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Saturday, May 31, 2003

 

The Philosopher

By Jeet Heer,
5/11/2003

The late Leo Strauss has emerged as the thinker of the moment in Washington, but his ideas remain mysterious. Was he an ardent opponent of tyranny, or an apologist for the abuse of power?


ODD AS THIS MAY SOUND, we live in a world increasingly shaped by Leo Strauss, a controversial philosopher who died in 1973. Although generally unknown to the wider population, Strauss has been one of the two or three most important intellectual influences on the conservative worldview now ascendant in George W. Bush's Washington. Eager to get the lowdown on White House thinking, editors at the New York Times and Le Monde have had journalists pore over Strauss's work and trace his disciples' affiliations. The New Yorker has even found a contingent of Straussians doing intelligence work for the Pentagon.

Yet while the extent of Strauss's influence is wide, his writings are frequently obscure, and his legacy is hotly disputed by admirers and critics alike. Certainly, Strauss was no ordinary Republican idea-maker: Steeped in ancient philosophy, he had dark forebodings about democracy, religion, technology, and nearly everything else that can claim the allegiance of the contemporary conservative (or liberal, for that matter).

At first glance, a University of Chicago professor who spent most of his life pondering old books would seem an unlikely master-thinker for the policy wonks, career bureaucrats, and pundits who make up Washington's unelected elite. Strauss held that politics was a central human activity, but he also believed that ''all practical or political life is inferior to contemplative life.'' He participated in the battle of ideas not by issuing political manifestoes or angling for bureaucratic power, but by writing recondite and difficult books.

A typical Strauss volume is a densely packed commentary on a classic text like Plato's ''The Laws'' or Machiavelli's ''The Prince,'' festooned with footnotes drawing on an array of hard-won languages from ancient Greek and Latin to medieval Arabic. It's often difficult to discern where Strauss's paraphrases of dead writers leave off and his own views begin-and this has only deepened the mystery that attaches to his work.

Despite his life of quiet scholarly obscurity, Strauss has exerted a strong posthumous sway among those who bustle through the corridors of power. Washington Straussians have included Robert A. Goldwin, who had the bizarre and unenviable task of organizing weekly seminars in political theory and practice attended by President Gerald Ford in the mid-1970s; Carnes Lord, National Security Council advisor in the Reagan administration; and William Galston, deputy domestic policy adviser in the first two years of the Clinton administration. Irving Kristol, an intellectual whose name is virtually synonymous with neoconservatism, has named Strauss as a major influence, and Straussian writers and ideas regularly grace the pages of magazines like National Review, Commentary, and The Weekly Standard, which is edited by Irving's son William Kristol. The Bush administration's Straussians include the Pentagon officials Paul Wolfowitz and Abram Shulsky, who studied with Strauss at the University of Chicago, and the bioethics adviser Leon Kass, a colleague at Chicago.

Strauss also claims a large, if rather clubbish, following in the academy, especially among scholars of political theory and American constitutional history. And yet even those academics who know Strauss's work best often sharply disagree about its fundamental meaning. There are East Coast Straussians, West Coast Straussians, and even some Straussian Democrats. Clifford Orwin, a professor at the University of Toronto strongly influenced by Strauss, describes him as a wise teacher who counseled prudence and moderation. But Shadia Drury, a professor of political science at the University of Calgary and the author of ''Leo Strauss and the American Right,'' completely disagrees. For her, Strauss was nothing less than ''a Jewish Nazi'' whose pretense of American patriotism and piety hid a cynical and extremist antidemocratic ideology.

Was Leo Strauss a friend of liberal democracy, or an elitist who wanted society to be ruled by a secretive cabal? An ardent opponent of tyranny, or an apologist for the abuse of power? An atheist or a pious Jew?

To understand Strauss, we need to look beyond the famous students and self-styled acolytes and examine the man himself.

Born in 1899 to an Orthodox Jewish family in Germany, Leo Strauss learned at an early age that religion and philosophy are always vulnerable to the threat of political persecution. As a young man, Strauss was a liberal rationalist who nursed the hope, widespread in German Jewish circles, that assimilation into a liberal democracy would end anti-Semitism. As an undergraduate at the University of Marburg, his mentor was Hermann Cohen, a philosopher whose reconciliation of Kant's philosophical ethics and biblical morality seemed to suggest that there was no contradiction in being a German Jewish liberal.

In the 1920s Strauss became increasingly disillusioned with modern liberalism. Philosophically, he was shaken by his encounters at the University of Freiburg with Martin Heidegger, the philosopher whose powerful critique of rationality's delusions seemed to undercut the guileless liberalism of Kant and Cohen. Politically, the instability of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism proved to Strauss that liberals were also weaklings in practical matters, unable to protect society from explosions of popular fanaticism. Furthermore, the rise of a new and more virulent strain of anti-Semitism demonstrated that assimilation had failed to solve the problems of German Jewry.

These political and philosophical problems fused together in the 1930s, when the Nazis came to power-and won the applause of Heidegger. By this point Strauss had left Germany for France, where he was studying medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy on a Rockefeller scholarship, but he continued to view events in his native country with dismay.

Strauss believed that Martin Heidegger possessed the greatest mind of the 20th century. But unlike those Heidegger admirers who excused the philosopher's flirtation with Nazism as a mere personal failing, Straus believed it showed that modern philosophy had gone deeply astray. Orwin explains: ''Strauss's question always was, What was it about modern thought that could have led Heidegger to make these disastrous practical misjudgments?''

In Strauss's mature work, he would argue that Plato and Aristotle were wiser than modern thinkers like Machiavelli and Heidegger. This exultation of ancient thought wasn't merely a nostalgic celebration of the good old Greek days. As the political theorist Stephen Holmes observes, Strauss believed that classical thinkers had grasped a still-vital truth: Inequality is an ineradicable aspect of the human condition.

For Strauss, the modern liberal project of using the fruits of science and the institutions of the state to spread happiness to all is intrinsically futile, self-defeating, and likely to end in terror and tyranny. The best regime is one in which the leaders govern moderately and prudently, curbing the passions of the mob while allowing a small philosophical elite to pursue the contemplative life of the mind.

Such a philosophical elite may discover truths that are not fit for public consumption. For example, it may find that its city's prosperity derives ultimately from ''force and fraud,'' or that the gods do not exist. Aware that Socrates was executed for blasphemy, ancient thinkers realized that philosophy was dangerous: It had to be kept for the intelligent few rather than the ignorant many. Therefore ancient philosophers (and their medieval followers) wrote in code. Using metaphors and cryptic language, they communicated one message, an ''esoteric'' one, for an elite of wise readers and another, ''exoteric'' one, for the unsophisticated general population. For Strauss, the art of concealment and secrecy was among the greatest legacies of antiquity.

Although Strauss's ideas had been developing for years, they really coalesced when he moved to London in 1934, and then to the United States later in the decade. Like many European emigres, he found refuge at New York's New School of Social Research, where he taught from 1938 to 1948, and then at the University of Chicago, where he remained until his retirement in the late `60s. While his teachings and books bewildered mainstream American social scientists and drew many hostile comments, students flocked to this odd and beguiling refugee scholar.

Many would go on to become important academics in their own right, including the philosopher Stanley Rosen (a leading light at Boston University), the historian Harry Jaffa (who later wrote speeches for Barry Goldwater), and Allan Bloom, whose 1987 bestseller ''The Closing of the American Mind'' would-paradoxically-bring Strauss's thought to a mass audience.

Mindful of the collapse of Weimar Germany's fragile democracy, Strauss was distrustful of American liberals; he believed they were too weak-minded and trusting to fight communism. In fact, Strauss believed that the United States shared certain ills with Soviet communism: Both societies put the material well-being of the masses ahead of the cultivation of virtues among an elite. But Strauss also saw America's constitutional government as the last, best hope for excellence in a modern world besotted with egalitarianism. Many of his students would go on to champion the US Constitution-with its separation of powers and its provision for a strong executive branch-as a political masterpiece that put limits on popular rule.

Stanley Rosen observes that Strauss's earliest students were often indifferent to politics and interested mainly in philosophy. Robert Goldwin became one of the first Straussians to work in practical politics when he joined the campaign of Charles Percy, a Republican candidate for the governorship of Illinois, in 1964. As it turned out, this migration of Straussians into the world of politics helped fill a vacuum in the Republican party, which, aside from free-market economists like Milton Friedman, had few well-educated intellectuals to fill policy-making positions. Once in Washington, Straussian conservatives could carry on their war against modern liberalism's moral relativism at home and naive pursuit of detente with the Soviet Union abroad.

The Straussian milieu was a closely knit one, where professors and pundits cultivated their favorite disciples with devotion. As Holmes points out, Strauss once wrote of ''the love of the mature philosopher for the puppies of his race, by whom he wants to be loved in return.''

With his teachings about philosophers who write in code and secret doctrines for the elect, Leo Strauss can seem like a conspiracy buff. In fact, some of Strauss's followers like Allan Bloom and Willmoore Kendall do use the word ''conspiracy'' to describe the history of Western thought. Not surprisingly, conspiracies have flourished around Strauss himself. The followers of Lyndon H.

LaRouche, the fringe presidential candidate who believes that the world is being governed by Jewish bankers inspired by a Babylonian cult and that the Queen of England is a drug dealer, argue that Strauss is the evil genius behind the Republican Party. More sensible folk, like the New York Times writer Brent Staples, who earned a doctorate in psychology at Chicago in the 1980s, have also decried the ''sinister vogue'' of Strauss.

Certainly, Strauss's embrace of obscurity is part of his appeal. When it comes to religion, the obscurity can get especially thick. Strauss, who wrote on Jewish issues all his life, held that atheism was not a viable public philosophy. And yet he often interpreted religious figures in an impious way. He suggested once that the great medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides secretly believed that reason and revelation were incompatible while pretending to reconcile the Bible with philosophy. In his book ''The Anatomy of Antiliberalism,'' Stephen Holmes maintains that, in Strauss's view, only philosophers can handle the truth: that nature is indifferent to human values and needs.

So where did Strauss really stand? ''He was an atheist,'' says Stanley Rosen flatly. ''They [Straussians] all are. They are epicureans and atheists.'' (The epicurean comment is perhaps a reference to the late Allan Bloom, who was legendary for his enjoyment of the high life. After his death, Bloom's esoteric life as a closeted gay man turned out to be very different from his outward posture as a proponent of traditional values.)

While some Straussians dispute the idea that the master was a godless cynic, it does seem that Strauss wanted a regime where the elite lived by a code of stoic fortitude while governing over a population that subscribes to superstitious religious beliefs. ''He agreed with Marx that religion was the opium of the masses,'' says Shadia Drury. ''But he believed that the masses need their opium.'' Sociologically, Strauss's approach would seem to work well for the Republican Party, which has a grass-roots base of born-again Christians and a much more secular elite leadership-at least in its foreign-policy wing.

Some traditional and religious conservatives have become deeply wary of Straussians. ''They certainly believe that religion may be a useful thing to take in the suckers with,'' notes Thomas Fleming, editor of the right-wing journal Chronicles. ''Exoteric Straussians are taught to repeat mantras about democracy, liberty, and republican government which the inner-circle Straussians don't appear to hold to. One of Allan Bloom's students told me that Professor Bloom had taught them that Plato was just an American-style democrat. This is just absurd. Plato taught the rule of a tiny elite, which is what the Straussians actually believe.''

Clifford Orwin sees nothing objectionable in the alliance between Strauss-inspired neoconservatives and fundamentalist Christians. ''The Republican Party, like the Democratic Party, is a big tent in which a great many people have to coexist who disagree on a great many things,'' notes Orwin. ''There is nothing sinister about that.''

But just how ''sinister'' was Leo Strauss himself? The answer depends on how a reader approaches his books. If you read Strauss with a well-disposed spirit, he can be interpreted as a genuine friend of American liberal democracy. He worked to create an elite that was strong, sober, and sufficiently free of illusions about the goodness of man to fight the totalitarian enemies of liberal democracy-be they fascists, communists, or Islamicist fundamentalists.

But if you read Strauss with a skeptical mind, the way he himself read the great philosophers, a more disturbing picture takes shape. Strauss, by this view, emerges as a disguised Machiavelli, a cynical teacher who encouraged his followers to believe that their intellectual superiority entitles them to rule over the bulk of humanity by means of duplicity. The worst thing you can do to Leo Strauss, perhaps, is to read his books with Straussian eyes.

Jeet Heer is a regular contributor to the National Post of Canada and the Globe.


This story ran on page H1 of the Boston Globe on 5/11/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

The Philosopher

By Jeet Heer,
5/11/2003

The late Leo Strauss has emerged as the thinker of the moment in Washington, but his ideas remain mysterious. Was he an ardent opponent of tyranny, or an apologist for the abuse of power?


ODD AS THIS MAY SOUND, we live in a world increasingly shaped by Leo Strauss, a controversial philosopher who died in 1973. Although generally unknown to the wider population, Strauss has been one of the two or three most important intellectual influences on the conservative worldview now ascendant in George W. Bush's Washington. Eager to get the lowdown on White House thinking, editors at the New York Times and Le Monde have had journalists pore over Strauss's work and trace his disciples' affiliations. The New Yorker has even found a contingent of Straussians doing intelligence work for the Pentagon.

Yet while the extent of Strauss's influence is wide, his writings are frequently obscure, and his legacy is hotly disputed by admirers and critics alike. Certainly, Strauss was no ordinary Republican idea-maker: Steeped in ancient philosophy, he had dark forebodings about democracy, religion, technology, and nearly everything else that can claim the allegiance of the contemporary conservative (or liberal, for that matter).

At first glance, a University of Chicago professor who spent most of his life pondering old books would seem an unlikely master-thinker for the policy wonks, career bureaucrats, and pundits who make up Washington's unelected elite. Strauss held that politics was a central human activity, but he also believed that ''all practical or political life is inferior to contemplative life.'' He participated in the battle of ideas not by issuing political manifestoes or angling for bureaucratic power, but by writing recondite and difficult books.

A typical Strauss volume is a densely packed commentary on a classic text like Plato's ''The Laws'' or Machiavelli's ''The Prince,'' festooned with footnotes drawing on an array of hard-won languages from ancient Greek and Latin to medieval Arabic. It's often difficult to discern where Strauss's paraphrases of dead writers leave off and his own views begin-and this has only deepened the mystery that attaches to his work.

