Latest news with #Bolsheviks
Russia Today
3 days ago
- Business
- Russia Today
Lenin's tomb to get $250k makeover
Russia's Ministry of Culture has signed a contract to restore Lenin's Mausoleum on Red Square for nearly 20 million rubles (about $250,000), according to official tender records. The restoration will address structural damage and update the site for modern use, project documents show. Work is expected to be completed by mid-2027. The mausoleum, which houses the embalmed body of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, is one of the most recognizable landmarks in Russia. It has undergone regular maintenance and has been closed on several occasions in recent years, including for public events. An inspection found several parts of the building to be in poor condition, with some areas requiring urgent repairs. The report also cited crumbling surfaces and mold caused by inadequate ventilation. Lenin remains a divisive figure in Russian history. While some view him as a visionary who led the 1917 October Revolution to establish a fairer society, others regard him as a tyrant responsible for mass repression and death. The revolution sparked a civil war, after which the Bolsheviks consolidated control over much of the former Russian Empire. These territories were united in 1922 to form the Soviet Union. Lenin died two years later, in 1924. The mausoleum's red granite and black labradorite structure was constructed between 1929 and 1930. Lenin's body has remained on public display since shortly after his death. According to a 2024 poll by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), one-third of respondents support keeping Lenin in the mausoleum. Thirty percent favor immediate burial, while 27% believe reburial should occur only if it would not cause controversy. Debate over Lenin's interment resurfaces periodically. While some public figures have called for burial and alternative uses of the site, officials have consistently stated there are no current plans to rebury him. In 2021, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had no intention of relocating Lenin's remains, citing other national priorities.
The Age
5 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Trump wants to check on the gold at Fort Knox. His allies are cashing in on the fear
Trump's Fort Knox obsession has resurfaced one of the deeper cuts in the American conspiracy theory catalogue. One reason the government holds onto such large stores of gold is to confer a sense of financial stability, even though the country moved off the gold standard in the 20th century. According to the United States Mint, 147.3 million ounces of gold, about half of the government's stash, is held at Fort Knox. The Kentucky facility, known formally as the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, almost never allows visitors and is kept under heavy lock and key – an inaccessibility that may explain much of the intrigue around it. One of the early proponents of the idea that gold was missing was a lawyer named Peter Beter, who earned a modicum of notoriety in the 1970s by spreading dark theories in a mail-order audio cassette series. Among other things, Beter believed that 'organic robotoids' controlled by Bolsheviks had infiltrated the federal government. By 1974, concerns about the gold reserves grew so intense that a congressional delegation and a few news outlets, including The New York Times, were invited to Fort Knox for a rare inspection. A reporter for the Times described the effect of seeing a vault 6 feet wide and 12 feet deep, stacked with 36,236 glistening gold bars, as 'awesome'. Another wave of concern crested in 2011, when then-Republican Ron Paul introduced a bill calling for an inventory of the reserves. At a subcommittee hearing, Paul said people had become worried that 'the gold had been secretly shipped out of Fort Knox and sold'. He added, 'And, still others believe that the bars at Fort Knox are actually gold-plated tungsten.' The inspector general of the Treasury at the time, Eric Thorson, told Paul that audits were performed yearly, with 'no exceptions of any consequence'. More recently, Trump's first-term Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, had a chance to check on the gold in August 2017, with Senator Mitch McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, in tow. Photos were taken of the men among the gold bars. 'Glad gold is safe!' Mnuchin wrote on Twitter, now known as X. Questions bubble up again The latest concerns appear to have taken off on February 14, when the website ZeroHedge, which occasionally promotes conspiracy theories, tagged Elon Musk in a post on X. The post asked him to make sure the gold at Fort Knox was there. 