"The are the supreme crooks. The LBMA, in Jim's words, has "gone dark". It is much easier to manipulate when there is absolutely no way to check the activity of the crooks. Even though they don't have gold or silver to short, they can still violate their "market maker" requirements and manipulate the price. These final acts may destroy the LBMA and possibly the crimex."

In theory it is possible, yes almost logic, that there is no way back for the LBMA. Hoewever, Jim Willie sees an end game scenario every 3 months and so far it never happened the way he predicted. He is a bit sensationalist in my opinion.

We may see other scenarios playing out like some kind of physical bullion help (again) from the European Central Banks or help from the FED to (cash) settle OTC short positions in gold and silver in London.

In the big scheme of things a jump of silver from $18 to $28 in 5 months is not so nefastic for the shorts, if it allows them to convert their short position into a long position and they can make loads of money after that being long gold and silver.