Despite his life of quiet scholarly obscurity, Strauss has exerted a strong posthumous sway among those who bustle through the corridors of power. Washington Straussians have included Robert A. Goldwin, who had the bizarre and unenviable task of organizing weekly seminars in political theory and practice attended by President Gerald Ford in the mid-1970s; Carnes Lord, National Security Council advisor in the Reagan administration; and William Galston, deputy domestic policy adviser in the first two years of the Clinton administration. Irving Kristol, an intellectual whose name is virtually synonymous with neoconservatism, has named Strauss as a major influence, and Straussian writers and ideas regularly grace the pages of magazines like National Review, Commentary, and The Weekly Standard, which is edited by Irving's son William Kristol. The Bush administration's Straussians include the Pentagon officials Paul Wolfowitz and Abram Shulsky, who studied with Strauss at the University of Chicago, and the bioethics adviser Leon Kass, a colleague at Chicago.

Strauss also claims a large, if rather clubbish, following in the academy, especially among scholars of political theory and American constitutional history. And yet even those academics who know Strauss's work best often sharply disagree about its fundamental meaning. There are East Coast Straussians, West Coast Straussians, and even some Straussian Democrats. Clifford Orwin, a professor at the University of Toronto strongly influenced by Strauss, describes him as a wise teacher who counseled prudence and moderation. But Shadia Drury, a professor of political science at the University of Calgary and the author of ''Leo Strauss and the American Right,'' completely disagrees. For her, Strauss was nothing less than ''a Jewish Nazi'' whose pretense of American patriotism and piety hid a cynical and extremist antidemocratic ideology.

Was Leo Strauss a friend of liberal democracy, or an elitist who wanted society to be ruled by a secretive cabal? An ardent opponent of tyranny, or an apologist for the abuse of power? An atheist or a pious Jew?

To understand Strauss, we need to look beyond the famous students and self-styled acolytes and examine the man himself.

Born in 1899 to an Orthodox Jewish family in Germany, Leo Strauss learned at an early age that religion and philosophy are always vulnerable to the threat of political persecution. As a young man, Strauss was a liberal rationalist who nursed the hope, widespread in German Jewish circles, that assimilation into a liberal democracy would end anti-Semitism. As an undergraduate at the University of Marburg, his mentor was Hermann Cohen, a philosopher whose reconciliation of Kant's philosophical ethics and biblical morality seemed to suggest that there was no contradiction in being a German Jewish liberal.

In the 1920s Strauss became increasingly disillusioned with modern liberalism. Philosophically, he was shaken by his encounters at the University of Freiburg with Martin Heidegger, the philosopher whose powerful critique of rationality's delusions seemed to undercut the guileless liberalism of Kant and Cohen. Politically, the instability of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazism proved to Strauss that liberals were also weaklings in practical matters, unable to protect society from explosions of popular fanaticism. Furthermore, the rise of a new and more virulent strain of anti-Semitism demonstrated that assimilation had failed to solve the problems of German Jewry.

These political and philosophical problems fused together in the 1930s, when the Nazis came to power-and won the applause of Heidegger. By this point Strauss had left Germany for France, where he was studying medieval Jewish and Islamic philosophy on a Rockefeller scholarship, but he continued to view events in his native country with dismay.

Strauss believed that Martin Heidegger possessed the greatest mind of the 20th century. But unlike those Heidegger admirers who excused the philosopher's flirtation with Nazism as a mere personal failing, Straus believed it showed that modern philosophy had gone deeply astray. Orwin explains: ''Strauss's question always was, What was it about modern thought that could have led Heidegger to make these disastrous practical misjudgments?''

In Strauss's mature work, he would argue that Plato and Aristotle were wiser than modern thinkers like Machiavelli and Heidegger. This exultation of ancient thought wasn't merely a nostalgic celebration of the good old Greek days. As the political theorist Stephen Holmes observes, Strauss believed that classical thinkers had grasped a still-vital truth: Inequality is an ineradicable aspect of the human condition.

For Strauss, the modern liberal project of using the fruits of science and the institutions of the state to spread happiness to all is intrinsically futile, self-defeating, and likely to end in terror and tyranny. The best regime is one in which the leaders govern moderately and prudently, curbing the passions of the mob while allowing a small philosophical elite to pursue the contemplative life of the mind.

Such a philosophical elite may discover truths that are not fit for public consumption. For example, it may find that its city's prosperity derives ultimately from ''force and fraud,'' or that the gods do not exist. Aware that Socrates was executed for blasphemy, ancient thinkers realized that philosophy was dangerous: It had to be kept for the intelligent few rather than the ignorant many. Therefore ancient philosophers (and their medieval followers) wrote in code. Using metaphors and cryptic language, they communicated one message, an ''esoteric'' one, for an elite of wise readers and another, ''exoteric'' one, for the unsophisticated general population. For Strauss, the art of concealment and secrecy was among the greatest legacies of antiquity.

Although Strauss's ideas had been developing for years, they really coalesced when he moved to London in 1934, and then to the United States later in the decade. Like many European emigres, he found refuge at New York's New School of Social Research, where he taught from 1938 to 1948, and then at the University of Chicago, where he remained until his retirement in the late `60s. While his teachings and books bewildered mainstream American social scientists and drew many hostile comments, students flocked to this odd and beguiling refugee scholar.

Many would go on to become important academics in their own right, including the philosopher Stanley Rosen (a leading light at Boston University), the historian Harry Jaffa (who later wrote speeches for Barry Goldwater), and Allan Bloom, whose 1987 bestseller ''The Closing of the American Mind'' would-paradoxically-bring Strauss's thought to a mass audience.

Mindful of the collapse of Weimar Germany's fragile democracy, Strauss was distrustful of American liberals; he believed they were too weak-minded and trusting to fight communism. In fact, Strauss believed that the United States shared certain ills with Soviet communism: Both societies put the material well-being of the masses ahead of the cultivation of virtues among an elite. But Strauss also saw America's constitutional government as the last, best hope for excellence in a modern world besotted with egalitarianism. Many of his students would go on to champion the US Constitution-with its separation of powers and its provision for a strong executive branch-as a political masterpiece that put limits on popular rule.

Stanley Rosen observes that Strauss's earliest students were often indifferent to politics and interested mainly in philosophy. Robert Goldwin became one of the first Straussians to work in practical politics when he joined the campaign of Charles Percy, a Republican candidate for the governorship of Illinois, in 1964. As it turned out, this migration of Straussians into the world of politics helped fill a vacuum in the Republican party, which, aside from free-market economists like Milton Friedman, had few well-educated intellectuals to fill policy-making positions. Once in Washington, Straussian conservatives could carry on their war against modern liberalism's moral relativism at home and naive pursuit of detente with the Soviet Union abroad.

The Straussian milieu was a closely knit one, where professors and pundits cultivated their favorite disciples with devotion. As Holmes points out, Strauss once wrote of ''the love of the mature philosopher for the puppies of his race, by whom he wants to be loved in return.''

With his teachings about philosophers who write in code and secret doctrines for the elect, Leo Strauss can seem like a conspiracy buff. In fact, some of Strauss's followers like Allan Bloom and Willmoore Kendall do use the word ''conspiracy'' to describe the history of Western thought. Not surprisingly, conspiracies have flourished around Strauss himself. The followers of Lyndon H.

LaRouche, the fringe presidential candidate who believes that the world is being governed by Jewish bankers inspired by a Babylonian cult and that the Queen of England is a drug dealer, argue that Strauss is the evil genius behind the Republican Party. More sensible folk, like the New York Times writer Brent Staples, who earned a doctorate in psychology at Chicago in the 1980s, have also decried the ''sinister vogue'' of Strauss.

Certainly, Strauss's embrace of obscurity is part of his appeal. When it comes to religion, the obscurity can get especially thick. Strauss, who wrote on Jewish issues all his life, held that atheism was not a viable public philosophy. And yet he often interpreted religious figures in an impious way. He suggested once that the great medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides secretly believed that reason and revelation were incompatible while pretending to reconcile the Bible with philosophy. In his book ''The Anatomy of Antiliberalism,'' Stephen Holmes maintains that, in Strauss's view, only philosophers can handle the truth: that nature is indifferent to human values and needs.

So where did Strauss really stand? ''He was an atheist,'' says Stanley Rosen flatly. ''They [Straussians] all are. They are epicureans and atheists.'' (The epicurean comment is perhaps a reference to the late Allan Bloom, who was legendary for his enjoyment of the high life. After his death, Bloom's esoteric life as a closeted gay man turned out to be very different from his outward posture as a proponent of traditional values.)

While some Straussians dispute the idea that the master was a godless cynic, it does seem that Strauss wanted a regime where the elite lived by a code of stoic fortitude while governing over a population that subscribes to superstitious religious beliefs. ''He agreed with Marx that religion was the opium of the masses,'' says Shadia Drury. ''But he believed that the masses need their opium.'' Sociologically, Strauss's approach would seem to work well for the Republican Party, which has a grass-roots base of born-again Christians and a much more secular elite leadership-at least in its foreign-policy wing.

Some traditional and religious conservatives have become deeply wary of Straussians. ''They certainly believe that religion may be a useful thing to take in the suckers with,'' notes Thomas Fleming, editor of the right-wing journal Chronicles. ''Exoteric Straussians are taught to repeat mantras about democracy, liberty, and republican government which the inner-circle Straussians don't appear to hold to. One of Allan Bloom's students told me that Professor Bloom had taught them that Plato was just an American-style democrat. This is just absurd. Plato taught the rule of a tiny elite, which is what the Straussians actually believe.''

Clifford Orwin sees nothing objectionable in the alliance between Strauss-inspired neoconservatives and fundamentalist Christians. ''The Republican Party, like the Democratic Party, is a big tent in which a great many people have to coexist who disagree on a great many things,'' notes Orwin. ''There is nothing sinister about that.''

But just how ''sinister'' was Leo Strauss himself? The answer depends on how a reader approaches his books. If you read Strauss with a well-disposed spirit, he can be interpreted as a genuine friend of American liberal democracy. He worked to create an elite that was strong, sober, and sufficiently free of illusions about the goodness of man to fight the totalitarian enemies of liberal democracy-be they fascists, communists, or Islamicist fundamentalists.

But if you read Strauss with a skeptical mind, the way he himself read the great philosophers, a more disturbing picture takes shape. Strauss, by this view, emerges as a disguised Machiavelli, a cynical teacher who encouraged his followers to believe that their intellectual superiority entitles them to rule over the bulk of humanity by means of duplicity. The worst thing you can do to Leo Strauss, perhaps, is to read his books with Straussian eyes.

Jeet Heer is a regular contributor to the National Post of Canada and the Globe.


This story ran on page H1 of the Boston Globe on 5/11/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

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posted by News Compass  # Saturday, May 31, 2003 0 comments

Thursday, May 29, 2003

 
Martin Bell is a former BBC correspondent who has reported on several conflicts from all over the world. His hard-hitting style of reporting came to its peak as he watched the horrors of the Bosnian war unfold in 1992 and 1993. It was to leave its mark on him both mentally and physically. He was wounded by shrapnel whilst reporting from Sarajevo.

His dedication to reporting on the unjust had led him from the regional reporting in Norwich to frontlines in Vietnam, the Middle East, Angola and Rwanda. In 1997 he left the BBC and stood for election to parliament in an anti-corruption campaign. Twenty-four days later he became MP for Tatton, with an 11,000 majority.

He is a critic of aspects of today's broadcast journalism, especially rooftop reporting, which he describes as "puppetry". He now provides commentary on international affairs and is currently writing a book on the recent conflict in Iraq. He also acts as an ambassador for UNICEF.

ON REPORTING THE IRAQ WAR
Commentary by Martin Bell

I think the plethora of rolling news channels is having a very bad effect on the coverage they serve up. They tended to be extraordinarily excitable and place a premium on being first and fastest, rather than being the most accurate.
So we had a whole succession of rumours passing off as fact. What was advertised as breaking news was in fact just rumour unfounded. I believe that Umm Qasr was supposedly liberated or secured eight times before it actually was. We had a report that Tarik Aziz had defected. There was an early report of a great popular uprising in Basra. Complete nonsense.

There now exists in any major foreign news story a satellite dish on the roof of a hotel or roof of a TV station and some poor soul, for his or her network will be put up there all day - it's called I believe now being a dish monkey - or if you’re a woman correspondent - a dish bitch. It has nothing to do with journalism. It has more to do with puppetry and I think it's time to let it go.

I was very critical when I heard of the embedding experiment which is actually not just attaching but incorporating reporters into military units. But I think some of it has worked. They tended to identify with soldiers, which was part of the scheme.

And I think that as long as television is capable of showing that kind of reporting then I would actually argue for the embedding of correspondents in future wars.

Some of the 900 embeds were showbiz correspondents so it does them no harm to understand the realities of soldiering. In fact it makes them better journalists, I would think.

Some of them tended to be very gung-ho. I objected to the editorial use of the word coalition which sounds as if it was a broad alliance of many countries when in fact it was two at the sharp end

Some of the reporting has been extremely distinguished and very brave and I think we’ve been able to have some idea of what went on, on the ground, which we wouldn’t have without it.

I think the correspondents in Baghdad did extremely well in dangerous and highly censored circumstances. So there has been some really good journalism come out of this war.

I think the most marked failure was to give a rather one-sided account of what happened. You saw the soldiers blazing away in their tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Well you didn't see much of what was on the other side - not in the western media - of the casualties and the costs.

And I think that if we sanitise warfare to the extent that we have done, we face a real problem of making it seem an acceptable way of settling differences which it is not.

The most extraordinary combat footage of the war was shot by an NBC cameraman Craig White. I thought it was absolutely the best traditions of war reporting. It was low key, it was with the soldiers, it showed what life was like.

Craig White was with a unit of US Marines which was ambushed on the outskirts of Baghdad. It came under very very heavy fire which they returned. One of the shots showed a marine who was himself having a wound to his leg treated poking his rifle around the corner of an APC and firing back.

This wasn't a victory and there was nothing triumphalistic about it. They were lucky to get out alive. The reporter said it makes your teeth rattle. Well that's what war does; it makes your teeth rattle.

I think the attacks on Al-Jazeera - both verbally and in the end with missiles - were absolutely indefensible. It's entirely right that the Arab world should have its own sources of information.

Why should it be forced to rely on the western agencies – Reuters, the BBC, the American networks for news going on in its own region? And of course Al-Jazeera showed captured and dead British and Americans. The western networks showed captured and dead Iraqis.

I think the interviewing of POWs is probably an infringement of their rights. But they're part of the landscape of war. I was in the last Gulf War years ago and we had thousands of Iraqis surrendered. It is one of the things that happen.

And the thing to do with the Arab networks out there is not to revile them but to court them – to try and put your point of view - that's what our government should be doing.

There is an issue about the showing of real world violence. The BBC has tended always to be too cautious for fear of upsetting people. I was able to show very little of the realities of the Bosnian war. I argued about this for three and half years and lost the argument.

In the end, if you're only showing the shooting and not the victims you're again showing a pretty fine war and saying it is a fine way to settle differences, which it isn't

There are limits to what people can take. They have a kind of threshold and they won't go over it. But yes, I would argue for showing more than we have shown in the past.