'Surely it's reviewed at least every year?' Musk replied. 'It should be. It isn't,' ZeroHedge responded. (Bessent would later say that the gold is still audited annually.) Senator Rand Paul, the son of Ron Paul, chimed in, calling for an audit. 'Let's do it.' Then came Glenn Beck, the conservative radio and TV host, who posted an open letter to Trump, asking if he could take a camera crew to Fort Knox to 'restore faith in our financial system'. He later dedicated a segment of his show to casting doubt on the confirmed audits. The chatter about the gold reserves was growing louder. By February 20, Trump was telling a press gaggle on Air Force One that he planned to go to Fort Knox to 'make sure the gold is there'. Sales pitches follow Loading Since then, the idea that the government's gold reserves may have gone missing has been integrated into the sales pitches of companies that trade in gold coins and gold investment accounts. The companies advertise heavily on Trump-friendly TV and internet shows. A number of 'gold IRA' companies have suggested that a future audit of Fort Knox could determine that gold is missing, setting off a crisis among Americans about the stability of the economy. Amid such chaos, the companies argue, privately held gold would be a lucrative safe haven for investors. One of the companies, Birch Gold Group, is endorsed by the president's eldest son and bills itself as 'Donald Trump Jr's gold company'. Loading A recent article on Birch Gold's website stated that the idea of an 'empty Fort Knox' had gone 'from conspiracy theory to mainstream concern'. A discovery that gold was missing from Fort Knox, the article stated, would be the 'quickest way down for the US dollar'. 'It is only those without physical gold exposure that feel the need to panic, perhaps with good reason, about the greenback's admittedly dismal prospects,' states the article, which includes an offer for a 'FREE gold IRA info kit'. The younger Trump lauded his father's plans to visit Fort Knox in a February 24 episode of his online talk show, on which he regularly makes pitches for Birch Gold. 'If it's empty,' he said, 'I would imagine there's hell to pay.' On another section of Birch Gold's website, a 'Message from Donald Trump Jr' raised the possibility that his father's administration could 'revalue America's gold reserves on the national balance sheet from their outdated book value of $42' – the price per ounce the government assigns for bookkeeping purposes – 'to current market prices'. This, he wrote, 'could cause a surge in gold prices', adding that 'the potential upside for gold investors is substantial'. A gold IRA, he added, would be a great way to benefit. He did not mention that Bessent had publicly stated that he had no plans to revalue the gold reserves. Above the message was a digitally altered photo of the president at a desk, showing off an important-looking signed document, a wall of gold bricks behind him.
Sydney Morning Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
As Donald Trump raises Fort Knox conspiracies, his allies are cashing in
Trump's Fort Knox obsession has resurfaced one of the deeper cuts in the American conspiracy theory catalogue. One reason the government holds onto such large stores of gold is to confer a sense of financial stability, even though the country moved off the gold standard in the 20th century. According to the United States Mint, 147.3 million ounces of gold, about half of the government's stash, is held at Fort Knox. The Kentucky facility, known formally as the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, almost never allows visitors and is kept under heavy lock and key – an inaccessibility that may explain much of the intrigue around it. One of the early proponents of the idea that gold was missing was a lawyer named Peter Beter, who earned a modicum of notoriety in the 1970s by spreading dark theories in a mail-order audio cassette series. Among other things, Beter believed that 'organic robotoids' controlled by Bolsheviks had infiltrated the federal government. By 1974, concerns about the gold reserves grew so intense that a congressional delegation and a few news outlets, including The New York Times, were invited to Fort Knox for a rare inspection. A reporter for the Times described the effect of seeing a vault 6 feet wide and 12 feet deep, stacked with 36,236 glistening gold bars, as 'awesome'. Another wave of concern crested in 2011, when then-Republican Ron Paul introduced a bill calling for an inventory of the reserves. At a subcommittee hearing, Paul said people had become worried that 'the gold had been secretly shipped out of Fort Knox and sold'. He added, 'And, still others believe that the bars at Fort Knox are actually gold-plated tungsten.' The inspector general of the Treasury at the time, Eric Thorson, told Paul that audits were performed yearly, with 'no exceptions of any consequence'. More recently, Trump's first-term Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, had a chance to check on the gold in August 2017, with Senator Mitch McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, in tow. Photos were taken of the men among the gold bars. 