the "barbarians". The Chinese are well aware that trade disputes can escalate into trade wars, and trade wars can turn into real "hot" wars.
But back to modern China and the looming trade war. It is able to enter the annals of world history as a "metal war" (by analogy with the "opium wars"). This information is undoubtedly important for understanding why we were drawn to the WTO for so long and persistently. And to understand how the WTO, fulfilling the requirements of its main "shareholders" (Western countries), will act in relation to Russia, including using the tools inherent in this organization.
Already now Russia is the world's largest supplier of natural gas and oil to the world market. It ranks first in terms of reserves of natural gas, many non-ferrous metals, platinum, apatite and other raw materials. Russia already exports prohibitive amounts of natural resources. For example, 50% of the extraction of "black gold", 25% of natural gas, up to 100% (in some years) of gold and some metals from the platinum group, etc. go to the external market. Internal needs are met according to the "leftover principle". There is a pronounced priority of the needs of TNCs over the needs of the national economy.
If the country's authorities suddenly want to develop oil refining in the form of petroleum products, they will have to reduce the supply of crude oil to the world market. This is precisely what the West is afraid of. He will do everything possible to ensure that Russia continues to be a raw material appendage of the “golden billion”. For this, the WTO with its "rules" was required. Any member of the WTO at any time can be accused of the following "crimes":
a) limiting the export of resources;
b) attempts to increase prices for resources in the world market by reducing their supplies;
c) thereby causing damage to transnational corporations through "restricting access" to resources.
Russia (as well as from another power) can recover compensation for damage caused to transnational corporations, and demand the restoration of "free access" to resources.
How can we not recall the punitive actions of England against China during the "Opium Wars". At the beginning of the 21st century, a similar story could happen. True, instead of China there will be Russia, instead of England - the United States. And the war will be called "oil", "gas" or "gold". Its symptoms can already be seen in international politics.