We are in an age of what I call celebrity journalism - in peace as much as in war. We might as well have a newspaper called the Daily Beckham.

It's made me rethink the values of journalism. I've been appalled at some of the commentary, especially some of the American commentary. If you look for instance at the number of commentators urging the Americans to attack the television station in Baghdad, as if that were a legitimate target.

These quasi-journalists, the American ones, were more gung-ho and more onside with the Pentagon than ever in the past. I find that extraordinary and actually a disgraceful betrayal of what journalism is all about.

I think there is a chauvinistic element that our casualties matter more than Iraqi casualties, which I don't share. To me the casualties were unacceptably high generally, even if by the standards of high-intensity warfare they were relatively low in this case.

There were thousands and thousands of Iraqis killed and each one of those British servicemen dead is a personal family tragedy.

We used to put film in parcels and put them on aeroplanes. It would be processed and edited three or four days later. Now it's instantaneous. That's one thing that's changed. Another is the multiplicity of channels and the ferocity of competition.

And the extraordinary numbers of journalists. When Nato went into Kosovo they were accompanied or followed by I believe 2,754 hacks. It's ridiculous. It's gone mad.

Did we have to go to war for this cause? And you only go to war in a desperate last case scenario. It hadn't reached that point. Iraq was being disarmed day by day. Missiles were being destroyed.

I think historians are going to come to judge this as the greatest mistake by a British prime minister in 50 years.



Martin Bell is a former BBC correspondent who has reported on several conflicts from all over the world. His hard-hitting style of reporting came to its peak as he watched the horrors of the Bosnian war unfold in 1992 and 1993. It was to leave its mark on him both mentally and physically. He was wounded by shrapnel whilst reporting from Sarajevo.

His dedication to reporting on the unjust had led him from the regional reporting in Norwich to frontlines in Vietnam, the Middle East, Angola and Rwanda. In 1997 he left the BBC and stood for election to parliament in an anti-corruption campaign. Twenty-four days later he became MP for Tatton, with an 11,000 majority.

He is a critic of aspects of today's broadcast journalism, especially rooftop reporting, which he describes as "puppetry". He now provides commentary on international affairs and is currently writing a book on the recent conflict in Iraq. He also acts as an ambassador for UNICEF.

ON REPORTING THE IRAQ WAR
Commentary by Martin Bell

I think the plethora of rolling news channels is having a very bad effect on the coverage they serve up. They tended to be extraordinarily excitable and place a premium on being first and fastest, rather than being the most accurate.
So we had a whole succession of rumours passing off as fact. What was advertised as breaking news was in fact just rumour unfounded. I believe that Umm Qasr was supposedly liberated or secured eight times before it actually was. We had a report that Tarik Aziz had defected. There was an early report of a great popular uprising in Basra. Complete nonsense.

There now exists in any major foreign news story a satellite dish on the roof of a hotel or roof of a TV station and some poor soul, for his or her network will be put up there all day - it's called I believe now being a dish monkey - or if you’re a woman correspondent - a dish bitch. It has nothing to do with journalism. It has more to do with puppetry and I think it's time to let it go.

I was very critical when I heard of the embedding experiment which is actually not just attaching but incorporating reporters into military units. But I think some of it has worked. They tended to identify with soldiers, which was part of the scheme.

And I think that as long as television is capable of showing that kind of reporting then I would actually argue for the embedding of correspondents in future wars.

Some of the 900 embeds were showbiz correspondents so it does them no harm to understand the realities of soldiering. In fact it makes them better journalists, I would think.

Some of them tended to be very gung-ho. I objected to the editorial use of the word coalition which sounds as if it was a broad alliance of many countries when in fact it was two at the sharp end

Some of the reporting has been extremely distinguished and very brave and I think we’ve been able to have some idea of what went on, on the ground, which we wouldn’t have without it.

I think the correspondents in Baghdad did extremely well in dangerous and highly censored circumstances. So there has been some really good journalism come out of this war.

I think the most marked failure was to give a rather one-sided account of what happened. You saw the soldiers blazing away in their tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Well you didn't see much of what was on the other side - not in the western media - of the casualties and the costs.

And I think that if we sanitise warfare to the extent that we have done, we face a real problem of making it seem an acceptable way of settling differences which it is not.

The most extraordinary combat footage of the war was shot by an NBC cameraman Craig White. I thought it was absolutely the best traditions of war reporting. It was low key, it was with the soldiers, it showed what life was like.

Craig White was with a unit of US Marines which was ambushed on the outskirts of Baghdad. It came under very very heavy fire which they returned. One of the shots showed a marine who was himself having a wound to his leg treated poking his rifle around the corner of an APC and firing back.

This wasn't a victory and there was nothing triumphalistic about it. They were lucky to get out alive. The reporter said it makes your teeth rattle. Well that's what war does; it makes your teeth rattle.

I think the attacks on Al-Jazeera - both verbally and in the end with missiles - were absolutely indefensible. It's entirely right that the Arab world should have its own sources of information.

Why should it be forced to rely on the western agencies – Reuters, the BBC, the American networks for news going on in its own region? And of course Al-Jazeera showed captured and dead British and Americans. The western networks showed captured and dead Iraqis.

I think the interviewing of POWs is probably an infringement of their rights. But they're part of the landscape of war. I was in the last Gulf War years ago and we had thousands of Iraqis surrendered. It is one of the things that happen.

And the thing to do with the Arab networks out there is not to revile them but to court them – to try and put your point of view - that's what our government should be doing.

There is an issue about the showing of real world violence. The BBC has tended always to be too cautious for fear of upsetting people. I was able to show very little of the realities of the Bosnian war. I argued about this for three and half years and lost the argument.

In the end, if you're only showing the shooting and not the victims you're again showing a pretty fine war and saying it is a fine way to settle differences, which it isn't

There are limits to what people can take. They have a kind of threshold and they won't go over it. But yes, I would argue for showing more than we have shown in the past.

We are in an age of what I call celebrity journalism - in peace as much as in war. We might as well have a newspaper called the Daily Beckham.

It's made me rethink the values of journalism. I've been appalled at some of the commentary, especially some of the American commentary. If you look for instance at the number of commentators urging the Americans to attack the television station in Baghdad, as if that were a legitimate target.

These quasi-journalists, the American ones, were more gung-ho and more onside with the Pentagon than ever in the past. I find that extraordinary and actually a disgraceful betrayal of what journalism is all about.

I think there is a chauvinistic element that our casualties matter more than Iraqi casualties, which I don't share. To me the casualties were unacceptably high generally, even if by the standards of high-intensity warfare they were relatively low in this case.

There were thousands and thousands of Iraqis killed and each one of those British servicemen dead is a personal family tragedy.

We used to put film in parcels and put them on aeroplanes. It would be processed and edited three or four days later. Now it's instantaneous. That's one thing that's changed. Another is the multiplicity of channels and the ferocity of competition.

And the extraordinary numbers of journalists. When Nato went into Kosovo they were accompanied or followed by I believe 2,754 hacks. It's ridiculous. It's gone mad.

Did we have to go to war for this cause? And you only go to war in a desperate last case scenario. It hadn't reached that point. Iraq was being disarmed day by day. Missiles were being destroyed.

I think historians are going to come to judge this as the greatest mistake by a British prime minister in 50 years.



Continue...

posted by News Compass  # Thursday, May 29, 2003 0 comments

Wednesday, May 28, 2003

 
How We Got Into This Imperial Pickle: A PNAC Primer

By: Bernard Weiner

05/27/03: Recently, I was the guest on a radio talk-show hosted by a thoroughly decent far-right Republican. I got verbally battered, but returned fire and, I think, held my own. Toward the end of the hour, I mentioned that the National Security Strategy -- promulgated by the Bush Administration in September 2002 -- now included attacking possible future competitors first, assuming regional hegemony by force of arms, controlling energy resources around the globe, maintaining a permanent-war strategy, etc.

"I'm not making up this stuff," I said. "It's all talked about openly by the neo-conservatives of the Project for the New American Century -- who now are in charge of America's military and foreign policy -- and published as official U.S. doctrine in the National Security Strategy of the United States of America."

The talk-show host seemed to gulp, and then replied: "If you really can demonstrate all that, you probably can deny George Bush a second term in 2004."

Two things became apparent in that exchange:

1) Even a well-educated, intelligent radio commentator was unaware of some of this information; and,

2) Once presented with it, this conservative icon understood immediately the implications of what would happen if the American voting public found out about these policies.

So, a large part of our job in the run-up to 2004 is to get this information out to those able to hear it and understand the implications of an imperial foreign/military policy on our economy, on our young people in uniform, on our moral sense of ourselves as a nation, on our constitutional freedoms, on our constitutional freedoms, and on our treaty obligations -- which is to say, our respect for the rule of law.

Nearly 40% of Bush's support is fairly solid, but there is a block of about 20% in-between that 40% and the 40% who can be counted upon to vote for a reasonable Democratic candidate -- and that 20% is where the election will be decided. We need to reach a goodly number of those moderate (and even some traditionally conservative) Republicans and independents with the facts inherent in the dangerous, reckless, and expensive policies carried out by the Bush Administration.

When these voters become aware of how various, decades-old, popular programs are being rolled back or eliminated (because there's no money available for them, because that money is being used to fight more and more wars, and because income to the federal coffers is being siphoned-off in costly tax-cuts to the wealthiest sectors of society), that 20% may be a bit more open to hearing what we have to say.

When it's your kids' schools being short-changed, and your state's and city's services to citizens being chopped, your bridges and parks and roadways and libraries and public hospitals being neglected, your IRAs and pensions losing their value, and your job not being as secure as in years past -- in short, when you can see the connection between Bush&Co.'s expensive military policies and your thinner wallet and reduced social amenities, true voter-education becomes possible. It's still the economy, stupid.

Origins Of The Crisis

Most of us Americans saw the end of the Cold War as a harbinger of a more peaceful globe, and we relaxed knowing that the communist world was no longer a threat to the U.S. The Soviet Union, our partner in MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) and Cold War rivalry around the globe, was no more. This meant a partial vacuum in international affairs. Nature abhors a vacuum.

The only major vacuum-filler still standing after the Cold War was the United States. One could continue traditional diplomacy on behalf of American ends -- the kind of polite, well-disguised defense of U.S. interests (largely corporate) and imperial ambition carried out under Bush#1, Reagan, Clinton, et al. -- knowing that we'd mostly get our way eventually given our status as the globe's only Superpower. Or one could try to speed up the process and accomplish those same ends overtly -- with an attitude of arrogance and in-your-face bullying -- within maybe one or two Republican administrations.

Some of the ideological roots of today's Bush Administration power-wielders could be traced back to political philosophers Leo Strauss and Albert Wohlstetter or to GOP rightist Barry Goldwater and his rabid anti-communist followers in the early-1960s. But, for simplicity's sake let's stick closer to our own time.

In the early-1990s, there was a group of ideologues and power-politicians on the fringe of the Republican Party's far-right. The members of this group in 1997 would found The Project for the New American Century. (PNAC) Their aim was to prepare for the day when the Republicans regained control of the White House -- and, it was hoped, the other two branches of government as well -- so that their vision of how the U.S. should move in the world would be in place and ready to go, straight off-the-shelf into official policy.

This PNAC group was led by such heavy hitters as Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, James Woolsey, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Bill Kristol, James Bolton, Zalmay M. Khalilzad, William Bennett, Dan Quayle, Jeb Bush, most of whom were movers-and-shakers in previous Administrations, then in power-exile, as it were, while Clinton was in the White House. But even given their reputations and clout, the views of this group were regarded as too extreme to be taken seriously by the mainstream conservatives that controlled the Republican Party.

Setting Up PNAC

To prepare the ground for the PNAC-like ideas that were circulating in the HardRight, various wealthy individuals and corporations helped set up far-right think-tanks, and bought up various media outlets -- newspapers, magazines, TV networks, radio talk shows, cable channels, etc. -- in support of that day when all the political tumblers would click into place and the PNAC cabal and their supporters could assume control.

This happened with the Supreme Court's selection of George W. Bush in 2000.

The "outsiders" from PNAC were now powerful "insiders," placed in important positions from which they could exert maximum pressure on U.S. policy: Cheney is Vice President, Rumsfeld is Defense Secretary, Wolfowitz is Deputy Defense Secretary, I. Lewis Libby is Cheney's Chief of Staff, Elliot Abrams is in charge of Middle East policy at the National Security Council, Dov Zakheim is comptroller for the Defense Department, John Bolton is Undersecretary of State, Richard Perle is chair of the Defense Policy advisory board at the Pentagon, former CIA director James Woolsey is on that panel as well, etc. etc. (PNAC's chairman, Bill Kristol, is the editor of Rupert Murdoch's The Weekly Standard.) In short, PNAC had a lock on military policy-creation in the Bush Administration.

But, in order to unleash their foreign/military campaigns without taking all sorts of flak from the traditional wing of the conservative GOP -- which was more isolationist, more opposed to expanding the role of the federal government, more opposed to military adventurism abroad -- they needed a context that would permit them free rein. The events of 9/11 rode to their rescue. (In one of their major reports, written in 2000, they noted that "the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor.")

After those terrorist attacks, the Bush Administration used the fear generated in the general populace as their cover for enacting all sorts of draconian measures domestically (the Patriot Act, drafted earlier, was rushed through Congress in the days following 9/11; few members even read it), and as their rationalization for launching military campaigns abroad. (Don't get me wrong. The Islamic fanatics that use terror as their political weapon are real and deadly and need to be stopped. The question is: How to do that in ways that enhance rather than detract from America's long-term national interests?)

The Domestic Ramifications

Even today, the Bush manipulators, led by Karl Rove, continue to utilize fear and hyped-up patriotism and a permanent war on terrorism as the basis for their policy agenda, the top item of which, at this juncture, consists of getting Bush elected in 2004. This, in order to continue to fulfill their primary objectives, not the least of which domestically is to roll back and, where possible, decimate and eliminate social programs that the far-right has hated since the New Deal/Great Society days.

By and large, these programs are popular with Americans, so Bush&Co. can't attack them frontally -- but if all the monies are tied up in wars, defense, tax cuts, etc., they can go to the American public and, in effect, say: "We'd love to continue to fund Head Start and education and environmental protection and drugs for the elderly through Medicare, but you see there's simply no extra money left over after we go after the bad guys. It's not our fault."

So far, that stealth strategy has worked. The Bush&Co. hope is that the public won't catch on to their real agenda -- to seek wealth and power at the expense of average citizens -- until after a 2004 victory, and maybe not even then. Just keep blaming the terrorists, the French, the Dixie Chicks, peaceniks, fried potatoes, whatever.

