The US would like to take the credit (blame?) for defeating the Soviet Union - and to be fair they played a part - but the real credit is with the people. And the people are happy about it - they are not looking to get us back.

Rattle...there is no doubt that people disliked Soviet rule...but it was the failed communist model that fueled the discontent of the masses. The flawed system was the source of it's own failure, one component of which was the unhappiness of the people that bridled against a system that provided them a life of misery....much like Venezuela today. Sadly...the United States has strayed from the vision of the founding fathers. The fears to health the republic that DeToqueville so eloquently expressed have come to pass. We are an empire on the decline.

As far as GLD goes....JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs (primarily) are working for "The Man" to manipulate the paper price of gold down on the Comex. The Russians, Arabs, Chinese, Hugo an others are tired of accepting US paper debt which is losing value by the day. The days of dollar hegemony are coming to an end. Good if you own gold...better if you own a gold mining company that can actually get a permit. After trillions in reflation via printed money....would you rather take dollars (backed by nothing) or a currency backed by gold?