General Discussion

were found in that "empty" shadow fleet tanker the US Navy chased across the Atlantic before capturing it.

Word on some sites is that the gold was in the form of "nonstandard" bars, possibly signifying sand casting at the point of origin, possibly the illegal gold mines in he Venezuelan mountains wel known to exist.

I dunno but there had to be some reason that tanker ran and the Russians were so interested in getting it and whatever it carried.

If true, was Maduro planning to follow his money to Russia? Or was this payment for all the Russian anti aircraft gear that didn't work? If it was the latter, was Maduro the source of the information about what was on that "empty" ship? Spite can be a good motivator.

It makes sense, more sense than any of the other theories out there. What we do know is that the captain of that ship was willing to risk doing a lot of things to get it back to Russia and that Russia was equally eager to get it back, up to threatening the US Navy with sending in a sub as an escort. If there is one thing Putin is running short of these days, it's cash, so it makes sense.