One doesn't have to speculate what the PNAC guys might think, since they're quite open and proud of their theories and strategies. Indeed, they've left a long, public record that lays out quite openly what they're up to. As I say, it was all laid out years ago, but nobody took such extreme talk seriously; now that they're in power, actually making the policy they only dreamed about a decade or so ago -- with all sorts of scarifying consequences for America and the rest of the world -- we need to educate ourselves quickly as to how the PNACers work and what their future plans might be.

The PNAC Paper Trail

Here is a shorthand summary of PNAC strategies that have become U.S. policy. Some of these you may have heard about before, but I've expanded and updated as much as possible.

1. In 1992, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney had a strategy report drafted for the Department of Defense, written by Paul Wolfowitz, then Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy. In it, the U.S. government was urged, as the world's sole remaining Superpower, to move aggressively and militarily around the globe. The report called for pre-emptive attacks and ad hoc coalitions, but said that the U.S. should be ready to act alone when "collective action cannot be orchestrated." The central strategy was to "establish and protect a new order" that accounts "sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership," while at the same time maintaining a military dominance capable of "deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role." Wolfowitz outlined plans for military intervention in Iraq as an action necessary to assure "access to vital raw material, primarily Persian Gulf oil" and to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and threats from terrorism.

Somehow, this report leaked to the press; the negative response was immediate. Senator Robert Byrd led the Democratic charge, calling the recommended Pentagon strategy "myopic, shallow and disappointing....The basic thrust of the document seems to be this: We love being the sole remaining superpower in the world and we want so much to remain that way that we are willing to put at risk the basic health of our economy and well-being of our people to do so." Clearly, the objective political forces hadn't yet coalesced in the U.S. that could support this policy free of major resistance, and so President Bush the Elder publicly repudiated the paper and sent it back to the drawing boards. (For the essence of the draft text, see Barton Gellman's "Keeping the U.S. First; Pentagon Would Preclude a Rival Superpower" in the Washington Post

2. Various HardRight intellectuals outside the government were spelling out the new PNAC policy in books and influential journals. Zalmay M. Khalilzad (formerly associated with big oil companies, currently U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan & Iraq ) wrote an important volume in 1995, "From Containment to Global Leadership: America & the World After the Cold War," the import of which was identifying a way for the U.S. to move aggressively in the world and thus to exercise effective control over the planet's natural resources. A year later, in 1996, neo-conservative leaders Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan, in their Foreign Affairs article "Towards a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy," came right out and said the goal for the U.S. had to be nothing less than "benevolent global hegemony," a euphemism for total U.S. domination, but "benevolently" exercised, of course.

3. In 1998, PNAC unsuccessfully lobbied President Clinton to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power. The January letter from PNAC urged America to initiate that war even if the U.S. could not muster full support from the Security Council at the United Nations. Sound familiar? (President Clinton replied that he was focusing on dealing with al-Qaida terrorist cells.)

4. In September of 2000, PNAC, sensing a GOP victory in the upcoming presidential election, issued its white paper on "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy,Forces and Resources for the New Century ." The PNAC report was quite frank about why the U.S. would want to move toward imperialist militarism, a Pax Americana, because with the Soviet Union out of the picture, now is the time most "conducive to American interests and ideals...The challenge of this coming century is to preserve and enhance this 'American peace'." And how to preserve and enhance the Pax Americana? The answer is to "fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major-theater wars."

In serving as world "constable," the PNAC report went on, no other countervailing forces will be permitted to get in the way. Such actions "demand American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations," for example. No country will be permitted to get close to parity with the U.S. when it comes to weaponry or influence; therefore, more U.S. military bases will be established in the various regions of the globe. (A post-Saddam Iraq may well serve as one of those advance military bases.) Currently, it is estimated that the U.S. now has nearly 150 military bases and deployments in different countries around the world, with the most recent major increase being in the Caspian Sea/Afghanistan/Middle East areas.

5. George W. Bush moved into the White House in January of 2001. Shortly thereafter, a report by the Administration-friendly Council on Foreign Relations was prepared, "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21st Century," that advocated a more aggressive U.S. posture in the world and called for a "reassessment of the role of energy in American foreign policy," with access to oil repeatedly cited as a "security imperative." (It's possible that inside Cheney's energy-policy papers -- which he refuses to release to Congress or the American people -- are references to foreign-policy plans for how to gain military control of oilfields abroad.)

6. Mere hours after the 9/11 terrorist mass-murders, PNACer Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld ordered his aides to begin planning for an attack on Iraq, even though his intelligence officials told him it was an al-Qaida operation and there was no connection between Iraq and the attacks. "Go massive," the aides' notes quote him as saying. "Sweep it all up. Things related and not." Rumsfeld leaned heavily on the FBI and CIA to find any shred of evidence linking the Iraq government to 9/11, but they weren't able to. So he set up his own fact-finding group in the Pentagon that would provide him with whatever shaky connections it could find or surmise.

7. Feeling confident that all plans were on track for moving aggressively in the world, the Bush Administration in September of 2002 published its "National Security Strategy of the United States of America." The official policy of the U.S. government, as proudly proclaimed in this major document, is virtually identical to the policy proposals in the various white papers of the Project for the New American Century and others like it over the past decade.

Chief among them are: 1) the policy of "pre-emptive" war -- i.e., whenever the U.S. thinks a country may be amassing too much power and/or could provide some sort of competition in the "benevolent hegemony" region, it can be attacked, without provocation. (A later corollary would rethink the country's atomic policy: nuclear weapons would no longer be considered defensive, but could be used offensively in support of political/economic ends; so-called "mini-nukes" could be employed in these regional wars.) 2) international treaties and opinion will be ignored whenever they are not seen to serve U.S. imperial goals. 3) The new policies "will require bases and stations within and beyond Western Europe and Northeast Asia." In short, the Bush Administration seems to see the U.S., admiringly, as a New Rome, an empire with its foreign legions (and threat of "shock&awe" attacks, including with nuclear weapons) keeping the outlying colonies, and potential competitors, in line. Those who aren't fully in accord with these goals better get out of the way; "you're either with us or against us."

Summary & The PNAC Future

Everyone loves a winner, and American citizens are no different. It makes a lot of people feel good that we "won" the battle for Iraq, but in doing so we paid too high a price at that, and may well have risked losing the larger war in the Arab/Muslim region: the U.S. now lacks moral stature and standing in much of the world, it is revealed as a liar for all to see (no WMDs in Iraq, no connection to 9/11, no quick handing-over the interim reins of government to the Iraqis as initially promised), it destroyed a good share of the United Nation's effectiveness and prestige that may come in handy later, it needlessly alienated our traditional allies, it infuriated key elements of the Muslim world, it provided political and emotional ammunition for anti-U.S. terrorists, etc.

Already, we're talking about $80 to $100 billion from the U.S. treasury for post-war reconstruction in Iraq. And the PNACers are gearing up for their next war: let's see, should we move first on Iran or on Syria, or maybe do Syria-lite first in Lebanon?

One can believe that maybe PNAC sincerely believes its rhetoric -- that instituting U.S.-style free-markets and democratically-elected governments in Iraq and the other authoritarian-run countries of the Islamic Middle East will be good both for the citizens of that region and for American interests as well -- but even if that is true, it's clear that these incompetents are not operating in the world of Middle Eastern realities.

These are armchair theoreticians -- most of whom made sure not to serve in the military in Vietnam -- who truly believed, for example, that the Iraqis would welcome the invading U.S. forces with bouquets of flowers and kisses when they "liberated" their country from the horribleness of Saddam Hussein's reign. The Iraqis, by and large, were happy to be freed of Saddam's terror, but, as it stands now, the U.S. military forces are more likely to be engulfed in a political/religious quagmire for years there, as so many of the majority Shia population just want the occupying soldiers to leave.

And yet PNAC theorists continue to believe that remaking the political structure of the Middle East -- by force if necessary, although they hope the example of what the U.S. did to Iraq will make war unnecessary -- will be fairly easy.

These are men of big ideas, but who don't really think. They certainly don't think through what takes place in the real world, when the genies of war and religious righteousness are let out of the bottle. For example, as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman recently put it, the U.S. had no Plan B for Iraq. They did great with Plan A, the war, but when the Saddam government collapsed, and with it law and order, and much of the population remained sullen and resentful towards the U.S., they had no prepared way of dealing with it. An embarrassing three weeks went by, with no progress, finally leading the Bush Administration to force out its initial administrators and to put in another team to have a go at it.

No, friends, the PNAC boys are dangerous ideologues playing with matches, and the U.S. is going to get burned even more in years to come, unless their hold on power is broken. The only way to accomplish this, given the present circumstances, is to defeat their boss at the polls in 2004, thus breaking the HardRight momentum that has done, and is doing, such great damage to our reputation abroad and to our country internally, especially to our Constitution and economy.

We don't need an emperor, we don't need huge tax cuts for the wealthy when the economy is tanking, we don't need more "pre-emptive" wars, we don't need more shredding of constitutional due process. Instead, we need leaders with big ideas who are capable of creative thinking. We need peace and justice in the Middle East (to help alter the chemistry of the soil in which terrorism grows), we need jobs and economic growth at home, and we need authentic and effective "homeland security" consistent with our civil liberties.

In short, we need a new Administration, which means that we need to get to serious work to make all this change happen. Organize!, organize!, organize!

Bernard Weiner, a playwright and poet, was the San Francisco Chronicle's theater critic for nearly two decades. Holder of a Ph.D. in government & international relations, he has taught American politics and international relations at Western Washington University and San Diego State University, and has written for The Nation, Village Voice, The Progressive and other political journals. He is a contributing writer for Liberal Slant and co-editor of the new online political site: www.CrisisPapers.org


How We Got Into This Imperial Pickle: A PNAC Primer

By: Bernard Weiner

05/27/03: Recently, I was the guest on a radio talk-show hosted by a thoroughly decent far-right Republican. I got verbally battered, but returned fire and, I think, held my own. Toward the end of the hour, I mentioned that the National Security Strategy -- promulgated by the Bush Administration in September 2002 -- now included attacking possible future competitors first, assuming regional hegemony by force of arms, controlling energy resources around the globe, maintaining a permanent-war strategy, etc.

"I'm not making up this stuff," I said. "It's all talked about openly by the neo-conservatives of the Project for the New American Century -- who now are in charge of America's military and foreign policy -- and published as official U.S. doctrine in the National Security Strategy of the United States of America."

The talk-show host seemed to gulp, and then replied: "If you really can demonstrate all that, you probably can deny George Bush a second term in 2004."

Two things became apparent in that exchange:

1) Even a well-educated, intelligent radio commentator was unaware of some of this information; and,

2) Once presented with it, this conservative icon understood immediately the implications of what would happen if the American voting public found out about these policies.

So, a large part of our job in the run-up to 2004 is to get this information out to those able to hear it and understand the implications of an imperial foreign/military policy on our economy, on our young people in uniform, on our moral sense of ourselves as a nation, on our constitutional freedoms, on our constitutional freedoms, and on our treaty obligations -- which is to say, our respect for the rule of law.

Nearly 40% of Bush's support is fairly solid, but there is a block of about 20% in-between that 40% and the 40% who can be counted upon to vote for a reasonable Democratic candidate -- and that 20% is where the election will be decided. We need to reach a goodly number of those moderate (and even some traditionally conservative) Republicans and independents with the facts inherent in the dangerous, reckless, and expensive policies carried out by the Bush Administration.

When these voters become aware of how various, decades-old, popular programs are being rolled back or eliminated (because there's no money available for them, because that money is being used to fight more and more wars, and because income to the federal coffers is being siphoned-off in costly tax-cuts to the wealthiest sectors of society), that 20% may be a bit more open to hearing what we have to say.

When it's your kids' schools being short-changed, and your state's and city's services to citizens being chopped, your bridges and parks and roadways and libraries and public hospitals being neglected, your IRAs and pensions losing their value, and your job not being as secure as in years past -- in short, when you can see the connection between Bush&Co.'s expensive military policies and your thinner wallet and reduced social amenities, true voter-education becomes possible. It's still the economy, stupid.

Origins Of The Crisis

Most of us Americans saw the end of the Cold War as a harbinger of a more peaceful globe, and we relaxed knowing that the communist world was no longer a threat to the U.S. The Soviet Union, our partner in MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) and Cold War rivalry around the globe, was no more. This meant a partial vacuum in international affairs. Nature abhors a vacuum.

The only major vacuum-filler still standing after the Cold War was the United States. One could continue traditional diplomacy on behalf of American ends -- the kind of polite, well-disguised defense of U.S. interests (largely corporate) and imperial ambition carried out under Bush#1, Reagan, Clinton, et al. -- knowing that we'd mostly get our way eventually given our status as the globe's only Superpower. Or one could try to speed up the process and accomplish those same ends overtly -- with an attitude of arrogance and in-your-face bullying -- within maybe one or two Republican administrations.

Some of the ideological roots of today's Bush Administration power-wielders could be traced back to political philosophers Leo Strauss and Albert Wohlstetter or to GOP rightist Barry Goldwater and his rabid anti-communist followers in the early-1960s. But, for simplicity's sake let's stick closer to our own time.

In the early-1990s, there was a group of ideologues and power-politicians on the fringe of the Republican Party's far-right. The members of this group in 1997 would found The Project for the New American Century. (PNAC) Their aim was to prepare for the day when the Republicans regained control of the White House -- and, it was hoped, the other two branches of government as well -- so that their vision of how the U.S. should move in the world would be in place and ready to go, straight off-the-shelf into official policy.

This PNAC group was led by such heavy hitters as Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, James Woolsey, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Bill Kristol, James Bolton, Zalmay M. Khalilzad, William Bennett, Dan Quayle, Jeb Bush, most of whom were movers-and-shakers in previous Administrations, then in power-exile, as it were, while Clinton was in the White House. But even given their reputations and clout, the views of this group were regarded as too extreme to be taken seriously by the mainstream conservatives that controlled the Republican Party.

Setting Up PNAC

To prepare the ground for the PNAC-like ideas that were circulating in the HardRight, various wealthy individuals and corporations helped set up far-right think-tanks, and bought up various media outlets -- newspapers, magazines, TV networks, radio talk shows, cable channels, etc. -- in support of that day when all the political tumblers would click into place and the PNAC cabal and their supporters could assume control.

This happened with the Supreme Court's selection of George W. Bush in 2000.

The "outsiders" from PNAC were now powerful "insiders," placed in important positions from which they could exert maximum pressure on U.S. policy: Cheney is Vice President, Rumsfeld is Defense Secretary, Wolfowitz is Deputy Defense Secretary, I. Lewis Libby is Cheney's Chief of Staff, Elliot Abrams is in charge of Middle East policy at the National Security Council, Dov Zakheim is comptroller for the Defense Department, John Bolton is Undersecretary of State, Richard Perle is chair of the Defense Policy advisory board at the Pentagon, former CIA director James Woolsey is on that panel as well, etc. etc. (PNAC's chairman, Bill Kristol, is the editor of Rupert Murdoch's The Weekly Standard.) In short, PNAC had a lock on military policy-creation in the Bush Administration.