'Glad gold is safe!' Mnuchin wrote on Twitter, now known as X. Loading Questions bubble up again The latest concerns appear to have taken off on February 14, when the website ZeroHedge, which occasionally promotes conspiracy theories, tagged Elon Musk in a post on X. The post asked him to make sure the gold at Fort Knox was there. 'Surely it's reviewed at least every year?' Musk replied. 'It should be. It isn't,' ZeroHedge responded. (Bessent would later say that the gold is still audited annually.) Senator Rand Paul, the son of Ron Paul, chimed in, calling for an audit. 'Let's do it.' Then came Glenn Beck, the conservative radio and TV host, who posted an open letter to Trump, asking if he could take a camera crew to Fort Knox to 'restore faith in our financial system'. He later dedicated a segment of his show to casting doubt on the confirmed audits. The chatter about the gold reserves was growing louder. Loading By February 20, Trump was telling a press gaggle on Air Force One that he planned to go to Fort Knox to 'make sure the gold is there'. Sales pitches follow Since then, the idea that the government's gold reserves may have gone missing has been integrated into the sales pitches of companies that trade in gold coins and gold investment accounts. The companies advertise heavily on Trump-friendly TV and internet shows. A number of 'gold IRA' companies have suggested that a future audit of Fort Knox could determine that gold is missing, setting off a crisis among Americans about the stability of the economy. Amid such chaos, the companies argue, privately held gold would be a lucrative safe haven for investors. One of the companies, Birch Gold Group, is endorsed by the president's eldest son and bills itself as 'Donald Trump Jr's gold company'. Loading A recent article on Birch Gold's website stated that the idea of an 'empty Fort Knox' had gone 'from conspiracy theory to mainstream concern'. A discovery that gold was missing from Fort Knox, the article stated, would be the 'quickest way down for the US dollar'. 'It is only those without physical gold exposure that feel the need to panic, perhaps with good reason, about the greenback's admittedly dismal prospects,' states the article, which includes an offer for a 'FREE gold IRA info kit'. The younger Trump lauded his father's plans to visit Fort Knox in a February 24 episode of his online talk show, on which he regularly makes pitches for Birch Gold. 'If it's empty,' he said, 'I would imagine there's hell to pay.' On another section of Birch Gold's website, a 'Message from Donald Trump Jr' raised the possibility that his father's administration could 'revalue America's gold reserves on the national balance sheet from their outdated book value of $42' – the price per ounce the government assigns for bookkeeping purposes – 'to current market prices'. This, he wrote, 'could cause a surge in gold prices', adding that 'the potential upside for gold investors is substantial'. A gold IRA, he added, would be a great way to benefit. He did not mention that Bessent had publicly stated that he had no plans to revalue the gold reserves. Above the message was a digitally altered photo of the president at a desk, showing off an important-looking signed document, a wall of gold bricks behind him.
The Age
5 days ago
- Business
- The Age
As Donald Trump raises Fort Knox conspiracies, his allies are cashing in
Trump's Fort Knox obsession has resurfaced one of the deeper cuts in the American conspiracy theory catalogue. One reason the government holds onto such large stores of gold is to confer a sense of financial stability, even though the country moved off the gold standard in the 20th century. According to the United States Mint, 147.3 million ounces of gold, about half of the government's stash, is held at Fort Knox. The Kentucky facility, known formally as the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, almost never allows visitors and is kept under heavy lock and key – an inaccessibility that may explain much of the intrigue around it. One of the early proponents of the idea that gold was