"If there's a sudden end to hostilities it's possible gold will crash." The war in Ukraine is a smokescreen and conceals the real reason for the recent rally in gold (Fiat currency inflation). Petrodollar is threatened and consequently the US $ reserve currency status:
Any change to this system by default will generate significant effects, not just in prices, but also at the geopolitical and economic level. Nevertheless, some dismiss these effects as a mere trifle, while others claim them to be cataclysmic. Probably the truth lies somewhere in between. How to have debt and get away with it
Imagine this scenario: you are a very wealthy individual with many properties and prestige, but you really have no free money in your bank account (you spent it all). But you still want that new Ferrari. What to do? Well you could write a cheque. Yes, that cheque is worthless in nature (since you have no free money to back it) but so long as the car dealer doesn't claim it, you don't have to pay. In the meanwhile: you have a free Ferrari. The question is… how do you prevent the dealer from cashing in the cheque?
Well, if you own all the gasoline stations in the region and you claim that "gasoline now has to be paid using my cheques" the dealer now must keep a stock of your cheques, so you can keep writing them and enjoy a free ride across the entire region, you can "buy" anything you want and put it on your tab (i.e. accumulate debt), as long as you have cheques to write and people need those cheques to get their gasoline.
But… what would happen to you if people no longer needed your cheques to buy gasoline? The power of the Petrodollar