But, in order to unleash their foreign/military campaigns without taking all sorts of flak from the traditional wing of the conservative GOP -- which was more isolationist, more opposed to expanding the role of the federal government, more opposed to military adventurism abroad -- they needed a context that would permit them free rein. The events of 9/11 rode to their rescue. (In one of their major reports, written in 2000, they noted that "the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event - like a new Pearl Harbor.")

After those terrorist attacks, the Bush Administration used the fear generated in the general populace as their cover for enacting all sorts of draconian measures domestically (the Patriot Act, drafted earlier, was rushed through Congress in the days following 9/11; few members even read it), and as their rationalization for launching military campaigns abroad. (Don't get me wrong. The Islamic fanatics that use terror as their political weapon are real and deadly and need to be stopped. The question is: How to do that in ways that enhance rather than detract from America's long-term national interests?)

The Domestic Ramifications

Even today, the Bush manipulators, led by Karl Rove, continue to utilize fear and hyped-up patriotism and a permanent war on terrorism as the basis for their policy agenda, the top item of which, at this juncture, consists of getting Bush elected in 2004. This, in order to continue to fulfill their primary objectives, not the least of which domestically is to roll back and, where possible, decimate and eliminate social programs that the far-right has hated since the New Deal/Great Society days.

By and large, these programs are popular with Americans, so Bush&Co. can't attack them frontally -- but if all the monies are tied up in wars, defense, tax cuts, etc., they can go to the American public and, in effect, say: "We'd love to continue to fund Head Start and education and environmental protection and drugs for the elderly through Medicare, but you see there's simply no extra money left over after we go after the bad guys. It's not our fault."

So far, that stealth strategy has worked. The Bush&Co. hope is that the public won't catch on to their real agenda -- to seek wealth and power at the expense of average citizens -- until after a 2004 victory, and maybe not even then. Just keep blaming the terrorists, the French, the Dixie Chicks, peaceniks, fried potatoes, whatever.

One doesn't have to speculate what the PNAC guys might think, since they're quite open and proud of their theories and strategies. Indeed, they've left a long, public record that lays out quite openly what they're up to. As I say, it was all laid out years ago, but nobody took such extreme talk seriously; now that they're in power, actually making the policy they only dreamed about a decade or so ago -- with all sorts of scarifying consequences for America and the rest of the world -- we need to educate ourselves quickly as to how the PNACers work and what their future plans might be.

The PNAC Paper Trail

Here is a shorthand summary of PNAC strategies that have become U.S. policy. Some of these you may have heard about before, but I've expanded and updated as much as possible.

1. In 1992, then-Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney had a strategy report drafted for the Department of Defense, written by Paul Wolfowitz, then Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy. In it, the U.S. government was urged, as the world's sole remaining Superpower, to move aggressively and militarily around the globe. The report called for pre-emptive attacks and ad hoc coalitions, but said that the U.S. should be ready to act alone when "collective action cannot be orchestrated." The central strategy was to "establish and protect a new order" that accounts "sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership," while at the same time maintaining a military dominance capable of "deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role." Wolfowitz outlined plans for military intervention in Iraq as an action necessary to assure "access to vital raw material, primarily Persian Gulf oil" and to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and threats from terrorism.

Somehow, this report leaked to the press; the negative response was immediate. Senator Robert Byrd led the Democratic charge, calling the recommended Pentagon strategy "myopic, shallow and disappointing....The basic thrust of the document seems to be this: We love being the sole remaining superpower in the world and we want so much to remain that way that we are willing to put at risk the basic health of our economy and well-being of our people to do so." Clearly, the objective political forces hadn't yet coalesced in the U.S. that could support this policy free of major resistance, and so President Bush the Elder publicly repudiated the paper and sent it back to the drawing boards. (For the essence of the draft text, see Barton Gellman's "Keeping the U.S. First; Pentagon Would Preclude a Rival Superpower" in the Washington Post

2. Various HardRight intellectuals outside the government were spelling out the new PNAC policy in books and influential journals. Zalmay M. Khalilzad (formerly associated with big oil companies, currently U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan & Iraq ) wrote an important volume in 1995, "From Containment to Global Leadership: America & the World After the Cold War," the import of which was identifying a way for the U.S. to move aggressively in the world and thus to exercise effective control over the planet's natural resources. A year later, in 1996, neo-conservative leaders Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan, in their Foreign Affairs article "Towards a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy," came right out and said the goal for the U.S. had to be nothing less than "benevolent global hegemony," a euphemism for total U.S. domination, but "benevolently" exercised, of course.

3. In 1998, PNAC unsuccessfully lobbied President Clinton to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power. The January letter from PNAC urged America to initiate that war even if the U.S. could not muster full support from the Security Council at the United Nations. Sound familiar? (President Clinton replied that he was focusing on dealing with al-Qaida terrorist cells.)

4. In September of 2000, PNAC, sensing a GOP victory in the upcoming presidential election, issued its white paper on "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy,Forces and Resources for the New Century ." The PNAC report was quite frank about why the U.S. would want to move toward imperialist militarism, a Pax Americana, because with the Soviet Union out of the picture, now is the time most "conducive to American interests and ideals...The challenge of this coming century is to preserve and enhance this 'American peace'." And how to preserve and enhance the Pax Americana? The answer is to "fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major-theater wars."

In serving as world "constable," the PNAC report went on, no other countervailing forces will be permitted to get in the way. Such actions "demand American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations," for example. No country will be permitted to get close to parity with the U.S. when it comes to weaponry or influence; therefore, more U.S. military bases will be established in the various regions of the globe. (A post-Saddam Iraq may well serve as one of those advance military bases.) Currently, it is estimated that the U.S. now has nearly 150 military bases and deployments in different countries around the world, with the most recent major increase being in the Caspian Sea/Afghanistan/Middle East areas.

5. George W. Bush moved into the White House in January of 2001. Shortly thereafter, a report by the Administration-friendly Council on Foreign Relations was prepared, "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21st Century," that advocated a more aggressive U.S. posture in the world and called for a "reassessment of the role of energy in American foreign policy," with access to oil repeatedly cited as a "security imperative." (It's possible that inside Cheney's energy-policy papers -- which he refuses to release to Congress or the American people -- are references to foreign-policy plans for how to gain military control of oilfields abroad.)

6. Mere hours after the 9/11 terrorist mass-murders, PNACer Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld ordered his aides to begin planning for an attack on Iraq, even though his intelligence officials told him it was an al-Qaida operation and there was no connection between Iraq and the attacks. "Go massive," the aides' notes quote him as saying. "Sweep it all up. Things related and not." Rumsfeld leaned heavily on the FBI and CIA to find any shred of evidence linking the Iraq government to 9/11, but they weren't able to. So he set up his own fact-finding group in the Pentagon that would provide him with whatever shaky connections it could find or surmise.

7. Feeling confident that all plans were on track for moving aggressively in the world, the Bush Administration in September of 2002 published its "National Security Strategy of the United States of America." The official policy of the U.S. government, as proudly proclaimed in this major document, is virtually identical to the policy proposals in the various white papers of the Project for the New American Century and others like it over the past decade.

Chief among them are: 1) the policy of "pre-emptive" war -- i.e., whenever the U.S. thinks a country may be amassing too much power and/or could provide some sort of competition in the "benevolent hegemony" region, it can be attacked, without provocation. (A later corollary would rethink the country's atomic policy: nuclear weapons would no longer be considered defensive, but could be used offensively in support of political/economic ends; so-called "mini-nukes" could be employed in these regional wars.) 2) international treaties and opinion will be ignored whenever they are not seen to serve U.S. imperial goals. 3) The new policies "will require bases and stations within and beyond Western Europe and Northeast Asia." In short, the Bush Administration seems to see the U.S., admiringly, as a New Rome, an empire with its foreign legions (and threat of "shock&awe" attacks, including with nuclear weapons) keeping the outlying colonies, and potential competitors, in line. Those who aren't fully in accord with these goals better get out of the way; "you're either with us or against us."

Summary & The PNAC Future

Everyone loves a winner, and American citizens are no different. It makes a lot of people feel good that we "won" the battle for Iraq, but in doing so we paid too high a price at that, and may well have risked losing the larger war in the Arab/Muslim region: the U.S. now lacks moral stature and standing in much of the world, it is revealed as a liar for all to see (no WMDs in Iraq, no connection to 9/11, no quick handing-over the interim reins of government to the Iraqis as initially promised), it destroyed a good share of the United Nation's effectiveness and prestige that may come in handy later, it needlessly alienated our traditional allies, it infuriated key elements of the Muslim world, it provided political and emotional ammunition for anti-U.S. terrorists, etc.

Already, we're talking about $80 to $100 billion from the U.S. treasury for post-war reconstruction in Iraq. And the PNACers are gearing up for their next war: let's see, should we move first on Iran or on Syria, or maybe do Syria-lite first in Lebanon?

One can believe that maybe PNAC sincerely believes its rhetoric -- that instituting U.S.-style free-markets and democratically-elected governments in Iraq and the other authoritarian-run countries of the Islamic Middle East will be good both for the citizens of that region and for American interests as well -- but even if that is true, it's clear that these incompetents are not operating in the world of Middle Eastern realities.

These are armchair theoreticians -- most of whom made sure not to serve in the military in Vietnam -- who truly believed, for example, that the Iraqis would welcome the invading U.S. forces with bouquets of flowers and kisses when they "liberated" their country from the horribleness of Saddam Hussein's reign. The Iraqis, by and large, were happy to be freed of Saddam's terror, but, as it stands now, the U.S. military forces are more likely to be engulfed in a political/religious quagmire for years there, as so many of the majority Shia population just want the occupying soldiers to leave.

And yet PNAC theorists continue to believe that remaking the political structure of the Middle East -- by force if necessary, although they hope the example of what the U.S. did to Iraq will make war unnecessary -- will be fairly easy.

These are men of big ideas, but who don't really think. They certainly don't think through what takes place in the real world, when the genies of war and religious righteousness are let out of the bottle. For example, as New York Times columnist Tom Friedman recently put it, the U.S. had no Plan B for Iraq. They did great with Plan A, the war, but when the Saddam government collapsed, and with it law and order, and much of the population remained sullen and resentful towards the U.S., they had no prepared way of dealing with it. An embarrassing three weeks went by, with no progress, finally leading the Bush Administration to force out its initial administrators and to put in another team to have a go at it.

No, friends, the PNAC boys are dangerous ideologues playing with matches, and the U.S. is going to get burned even more in years to come, unless their hold on power is broken. The only way to accomplish this, given the present circumstances, is to defeat their boss at the polls in 2004, thus breaking the HardRight momentum that has done, and is doing, such great damage to our reputation abroad and to our country internally, especially to our Constitution and economy.

We don't need an emperor, we don't need huge tax cuts for the wealthy when the economy is tanking, we don't need more "pre-emptive" wars, we don't need more shredding of constitutional due process. Instead, we need leaders with big ideas who are capable of creative thinking. We need peace and justice in the Middle East (to help alter the chemistry of the soil in which terrorism grows), we need jobs and economic growth at home, and we need authentic and effective "homeland security" consistent with our civil liberties.

In short, we need a new Administration, which means that we need to get to serious work to make all this change happen. Organize!, organize!, organize!

Bernard Weiner, a playwright and poet, was the San Francisco Chronicle's theater critic for nearly two decades. Holder of a Ph.D. in government & international relations, he has taught American politics and international relations at Western Washington University and San Diego State University, and has written for The Nation, Village Voice, The Progressive and other political journals. He is a contributing writer for Liberal Slant and co-editor of the new online political site: www.CrisisPapers.org


Continue...

posted by News Compass  # Wednesday, May 28, 2003 0 comments

Sunday, May 25, 2003

 

Who are the Bilderberg


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Bilderberg Membership and Organisational Structure (2002)
1. Advisory Group
2. Steering Group
3. Membership
From the Bilderberg 'Information' pamphlet - available free from the Bilderberg Office in Leiden, Netherlands.
National totals of the 35 (34 men & 1 woman?) total steering group members:

USA 8*; Germany 4*; Great Britain 3*; Italy 3*; France 2; Switzerland 2*; Austria 1; Belgium 1; Canada 1; Denmark 1; Finland 1; Greece 1; Ireland 1; Netherlands 1; Norway 1; Portugal 1; Spain 1; Sweden 1; Turkey 1.

*One aspiring 'International citizen', Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, is Italian and one, Klaus Schwab, is Swiss (totals include 'inner circle' advisory group).
Members Advisory Group
Or 'inner circle'
Italy - Giovanni Agnelli

Great Britain - Eric Roll of Ipsden

USA - David Rockefeller

Germany (D)- Otto Wolff von Amerongen


Steering Committee
The 31 national BB 'outer circle' Steering Group Representatives:
HONORARY SECRETARY GENERAL
Great Britain - J. Martin Taylor
Chairman, WH Smith Group PLC;
International Advisor, Goldman Sachs International

HONORARY CHAIRMAN
Belguim - Etienne Davignon
Vice Chairman, Societe Generale de Belgique

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Maja Banck-Polderman

USA Allaire, Paul A. - Former Chairman and C.E.O., Xerox Corporation

P Balsemao, Francisco Pinto - Chairman, IMPRESA, S.G.P.S.; former Prime Minister

I Bernabe, Franco - Chairman, Franco Bernabe & C. S.p.A.

CDN Black, Conrad M. - Chairman, Telegraph Group Limited

GB Clarke, Kenneth - Member of Parliament, former Chancellor of the Exchequer

F Collomb, Bertrand - Chairman and C.E.O., Lafarge

GR David, George A. - Chairman, Coca-Cola H.B.C. S.A.

NL Halberstadt, Victor - Professor of Public Economics, Leiden University

USA Johnson, James A. - Vice Chairman, Perseus LLC

USA Jordan, Jr., Vernon E. - Managing Director, Lazard Freres & Co. LLC

TR Kiraq, Suna - Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Koq Holding A.S.

USA Kissinger, Henry A. - Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.

D Kopper, Hilmar - Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank A.G.

