Russia Has Been Quietly Doing Something You Should Know About

Putin a rival who is not welcome back to G7, says Harper as Russia looks to replace Visa with its own credit cards
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and German Chancellor Angela Merkel say they are united in their view that Russia has grossly violated Ukrainian sovereignty by annexing the Crimean peninsula. Following a meeting Thursday between the two G7 leaders, Harper also opined that chances are slim that Russian President Vladimir Putin could ever be welcomed back to the G8. 

Russia Has Been Quietly Doing Something You Should Know About
As U.S. intelligence agencies scrambled in February for reliable information on the crisis in Ukraine, Russia was quietly increasing its gold holdings by 7.24 tonnes…to 1,042 tonnes, according to data released this week… Considering that Russia currently holds approximately $400 billion in foreign exchange reserves, most of it in U.S. dollars, recent developments in the country’s gold holdings could be important.