missing was a lawyer named Peter Beter, who earned a modicum of notoriety in the 1970s by spreading dark theories in a mail-order audio cassette series. Among other things, Beter believed that 'organic robotoids' controlled by Bolsheviks had infiltrated the federal government. By 1974, concerns about the gold reserves grew so intense that a congressional delegation and a few news outlets, including The New York Times, were invited to Fort Knox for a rare inspection. A reporter for the Times described the effect of seeing a vault 6 feet wide and 12 feet deep, stacked with 36,236 glistening gold bars, as 'awesome'. Another wave of concern crested in 2011, when then-Republican Ron Paul introduced a bill calling for an inventory of the reserves. At a subcommittee hearing, Paul said people had become worried that 'the gold had been secretly shipped out of Fort Knox and sold'. He added, 'And, still others believe that the bars at Fort Knox are actually gold-plated tungsten.' The inspector general of the Treasury at the time, Eric Thorson, told Paul that audits were performed yearly, with 'no exceptions of any consequence'. More recently, Trump's first-term Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, had a chance to check on the gold in August 2017, with Senator Mitch McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, in tow. Photos were taken of the men among the gold bars. 'Glad gold is safe!' Mnuchin wrote on Twitter, now known as X. Loading Questions bubble up again The latest concerns appear to have taken off on February 14, when the website ZeroHedge, which occasionally promotes conspiracy theories, tagged Elon Musk in a post on X. The post asked him to make sure the gold at Fort Knox was there. 'Surely it's reviewed at least every year?' Musk replied. 'It should be. It isn't,' ZeroHedge responded. (Bessent would later say that the gold is still audited annually.) Senator Rand Paul, the son of Ron Paul, chimed in, calling for an audit. 'Let's do it.' Then came Glenn Beck, the conservative radio and TV host, who posted an open letter to Trump, asking if he could take a camera crew to Fort Knox to 'restore faith in our financial system'. He later dedicated a segment of his show to casting doubt on the confirmed audits. The chatter about the gold reserves was growing louder. Loading By February 20, Trump was telling a press gaggle on Air Force One that he planned to go to Fort Knox to 'make sure the gold is there'. Sales pitches follow Since then, the idea that the government's gold reserves may have gone missing has been integrated into the sales pitches of companies that trade in gold coins and gold investment accounts. The companies advertise heavily on Trump-friendly TV and internet shows. A number of 'gold IRA' companies have suggested that a future audit of Fort Knox could determine that gold is missing, setting off a crisis among Americans about the stability of the economy. Amid such chaos, the companies argue, privately held gold would be a lucrative safe haven for investors. One of the companies, Birch Gold Group, is endorsed by the president's eldest son and bills itself as 'Donald Trump Jr's gold company'. Loading A recent article on Birch Gold's website stated that the idea of an 'empty Fort Knox' had gone 'from conspiracy theory to mainstream concern'. A discovery that gold was missing from Fort Knox, the article stated, would be the 'quickest way down for the US dollar'. 'It is only those without physical gold exposure that feel the need to panic, perhaps with good reason, about the greenback's admittedly dismal prospects,' states the article, which includes an offer for a 'FREE gold IRA info kit'. The younger Trump lauded his father's plans to visit Fort Knox in a February 24 episode of his online talk show, on which he regularly makes pitches for Birch Gold. 'If it's empty,' he said, 'I would imagine there's hell to pay.' On another section of Birch Gold's website, a 'Message from Donald Trump Jr' raised the possibility that his father's administration could 'revalue America's gold reserves on the national balance sheet from their outdated book value of $42' – the price per ounce the government assigns for bookkeeping purposes – 'to current market prices'. This, he wrote, 'could cause a surge in gold prices', adding that 'the potential upside for gold investors is substantial'. A gold IRA, he added, would be a great way to benefit. He did not mention that Bessent had publicly stated that he had no plans to revalue the gold reserves. Above the message was a digitally altered photo of the president at a desk, showing off an important-looking signed document, a wall of gold bricks behind him.