USA Kravis, Marie-Josee - Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Inc

F Levy-Lang, Andre - Former Chairman, Paribas

USA Mathews, Jessica T. - President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

N Myklebust, Egil - Chairman of the Board, Norsk Hydro ASA

D Nass, Matthias - Deputy Editor, Die Zeit

FIN Ollila, Jorma - Chairman of the Board and C.E.O., Nokia Corporation

INT Padoa-Schioppa, Tommaso - Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

E Rodriguez Inciarte, Matias - Executive Vice Chairman, BSCH

D Schrempp, Jiirgen E. - Chairman of the Board of Management, DaimlerChrysler AG

INT Schwab, Klaus - President, World Economic Forum

DK Seidenfaden, Toger - Editor-in-Chief, Politiken

IRL Sutherland, Peter D. - Chairman and Managing Director, Goldman Sachs International

CH Vasella, Daniel L. - Chairman and C.E.O., Novartis AG

A Vranitzky, Franz - Former Federal Chanoellor

S Wallenberg, Jacob - Chairman of the Board, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken

USA Wolfensohn, James D. - President, The World Bank


Bilderberg Members
I - Agnelli, Giovanni

I - Agnelli, Umberto

GB - Airey, Terence

DK - Andersen, Tage

A - Androsch, Hannes

GR - Arliotis, Charles C.

USA - Ball, George W.

S - Barnevik, Percy

F - Baumgartner, Wilfrid S.

GB - Bennett, Frederic M.

USA - Bennett, Jack F.

INT - Bertram, Christoph

D - Bertram, Christoph

TR - Beyazit, Selahattin

TR - Birgi, Nuri

CH - Boveri, Walter E.

USA - Brady, Nicholas F.

GR - Carras, Costa

E - Carvajal Urquijo, Jaime

USA - Cary, Frank T.

GB - Cavendish-Bentinck, Victor F.W.

DK - Christiansen, Hakon

I - Cittadini Cesi, Gian G.

USA - Collado, Emilio

USA - Corzine, Jon S.

USA - Dam, Kenneth W.

USA - Dean, Arthur H.

DK - Deleuran, Aage

NL - Duisenberg, Willem F.

CDN - Duncan, James S.

USA - Finley, Murray H.

GB - Frame, Alistair

GB - Franks, Oliver

CDN - Frum, David

GB - Gaitskell, Hugh T.N.

USA - Gerstner, Louis V.

USA - Getchell, Charles

CDN - Griffin, Anthony G.S.

GB - Gubbins, Colin

S - Gustafsson, Sten

ICE - Hallgrimsson, Geir

USA - Hauge, Gabriel

N - Hauge, Jens

GB - Healey, Denis W.

USA - Heinz, Henry J.

D - Herrhausen, Alfred

N - Hoegh, Leif

N - Hoegh, Westye

USA - Holbrooke, Richard C.

A - lgler, Hans

FIN - lloniemi, Jaakko

A - Jankowitsch, Peter

B - Janssen, Daniel E.

NL - Karsten, C. Frits

GB - Knight, Andrew

I NT - Kohnstamm, Max

A - Kothbauer, Max

NL - Korteweg, Pieter

CH - Krauer, Alex

F - Ladreit de Lacharriere, Marc

B - Lambert, Leon J.G.

USA - Lord, Winston

S - Lundvall, Bjorn

CH - Lutolf, Franz J.

CDN - Macdonald, Donald S.

USA - MacLaury, Bruce K.

USA - Mathias, Charles McC.

GB - Maudling, Reginald

NL - Meynen, Johannes

USA - Mitchell, George J.

F - Montbrial, Thierry de

I - Monti, Mario

USA - Moyers, Bill D.

USA - Murphy, Robert D.

DK - Norlund, Nils

NL - Oort, Conrad J.

USA - Perkins, James A

GR - Pesmazoglu, John S.

I - Prodi, Romano

CH - Pury, David de

USA - Ridgway, Rozanne L.

USA - Rockefeller, David

USA - Rockefeller, Sharon Percy

GB - Roll of Ipsden, Eric

F - Rothschild, Edmond de

INT - Ruggiero, Renato

NL - Rijkens, Paul

GB - Sainsbury, John

I - Saraceno, Pasquale

F - Seilliere, Ernest-Antoine

USA - Sheinkman, Jack

I - Silvestri, Stefano

GB - Smith, John

B - Snoy et d'Oppuers, Jean C.

D - Sommer, Theo

USA - Stone, Shepard

GB - Taverne, Dick

USA - Taylor, Arthur R.

DK - Terkelsen, Terkel M.

N - Tidemand, Otto Grieg

I - Valetta, Vittorio

CH - Umbricht, Victor H.

S - Wallenberg, Marcus

N - Werring, Niels

USA - Whitehead, John C.

USA - Whitman, Marina von Neumann

USA - Williams, Joseph H.

USA - Williams, Lynn R.

D - Wischnewski, Hans-Jurgen

D - Wolff von Amerongen, Otto

USA - Wolfowitz, Paul

I - Zannoni, Paolo



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Bilderberg participants by country
Links to Grattan Healy's pages listing recent Bilderberg participants by country:

Austria --------- Belgium --------- Canada --------- Denmark --------- Finland --------- France --------- Germany --------- Greece --------- Iceland --------- Ireland --------- Italy --------- Luxembourg --------- Netherlands --------- Norway --------- Portugal --------- Spain --------- Sweden --------- Switzerland --------- Turkey --------- United Kingdom --------- USA

Miscellaneous (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia)

Self-Declared Internationalist participants

Alphabetical list of ALL participants



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Bilderberg Film

The Secret Rulers of the World - The Bilderberg Group

55mins - PAL - World of Wonder - Jon Ronson - UK

This hour long Channel Four TV documentary about the 1999 Sintra Bilderberg Meeting includes interviews with Jim Tucker, Paul Luckman, Lord Healy, Alex Jones and the ADL. It was broadcast on 27th June 2001. It was part of the 'Secret Rulers of the World' series which included programmes on The Oklahoma Bombing, Ruby Ridge, Bohemian Grove, and David Icke. I can supply no profit copies of the film to people in the UK for £10.00 (or £5.00 if you're in the UK and supply your own VHS tape). If you're abroad it's £15.00. Please send a cheque, postal order, international money order (or whatever your bank suggests) to 'Tony Gosling' at my contact address. Allow a week or so for the UK and three weeks for abroad.


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What are Bilderberg Conferences all about?
TG 08Feb00 - The Bilderberg Secretariat proclaims the conferences to be '...private in order to encourage frank and open discussion'. Frank and open discussion is a good thing in any forum but when those doing the discussing are some of the very most powerful financiers and media tycoons in the world it begs the question: If what they discuss is for the good of ordinary people why not publicise it! Isn't it a perverted use of the word 'open' when no-one can find out what they're saying?

Is Bilderberg a secret conspiracy?
When such rich and powerful people meet up in secret, with military intelligence managing their security, with hardly a whisper escaping of what goes on inside, people are right to be suspicious. But the true power of Bilderberg comes from the fact that participants are in a bubble, sealed off from reality and the devastating implications on the ground of the black-science economic solutions on the table.

No, it's not a 'conspiracy'. The world's leading financiers and foreign policy strategists don't get together at Bilderberg to draw up their 'secret plans for the future'. It's subtler than that. These meetings create an artificial 'consensus' in an attempt to spellbind visiting politicians and and other men of influence. Blair has fallen for this hook, line and sinker. It's about reinforcing - often to the very people who are on the edge of condemning Globalisation - the illusion that Globalisation is 'good', 'popular' and that it's inevitable.

Bilderberg is an extremely influential lobbying group. That's not to say though that the organisers don't have a hidden agenda, they do, namely accumulation of wealth and power into their own hands whilst explaining to the participants that globalisation is for the good of all. It is also a very good forum for 'interviewing' potential future political figures such as Clinton (1991) and Blair (1993). [see above for more on this]

The ideology put forward at the Bilderberg conferences is that what's good for banking and big business is good for the mere mortals of the world. Silently banished are the critical voices, those that might point out that debt is spiralling out of control, that wealth is being sucked away from ordinary people and into the hands of the faceless corporate institutions, that millions are dying as a direct result of the global heavyweight Rockefeller/Rothschild economic strategies.

When looking at one of the (partially reliable) participant lists it should be remembered that quite a number of participants are invited in an attempt to get them on-board the globalisation project. These are carefully selected people of influence, who have been openly critical of globalisation. Examples are Jonathan Porritt (Bilderberg 1999) and Will Hutton (Bilderberg 1997) but there are many others. Most of these kinds of participants are happy to speak about the conference afterwards, and may even be refreshingly critical.

The Bilderberg organisers are accepted by those 'in the know' as the prophets of Capitalism. Will Hutton, deputy Editor of The Observer newspaper in London and left-leaning Economist, described private clubs of the elite as masterminded by 'The High Priests of Globalisation'. The ecclesiastical allusion is not accidental. The Bilderberg high-priests are a force against good, out to wipe morality from the earth. For the organisers Bilderberg Conferences are an annual ideological assault by the world's most power-hungry people. Not content with owning unimaginable amounts of money and property they want to use that wealth to acquire even more power for themselves. Power is the most dangerous and addictive drugs known to man. Will the craving be satisfied when a handful of men own and control everything on earth?

And just like the Nazi party in the 1930's the global Capitalist Elite are rising in power by peaceful means. There are some very uncomfortable and unexplained connections between Bilderberg and the Nazis through the Conference's founder Prince Bernhard.

These crown princes of capital use violence at the sharp end - the destruction of dissent - the repossession of homes men and women have worked a lifetime for - needless deaths from starvation and geopolitical machinations - this violence is notable by its absence from the annual meetings.

One can't help but wonder, when the Bilderberg organisers, Rothschild, Rockefeller, Kissinger and the rest have completed their project of enclosing all global goods and services into their own hands, enclosing too the media to stop people freely discussing what they are up to. What then?? What happens when the men who would be gods turn out to be the global devils?

Who is behind Bilderberg?
Bilderberg is run by a Steering Group - if you're wondering who's responsible for so much of the capital-friendly and dissent-crushing law-making, poverty and general misery in the world this may be the place to look. Up-to-date lists are available from the Bilderberg Secretariat. This is the closest approximation to a shadow transatlantic government. And this is another hidden agenda at Bilderberg.

There may be other groups pulling the strings behind even the Steering Group possibly even high degree occult groups such as The Masons or Illuminati! [eg.] - but that is 'conspiracy theory', Bilderberg is not.

There must certainly be some sociopathic minds behind Bilderberg since they go to so much trouble to promote policies that lead to exploitation, inequality and despair. These individuals seem oddly switched off from the suffering they are clearly causing. Surely only pernicious people would want to control the ideology of the world's mainstream press, and undermine natural political discourse. Public opinion and democratic institutions are a threat when you want to own the world.

The perverse objective of the Bilderberg Steering Group is to dress totalitarian ideology up to appear rational and push it out, unattributable, for mass consumption under Chatham House rules. Meanwhile, outside the Bilder-bubble, 'god-is-money' globalisation is the new religion. The greedy are given a pat on the back as they plunder both the earth and do their best to destroy the human spirit.

See also Kinder Capitalists in Armani Specs. on the function of Bilderberg by Will Hutton


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Official (and therefore only partially reliable) participant lists for 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 conferences see separate pages
Sacking of a columnist who discussed Bilderberg in the London Financial Times


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The Banned Articles of C. Gordon Tether
Extracts from a pamphlet of 46 banned Financial Times articles entitled
'The Banned Articles of C. Gordon Tether'
Goodhead News Press - Bicester - 1977
ISBN 0 905821 00 9
Introduction - by C. Gordon Tether
03May76 - The Prince and the Bilderbergers
[back cover] C. Gordon Tether entered economic journalism at the height of the 1930's slump. War service in the R.A.F. apart, he spent the whole of his working life first with the Financial News and then with the Financial Times when the two papers merged after World War II. He took over the banking and finance column under the pen-name 'Lombard' in the mid 1950's and built it into one of the papers' leading features.

His views came to be widely quoted abroad, while in this country Sir Harold Wilson paid tribute to him on more than one occasion as one of Britain's most distinguished independent journalists. His column eventually achieved such longevity that it earned an entry in the Guinness book of Records as the longest running feature in the British press.

Believing the meaningful freedom of the press provides the best safeguard of the democratic way of life, Mr Tether has always attached the greatest importance to the preservation of his independence. This brought him into serious conflict with the Financial Times after the appointment of a new editor in 1973, attempts being made to establish closer control over the contents of his daily columns and his choice of subject. Although the result was the increasingly frequent suppression of his work, he refused to abandon his stand.

A disputes committee set up by the National Union of Journalists and the Newspaper Publishers Association eventually found that the Financial Times had sought to change Mr. Tether's conditions of working and that the change was concerned with eroding the independence of his work. It also, however, declared itself unable to resolve the dispute and shortly after it had reported the Financial Times took Mr. Tether's column away from him and handed it over to a team of writers.

Introduction - by C. Gordon Tether
On the afternoon of 20th July last, a letter from the Editor of the Financial Times, Mr M. H. Fisher, arrived on my desk. It was to inform me that he was no longer prepared to publish my copy in the Lombard column, which from that moment would be written by other writers on his staff. This marked a new turn in the struggle, in which I had been engaged for some three years, to preserve the independence of the internationally renowned column I had created and had written daily without interruption, holidays apart, for more than twenty years.

Beyond a sentence inserted at the foot of the column a few days later saying that I had ceased to write it, no explanation was offered for my sudden departure and no indication given that it was not my wish nor my intention to desert the column.

The attack on my independence had taken several forms, of which the most conspicuous was the total suppression of columns on an ever-increasing scale. In all nearly fifty articles suffered this fate, about half of this number during the six months before I was finally exiled on 20th July 1976.

Al these banned articles are now being published for two reasons. In the first place, many of those who were not acquainted with the background may have been puzzled by the Financial Times' treatment of my column, or may have gained a false impression of what was involved. They will now be able to see for themselves what they were being denied the opportunity of reading.

Secondly, their publication can make a useful contribution to the important debate on Press freedom now taking place with special regard to the writer's duty - as expressed in the NUJ's code of conduct - 'to defend the principle of freedom of the Press in relation to the collection of information and the expression of comment and criticism'.

The Editor of the Financial Times wrote to me on 8th July 1974, '...like any other journalist on this paper you are subject to the directives of the Editor who alone decides what appears or does not appear in the Financial Times.' My experience will demonstrate what one interpretation of this proposition can mean for a writer who has devoted the whole of his working life to the creation of a responsible column that has made a not inconsiderable contribution to the national and international debate.

C Gordon Tether
February 15th 1977

The Prince and the Bilderbergers
Article 30 in 'The banned articles of C. Gordon Tether'
This censored Financial Times' 'Lombard' Column was written 3rd May 1976
Published in Verdict - November 1976
Whatever the conclusions reached by the committee which the Dutch Government has very sensibly set up to inquire into the charge that Prince Bernhard was a recipient of Lockheed largess, one thing is certain. It is that the affair will breathe new life into that long-smoldering controversy over the role that the Bilderberg group and its clandestine get-togethers play in world economics and business affairs. For the prince took a large part in the formation of this organisation, its first meeting having been held under his chairmanship in 1954. And, as the president, he has been the master of ceremonies at its annual conferences ever since.

