It's lucky that the founder decided to host it at LA. It could have been gone at war if it's today, we are at full scale war now.
Or the junta Chief would had traded to get some more MIGs.
I believe the confusion here comes from the ambiguity of the "It's a shame" comment, as it could be "It's a shame [that the gem cannot be safely stored in its home country due to the political situation]" or "It's a shame [that the gem is not stored in its home country despite the political situation]".
The "despite all evidence to the contrary" remark was in response to interpretation B when it seems interpretation A was the intended meaning.