Business Mayor
24-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
The small stuff I'm sweating on before the next Big One
Unlock the Editor's Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The main reason I found Day of the Triffids terrifying as a boy was the realisation that I would have for sure been one of the first people to gawp skyward at the green meteor shower. The lights are so pretty! Oh, I can't see. Exactly the same feeling overwhelmed me upon reading Ten Days That Shook the World at university. Goodness those Bolsheviks are making a racket outside, I would have mumbled. It'll be fine. Just some kids having fun. Because usually everything is fine. Until it isn't. Either way, I am usually the last person to believe anything will ever go wrong. No anxiety during Covid. Putin and his red buttons don't keep me awake. My life in La La-land does not extend to business and finance, however — where few are more paranoid than me. That latest strategy plan? Will never work. Thematic investing? Best avoided. Cryptocurrencies? Out to get us. And this explains my old-age poverty. I never bought a house when all my friends did two decades ago (overvalued relative to rental yields and median incomes you dimwits). Likewise Tesla and Nvidia were always too expensive. I've fought hard against my innate bearishness — as per my 100 per cent allocation to risk assets today. But it means I'm even more focused on spotting the next crisis. With finance you know there will be one. A big risk is being too early. Hence my lack of panic during the Orange Crash. As I wrote last week, I never thought tariffs would be the pin to pop the decade-long rise in equity markets. Not serious enough. Plus the timing didn't feel right. During my career at least, mega blow-ups have occurred every 10 years or so — towards the end of each decade. Japan at the close of the 1980s. Then Asia and the bust followed by the financial crisis. Covid in 2020. Only fools invest by calendar. But for me markets don't seem frothy enough in 2025 to presage a meltdown of Chornobyl proportions. And that is despite the exuberance of US equity prices and technology valuations in particular. I could be wrong of course. For now though I reckon we have a few more years left before something massive starts rumbling the concrete. What could it be? No idea, but it would not surprise me if it involved private equity. For starters, the whole industry operates in a gigantic bubble anyway — and we know what happens to those. During the sell-off in April the value of my portfolio fell from £535,000 to $475,000 in a fortnight before leaping around like a salmon on a pogo stick. Meanwhile private equity valuations barely changed as they don't have to reflect public markets immediately — if at all. But that isn't what worries me. By its own admission, private equity has been overpaying for assets for years as money poured in. This explains why so much cash remains uninvested and also why exits are proving so difficult. One look at the numbers and sophisticated investors balk. Where to turn? Hello retail! And so here is a long-held fear of mine: that private equity eventually finds a way to offload to mums and dads at inflated prices. This is already starting to happen. And Donald Trump is keen on allowing 401(k) retirement plans to invest in PE. 'How did we get so rich?' a child asks mum in a meme also doing the rounds. 'Your father democratised access to private equity for retail investors to find exit liquidity for trillions of dollars-worth of unsellable assets, sweetheart. Eat your Cheerios.' Greed will overcome any fears before the whole thing goes ka-boom! That's a while away though, as I said. What makes me nervous now? Three things. Which way the dollar is heading and ditto for inflation and rates globally. The greenback matters to me because my Asia fund is denominated in dollars then quoted in pounds. Also Japanese and UK equities tend to do better when yen and sterling respectively are weaker. A soggy US currency is bad for my entire portfolio in other words — even if I benefit from not owning any dollar-denominated assets directly. And right now it seems like every foreign exchange pundit on Wall Street is negative. Why so? There's ever more carping about the level of US indebtedness. Analysts — such as my old colleagues at Deutsche Bank — also point out that the dollar has been more than 20 per cent overvalued for the past three years on a purchasing power basis. That's never happened in the post-gold standard era. What frightens some currency traders even more is the drop in overseas demand for long-dated Treasuries and that the usual stabilisers don't seem to be effective. For example, the resultant higher bond yields have not helped the dollar. Nor has it rallied much since Trump reversed-ferreted on tariffs and rate-cut expectations for this year did likewise. All of which suggests to some that investors simply want shot of Trump and his beautiful, beautiful currency. Scary if so. Indeed, we also learned this week from Morningstar that inflows into world ex-US equity funds in the past quarter included the highest monthly total on record. My problem with all the dollar-mongering is that currency forecasters are even better than stock pickers or oil analysts when it comes to being wrong. Especially when they agree. So I'm happy with my exposure for now. I will cover why inflation and higher long-bond yields — especially in the UK and Japan — give me the heebie-jeebies in a fortnight after the half-term school holidays here in the UK. Yes overseas readers, we have only just returned from a long Easter break too. And to think everyone wants to be long the pound! The author is a former portfolio manager. Email: ; X: @stuartkirk__