A pamphlet published by an organisation calling itself the 'American Friends of Bilderberg' says that the group owes its origin to the fact that, in the early 1950's a number of people on both sides of the Atlantic were seeking a means of bringing together leading citizens - in and out of government - for informal discussions on problems facing the Atlantic community. 'It was felt' it goes on, 'that such meetings would create a better understanding of the forces and trends affecting Western nations, and, in particular, would help to clear up differences and misunderstandings that might weaken the West.'

Nothing much wrong with that, you might say. Are there not, indeed, many other organisations that concern themselves with the same good cause? And this being so, why should the activities of the Bilderberg group be singled out for special attention - and largely hostile attention at that?

Two Reasons
There seems to be two main reasons for this. One is that the 'Bilderbergers' have always insisted upon clothing their comings and goings in the closest secrecy. Until a few years back, this was carried to such lengths that their annual conclave went entirely unmarked in the world's Press. In the more recent past, the veil has been raised to the extent of letting it be known that the meetings were taking place. But the total ban on the reporting of what went on has remained in force.

This acute concern with privacy is usually justified on the grounds - as the American Friends of Bilderberg put it - that 'the gatherings have to be closed and off the record in order to assure freedom of speech and opinion.' But there has been an inevitable tendency for conspiratologists to argue that only those with something to hide could consistently behave in such clandestine fashion.

The other main reason why the Bilderberg set-up has come to be a favourite target for the finger of suspicion is to be found in the nature of its 'cast-list'.

There are no members of Bilderberg as such. 'Each year' - and again I quote - 'an invitation list is compiled by Prince Bernhard in consultation with an informal international steering committee.' Yet invariably included in the 80 to 100 participants are representatives of many of the world's largest capitalist empires - men wielding immense power in the fields of economics and business. And many of these attend all the meetings , along with a number of 'regulars' operating in other parts of the corridors of power - one of them being Mr. Healy, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Evidence
It is this close identification with the megaton-weights of the international business community that has encouraged the growth of the idea that Bilderbergism is the arm of a movement whose main aim is to create - 'a world fit for multinationals to live in' - which may indeed even see itself as spear-heading the establishment of World Government by such interests. And it is because of this that prince Bernhard's involvement in the Lockheed affair must be expected to give new impetus to the Bilderberg controversy.

It naturally has to be accepted that the Prince did not take bribes from Lockheed unless and until the investigating body has proved otherwise. But this does not alter the fact that there is a strong suggestion in what has emerged so far that he was involved in some degree in the 'wheeling and dealing' processes which have evidently played an extremely important part in the international fight for aircraft business.

There is no difficulty in seeing that this does not prove anything so far as the Bilderberg group is concerned. But it would hardly be surprising if the fact that light of this kind has been thrown on the activities of its top man was not seized upon as supporting evidence by those who maintain that Bilderbergism is an unseen force of great significance in world affairs that we aught to know a lot more about.

I should add that official accounts I have seen of Bilderberg meetings issued on a 'personal and strictly confidential' basis do not contain anything that would not rank as standard fare at any international conference whose purpose was 'to clear up differences and misunderstandings that might weaken the West.' But any conspiratologist who has the Bilderbergers in his sights will quickly make the point that the real meat of their discussions - the alleged global conspiracy work - will find no place in such documentation and then proceed to ask why it is that, if there is so little to hide, so much effort is devoted to hiding it?



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Suggested letter to your MP about Bilderberg
............MP
House of Commons
Westminster
LONDON
SW1A 0AA

Dear....

I am concerned about the secretive annual Bilderberg conferences.

Like many other British citizens I worry about the anti-democratic nature of these conferences where a selection of the most powerful politicians, business men and media chiefs from Europe and North America gather to shape international policy for the West. I believe the people of Britain have a right to know more about these secretive conferences which have so often shaped their destinies.

Given that 'the EU was nurtured at Bilderberg meetings' I would be grateful if you would ask/table questions and or introduce early day motions to discover and make public answers to the following:

1. Who, from the UK parliament, has been invited to attend the Bilderberg conferences?

2. Will their attendance be publicly funded?

3. Will the media be able to cover the meeting and, if not, why not?

4. Will those that attend Bilderberg face parliamentary questioning on their return to the UK?

Yours sincerely

..................



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22Nov00 - Bilderberg's Magic Wand of Power
Bilderberg, it is said, has an uncanny knack of inviting people who later reach very powerful elected positions. It is another one of those surely unprovable allegations, that the most powerful people in the world are selected or 'interviewed' for supposedly democratically elected jobs, including heads of state, at Bilderberg.
Hard evidence of anything to do with Bilderberg policy-wise is almost impossible to get hold of. All venues are swept for bugs (not that we were using any at Genval this June!) and minutes of the steering group are definitely not publicly available.

Nevertheless, circumstantial evidence suggests Bilderberg really do have a magic wand. Take a look at the list of important career moves for the following democratic appointments:


Bill Clinton - Head of State - USA
Attends Bilderberg meeting, Germany, 1991 - gets Presidential Nomination Aug 1992
Tony Blair - effective Head of State - UK
Attends Bilderberg meeting, Greece, 1993 - becomes party leader Jul 1994 - becomes Prime Minister May 1997
Jack Santer - previous Head of State (sacked for corruption) - Europe
Attends Bilderberg, Germany, 1991 - becomes European President Jan 1995
Romano Prodi - present Head of State - Europe
On Bilderberg Steering Committee mid 1980's, attends Bilderberg meeting, Portugal, Jun 1999 - sworn in as President of Europe Sep 1999 (term lasts until Jan 2005)
George Robertson - CEO - NATO
Attends Bilderberg meeting, Scotland, 1998 - sworn in as Secretary General of NATO Aug 1999
A remarkable series of coincidences.

Who has been to Bilderberg? - participants broken down by country
Why not see if your favourite (or maybe despised?) head of state went to Bilderberg a year or two before an important success in his or her career? Why not search the attendance lists on the Bilderberg meeting pages?

http://www.bilderberg.org/1999.htm is a good place to start.

I have not dug deep for this information, a few minutes on the internet is enough to put two and two together here. They, how you say, take the piss! Bon chance!

Do please let me know if you find other Heads of State in the good old free western world world that got one of those magical Bilderberg invites, before they hit the big time.

cheers

Tony


btw - The President of the European Commission is the unelected President of Europe. For those of you that haven't been told yet the European Commission is an unelected cabinet government for a corporate controlled European superstate. This apparatus is looking decidedly fascist in its unaccountable top-down structure with policy being 'suggested' to the Commission by the European Round Table of Industrialists, a group the current Bilderberg Chairman Etienne Davignon helped found. It really is a small world.
Even MEP's will tell you their role is merely to rubber stamp directives issued by the Commission. It is verging on the critical that treaties are not signed and what admittedly imperfect national sovereignty we have left is not ceeded to such an organisation which is being given increasing power without proper accountability.

Democratic Europe yes, Corporate Superstate no thanks very much.


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The Ashdown Diaries - Volume One 1988-1997
Penguin - 2000 - ISBN 0 14 029775 8 - pp.42-44
Thursday 11 May, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Bilderberg Conference
At 2 o’clock to Heathrow to catch a flight to Santiago de Compostela for the Bilderberg Conference – described to me as ‘fifty people who run the world and twenty hangers on’. No doubt which category I am in!

I discovered that the people here include Henry Kissinger, Lord Carrington (1), The King and Queen of Spain, The Queen of Holland, Phillipe Gonzalez the prime minister of Spain, Wilfried Martens the Prime Minister of Belgium, Dr. Franz Vranitzky the Chancellor of Austria, John Smith (2) and too many Tory Government Ministers to name.

Dinner was excellent. I ate a dozen oysters and a load of shellfish. This could be fun.

Afterwards, Cecil Parkinson (3), John Smith and I sat in armchairs drinking brandy. Cecil turned out to be rather engaging and astonishingly frank about the Government's position. He left for bed early and John and I continued for another hour or so, accompanied by considerably more brandy.

Smith believes that the Labour Party can do it by themselves and are well on their way to just this. He rejects the idea of pacts. I got the impression of somebody who has a very quick but narrow mind. I am not sure whether this is his natural way or comes from belonging to the Labour party since birth. He is an engaging talker, but there seems to be something missing. Everything seems to be politics.

Friday, 12 May, Santiago de Compostela
Bilderberg Conference
A bit of a thick head following John Smith and the brandy last night. A brief breakfast then into the meeting. We sat in a glass-panelled room overlooking the sea, slightly crowded together, Nevertheless very congenial. The first discussion was on recent developments in Eastern Europe. Tim Garton Ash (4) gave an exceptionally good talk.

In the afternoon a discussion on arms control, chaired by Carrington, in which Henry Kissinger and Teo Sommer (the editor of Die Zeit) gave an inside view. Fascinating stuff. Kissinger was a bit hesitant to start with but his summing-up was brilliant.

In the afternoon we talked about Europe, Giovanni Agnelli (5) and Lloyd Bentsen (6) giving their versions. The show was stolen, however, by Peter Sutherland, (7) who is very very bright. The general view is that the Soviet Union’s economy is in the most wretched state and bound to fail, along with those of most of the Eastern Bloc countries. The West should not encourage the break-up of the Warsaw Pact, but should help the process of rapprochment as far as it can.

Saturday 13 May, Santiago de Compostela
Bilderberg Conference
US/Soviet relations in the morning. This was by far and away our best session, with Rosanne Ridgeway, the Chief of the Disarmament Staff in the White House, giving us her view. She is a remarkable lady with seemingly a firm grip on everything around her. However, I found her attitude to modernization quite chilling. Apparently the Soviets are about to offer deep cuts in conventional forces down to parity. She didn’t think this made any difference to the question of stationing modernized nuclear weapons in Germany. She must be mad!

In afternoon a long discussion on monetary union in Europe. Nearly everybody attacked Mrs. Thatcher, even her closest admirers. The only exception was Cecil Parkinson, who put up a spirited loyal defence, but didn’t make any sense and had his leg pulled by everyone else.

Sunday 14 May, Santiago de Compostela
Bilderberg Conference
Contacted by ITN at 11.00am, [how interesting that ITN failed to tell the public Paddy was at Bilderberg - ed.] who told me that Owen had held a meeting the night before and the SDP had decided they were no longer a national party. To put a brave face on it, Owen has apparently indicated that he will continue with ‘guerilla tactics’, whatever that means. ITN asked me for a comment and I tried not to sound triumphalist. I deliberately left the door open to the possibility of a merger, though, of course, this is not in reality a practical option. But we must look as welcoming as possible.

At last! This long wretched period – at least in so far as Owen is concerned – appears over. I have not felt so cheered in years.

A brilliant cloudless day. I spent the afternoon by the swimming pool, reading through the proofs of Citizens Britain (8) and making further amendments. The trick will be to ensure that reviewers see it not just as a motley collection of ideas, but as a framework for the new shape of progressive politics in Britain.

Footnotes:

Lord Carrington had just finished his appointment as Secretary General of NATO, before this he held various Cabinet positions in Conservative Governments
Rt Hon John Smith MP (1938-94). At the time the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. He subsequently became Leader of the Labour Party until his sudden and unexpected death. MP (Labour) for Lanarkshire North (1970-83), Monklands East (1983-94).
Secretary of State for Energy. MP (Conservative) for Enfield West (Nov 1970-74), Hertfordshire South (1974-83), Hertsmere (1983-92). He now sits in the House of Lords.
Fellow of St Anthony’s College, Oxford, Author of many books and articles on international affairs, especially Eastern Europe.
International industrialist.
The 1988 Democratic Party nominee for US Vice-President. He served in Clinton’s first Administration as Secretary to the Treasury.
Formerly a European Commissioner, now an international businessman.
At the beginning of 1989, I had decided to write a book as a part of my plan to reverse the decline of the Party and start building for the future. The aim was to mark out a core of ideas which would articulate what we stood for and explain why we still had a role. The book was completed in the summer and published for our Autumn Conference.
from: The Ashdown Diaries - Volume One 1988-1997 - Penguin - 2000 - ISBN 0 14 029775 8


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What is the Power Elite? - Opening paragraphs of C Wright Mills' classic 1950's book of the same name
Introduction to: The Power Elite, C Wright Mills, Oxford University Press, 1956. ISBN 0 19 500680-1
The Higher Circles
The powers of ordinary men are circumscribed by the everyday worlds in which they live, yet even in these rounds of job, family, and neighborhood they often seem driven by forces they can neither understand nor govern. ‘Great changes’ are beyond their control, but affect their conduct and outlook none the less. The very framework of modern society confines them to projects not their own, but from every side, such changes now press upon the men and women of the mass society, who accordingly feel that they are without purpose in an epoch in which they are without power.

But not all men are in this sense ordinary. As the means of information and of power are centralized, some men come to occupy positions in American society from which they can look down upon, so to speak, and by their decisions mightily affect, the everyday worlds of ordinary men and women. They are not made by their jobs; they set up and break down jobs for thousands of others; they are not confined by simple family responsibilities; they can escape. They may live in many hotels and houses, but they are bound by no one community. They need not merely ‘meet the demands of the day and hour’; in some part, they create these demands, and cause others to meet them. Whether or not they profess their power, their technical and political experience of it far transcends that of the underlying population. What Jacob Burckhardt said of ‘great men,’ most Americans might well say of their elite: ‘They are all that we are not.”

The power elite is composed of men whose positions enable them to transcend the ordinary environments of ordinary men and women; they are in positions to make decisions having major consequences. Whether they do or do not make such decisions is less important than the fact that they do occupy such pivotal positions: their failure to act, their failure to make decisions, is in itself an act that is often of greater consequence than the decisions they do make. For they are in command of the major hierarchies and organisations of modern society. They rule the big corporations. They run the machinery of the state and claim its prerogatives. They direct the military establishment. They occupy the strategic command posts of the social structure, in which are now centered the effective means of the power and the wealth and the celebrity which they enjoy.

The power elite are not solitary rulers. Advisers and consultants, spokesmen and opinion-makers are often the captains of their higher thought and decision. Immediately below the elite are the professional politicians of the middle levels of power, in the Congress and in the pressure groups, as well as the new and old upper classes of town and city and region. Mingling with them, in curious ways which we shall explore, are those professional celebrities who live by being continually displayed but are never, so long as they remain celebrities, displayed enough. If such celebrities are not at the head of any dominating hierarchy, they do often have the power to distract the attention of the public or afford sensations to the masses, or, more directly, to gain the ear of those who do occupy positions of direct power. More or less unattached, as critics of morality and technicians of power, as spokesman of God and creators of mass sensibility, such celebrities and consultants are part of the immediate scene in which the drama of the elite is enacted. But that drama itself is centered in the command posts of the major institutional hierarchies....

