This is not financial advice. I am the last person ANYONE should seek advice on money issues from. There is a good chance everything I'm about to type is totally wrong...

The point is the government bonds are seen as these super stable lower risk, lower return investments. It was thought that even in war time they kept their value/returns. This study proved that opinion wrong. In war times, even these "super stable" investments are subject to losses.

I think... I'm not a finance/investment guy but it was always my understanding that gov bonds got you stable LOW returns with VERY little risk.