See http://www.cwrightmills.org


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05Aug99 - George Robertson confirmed as new Secretary General of NATO
Is it mere coincidence that the only Government Minister named (there may have been others) as an attendee of last year's conference in the UK, when Kosovo was so clearly discussed, was the same George Robertson, and that the UK's previous NATO Sec Gen., Lord Carrington, was in the chair?

Paul Keenan
mbi@btinternet.com

NATO LEADERS CONTROLLED BY BILDERBERG
To understand who controls the leadership of NATO, the world's biggest military operation and now the 'World Army', you only have to look at the connection of the NATO Secretary-Generals to the Bilderberg Group.

The earlier sec-gens do not appear to have been Bilderberg attendees, but if you know different, please let me know. These were Lord Ismay (1952-1957), Paul Henri Spaak (1957-1961), Dirk U. Stikker (1961-1964), and Manlio Brosio (1964-1971).

But from then on, the leader of NATO has become a Bilderberg appointment.

They are:

Joseph Luns (1971-1984) Bilderberg Group
Lord Carrington (1984-1988) Bilderberg Group, chairman 1991-1998).
Manfred Wörner (1988-1994) Bilderberg Group
Willy Claes (1994-1995) Bilderberg Group
Javier Solana (1995-1999) Bilderberg Group
Lord Robertson (1999- ) Bilderberg Group
How much easier it therefore becomes to instigate Bilderberg policy in the Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, etc., etc..



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PEPIS - Power Elite Public Information Service - email list - roughly one posting every month
PAST 'PEPIS' MESSAGES HERE ON THIS SITE:
From 1998 - From 1999 - From 2000 - From 2001 - From 2002
or http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/pepis/messages/ ...maybe
See also:

Bilderberg discussion - interactive Egroup
Other Email lists etc.
PEPIS - Power Elite Public Information Service -- If you want to receive edited information, roughly monthly, about Bilderberg Conferences and closely related material, sign up below. This service will always be entirely free of charge and is part of my one-man campaign to get a press conference, open to all journalists, at these conferences.
JOIN THE LIST HERE:
Enter your Email address to join the PEPIS List:

Powered by: MessageBot

You will get an introductory message explaining how to remove yourself from the list should you wish to
Remove yourself from the list here http://messagebot.com/messagebot/remove.html
PEPIS is archived in three places if you want to have a look
From 1998 - From 1999 - From 2000 - From 2001 - From 2002
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/pepis/
http://www.mail-archive.com/

Bilderberg interactive - Discussion list slowly starting:
Post anonymously any info you have for moderated discussion of Bilderberg conferences as they happen - nutters or unsympathetic spooks need not join
Bilderberg egroup webpage: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/bilderberg
Other websites /email lists
ALSO Do bear in mind that there has been a service specialising in material on the Council on Foreign Relations run by roundtable - contents reccommended: roundtable@geocities.com
Council on Foreign Relations - roundtable CFR criticism site http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2807


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Bilderberg offices - In Europe and North America
These numbers have changed as Maja Banck and the Bilderberg secretariat attempts to evade press and public scrutiny. Please email or otherwise contact me if you find these telephone numbers are not working and/or you find new numbers and addresses.
Current Bilderberg Steering Group pamphlets listing steering group members are available free of charge from these offices, as well as past attendance lists. All press enquiries should be directed to this office.
New European Office (Secret Location: Leiden)
Maja Banck-Polderman (Executive Secretary)
PO Box 3017
2301 DA Leiden
The Netherlands
Phone +31 71 5280 521
Fax +31 71 5280 522
Old European office - no longer in use:
Maja Banck-Polderman
Bilderberg Meetings
Amstel 216
1017 AJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Old phone no: +31 (20) 625 0252
Old Fax: +31 (20) 624 4299 (old fax number - may be out of date)
These were ex-directory phone numbers at The Old Bilderberg Towers, Amstel 216, from an anon. source: 626-8932, 626-8932, 624-1672 (phone of Victor Halberstaat?), 620-6278, 420-7075, 420-7400 (pretty def. Bilderberg phone), 620-9104. add +31 (20) to all if dialling from outside Amsterdam.

North America
Charles W. Muller
American Friends of Bilderbergs, Inc.
477 Madison Ave., 6th Floor
New York, NY 10022

Phone: +1 (212) 879 0545

Bilderberg Public Relations.
Charles W Muller or Ronnie Glattauer of
Murden & Co., Georgia, USA,

Phone: +1 (770) 945 8921

Another office reported at:
Bilderberger Group
1, Smidswater,
Den Haag,
Netherlands

Phone (070) 45 21 21



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British Prime minister, Tony Blair, gives a misleading answer about his 1993 Bilderberg trip when quizzed at question time
There's heaps of evidence that he was there, so why bother to deny the trip? What has Blair got to hide?
Blair asked about Bilderberg trips, replies: "none"
Was Blair at the 1993 Bilderberg Conference in Athens? Evidence - clearly Yes
Blair's rise to power following Bilderberg attendance
Further parliamentary Bilderberg questions
Letter from a worried MP, Christopher Gill
Blair replies to parliamentary question on Bilderberg participation - From Commons written answers March 1998:
"Mr. Christopher Gill MP: To ask the Prime Minister which members of his Government have attended meetings of the Bilderberg Group. [34298]

The Prime Minister [holding answer 16 March 1998]: None. "

Might the PM have forgotten the trip? No, this reply is misleading. Blair attended the 1993 Bilderberg Conference in Athens. He even belatedly declared it in the register of members' interests. His presence was reported in, to take just one source, The London Times, 4th March 1996, page 16 in an article entitled Wall Street, treason and Pat Buchanan by William Rees-Mogg, who attended Bilderberg 1993 in Athens too.
What we are not told is that anything that took place before Blair was made PM is deemed not to have existed when replying to parliamentary questions. How convenient!
Five proofs that Tony Blair was at the 1993 Conference in Athens... fuller details below
William Rees-Mogg writing in The Times who was also there
1993 Bilderberg Press Release
Parliamentary Memorandum
The Times Diary
The Guardian
Firstly, confirmation from eyewitness and London Times columnist, William Rees-Mogg on 4th March 1996
..."Last time I went to a Bilderberg conference, it was held in Athens, about three years ago. Tony Blair was there, not yet leader of the Labour Party, Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel were there, the Queen of The Netherlands was there. It was all pleasantly grand. ..... The Queen of The Netherlands is as Euro-fanatic as Ted Heath, Tony Blair is a modest good European, I have been an anti-Maastricht campaigner and Mr Black is a Canadian neo-realist who owns 500 newspapers."

from 04Mar96 - London Times article: "WALL STREET, TREASON AND PAT BUCHANAN."

Secondly, confirmed in a press release issued by Bilderberg Secretariat at the conference:
(attendance list extracted from Press Release)...............
S, Carl Bildt; Prime Minister
ICE, Bjorn Bjarnason; Member of Parliament
CDN, Conrad M Black; Chairman, The Telegraph plc
GB, Tony Blair; Member of Parliament (Shadow Home Secretary, Labor) <===HERE IS BLAIR!
N, Erik G.; Managing Director and CEO, Braathens SAFE
IL, Connor Brady; Editor, The Irish Times
GB, Rudric Braithwaite; Foreign Policy adviser to Prime Minister
............(continues)

reference on this site
Thirdly, confirmation from a Memorandum submitted by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards:
"Complaint against Mr Kenneth Clarke 1. Mrs Lynn Riley, of Chepstow, Monmouthshire, wrote on 28 February 1997 to a Member of the House, alleging that Mr Kenneth Clarke MP had failed to register `the free trip and accommodation he received from the Bilderberg Group ... unlike Tony Blair who attended the same meeting'. She enclosed a letter from Mr Clarke dated 6 September 1995 in which he states that `my recollection is that I paid for my flight but that I was accommodated while I was there'. The Member passed the correspondence on to me……………………….

5. Mr Clarke subsequently explained that he and Mr Blair considered that they were attending the conference as representatives of the Government and the Opposition respectively, and stated that `I was quite confident that I was at the time meeting the rules applying to Ministers, and it did not occur to me that the new rules concerning registration could apply to this visit'. "

Fourthly, confirmation in the London Times Diary
The London Times: diary, 24 May 1995, p16:
"With concern about sleaze in mind, Tony Blair has belatedly listed in the updated Register of Members' Interests (published tomorrow) a visit he made in 1993 to the Bilderberg Conference in Athens as Shadow Home Secretary. His companion, Kenneth Clarke, suffers no such qualms, he hasn't registered the trip."

Fifthly, confirmation in The Guardian, 29May97, in article headed "GALLOWAY CLEARED IN SAUDI CASE."
By DAVID HENCKE WESTMINSTER CORRESPONDENT.

"Committee backs Downey report on MP's role in deportation case
.... "The former chancellor Kenneth Clarke was also cleared of any major breach of Commons rules after allegations about his attendance at a conference in Greece with Tony Blair. The committee agreed in a report published with Sir Gordon that any breach of the rules on registration was "relatively minor". Mr Clarke allegedly failed to register a free trip and accommodation at the Bilderberg Conference on European and world affairs in April 1993 when he was home secretary. Mr Clarke paid his own air fare, but his accommodation was provided by the hosts.

GUARDIAN 29/07/97 P6

Chronology of Blair's rise to power
One possible reason why the Prime Minister has lied to the House of Commons about attending the 1993 Bilderberg meeting might be that it was the first stage of a business-driven, corporate press aided, selection process for his rise to political office. An 'interview' for the top job in Britain. Another is that he has been to more of these meetings than official Bilderberg attendance lists admit to. [see my article about Blair's unofficial presence at the 1998 conference in Scotland]

1993 - April 22nd-25th - Athens, Blair attends Bilderberg
1994 - July 21st - Blair becomes party leader by block votes [article]
1997 - May 2nd - Blair becomes Prime Minister
1998 - the rest, a miserable history of betrayal of working people
Now why not check out the magical rise to power of other western leaders approved by Bilderberg!
Other Parliamentary Bilderberg questions
[ Search here for latest Bilderberg questions in the Commons/Lords ]
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/cgi-bin/tso_fx?DB=tso
Commons - Prime Minister Tony Blair's written answers (20 May 1999) Bilderberg Group
Mr. John Bercow MP: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Hereford (Mr. Keetch) of 7 May 1999, Official Report, columns 476-77, on the Bilderberg Group, what official (i) transport and (ii) funds have been used to facilitate attendance at Bilderberg meetings of members of his Government; which members have attended meetings; what reports they have made on the meetings; and what subsequent communication they have had with others attending on subjects discussed at the meetings. [84213] [John Bercow MP]
The Prime Minister: As far as I am aware, only one member of this Government--the Defence Secretary--has attended a meeting of the Bilderberg Group. He provided a detailed account of his attendance in answers to the hon. Members for Ludlow (Christopher Gill MP) on 23 July 1998, Official Report, column 609, and for Hereford (John Keetch MP) on 20 July 1998, Official Report, column 434.

Commons - Written Answers (8 Apr 1998) Bilderberg Group
Mr. Nicholas Winterton MP: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment she has made of the operations and influence on world trade of the Bilderberg Group. [37923]
Mrs. Roche: The Department has made no such assessments.

Commons - Written Answers (7 Apr 1998) Bilderberg Group
Mr. Nicholas Winterton MP: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received on the influence of the Bilderberg group on world agricultural prices. [37924]
Mr. Rooker: No such representations have been received.

Commons - Prime Minister Tony Blair's written Answers (30 Mar 1998) Bilderberg Group
Mr. Christopher Gill MP: To ask the Prime Minister which members of his Government have attended meetings of the Bilderberg Group. [34298]
The Prime Minister [holding answer 16 March 1998]: None.

Letter From Christopher Gill MP, seriously concerned about the Bilderbergers' influence
CHRISTOPHER GILL RD MP

HOUSE OF COMMONS
LONDON SW1A OAA

Mr. T. Gosling,

21 November 1998

Thank you for your letter of the 9th November 1998 expressing your concern about the Bilderberg Group.

I do not for one moment discount the possibility of there being some very powerful forces at work and that their intention is to undermine and destroy the nation state.

That being said I feel sure that you will agree that we have to be practical about these things and I am at a loss to know how we as individuals can counteract the activities of such bodies as the Bilderbergers. Given the reluctance of elected politicians to acknowledge the nature of the very real threat to our democracy it seems inconceivable that they will openly attack these groups and the thought that they might actually proscribe them is just too fanciful for words. Neither am I aware of any mechanism by which individuals can be prevented from holding private meetings if they so choose nor of compelling them to publish their agenda and resolutions. The fact that their intentions may be treasonable is hardly the point if national governments see nothing wrong in their activities.

It seems to me that the only sensible course of action as far as people like ourselves are concerned is to concentrate all our efforts on trying to convince one or other of the main political parties, firstly, to recognise the enormity of the threat to our democratic rights and secondly, to come out of their corner fighting to defend them. As a democrat I believe in using the system to achieve my political objectives. Where this belief falls down is when there is a conspiracy to deny choice and I don't mind saying that I dread the lang term consequences of continuing on down that particular road.

At the end of the day the people will win but how much more desirable it is that they should win by the ballot rather than by the bullet.

Please be assured that I am doing everything I know how, within the Conservative Party, to bring about a fundamental realignment before it is altogether too late.

Yours sincerely,

Christopher Gill MP



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Fear Not the Forces of Darkness
7th July 1999 - Tony Gosling

Full page on the 1999 conference
There has been some particularly nasty disinformation around this summer's Bilderberg Conferences including a false participant list and a message on the 'June 18th global day of action' list from a made-up organisation accusing me of being taken in by Nazis [www.bilderberg.org/1999.htm#warning].

Please do check Bilderberg out for youself on the site I created free of speculation and racist claptrap to fill the knowledge gap from those on the 'left' and 'greens' about these global manipulators.

The alignment of the most powerful banking, media, and political forces at unaccountable forums must be taken seriously. Will Hutton calls them 'The High Priests of Globalisation'. Vandana Shiva, at last years People's Summit in Birmingham, called Globalisation: 'The New Totalitatianism'. We would hardly expect Bilderberg - which was started by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands - card carrying member of the SS at the beginning of World War II [www.bilderberg.org/bernhard.htm] - to be open about their activities or averse to a bit of disinformation.

Globalisation of their ownership power is the goal. 'Public opinion' and 'democracy' are competition that must be taken out of the picture. The annual meetings attempt to persuade powerful people who are critical of Globalisation to 'get on board'. This leaves the prime movers behing the pseudo-philosophy of Globalisation as a rich and powerful clutch of unaccountable 'High Priests': David Rockefeller, Evelyn De Rothschild, Henry Kissinger etc.. The Blairs and the Clintons of this world are merely their 'followers'.

Bilderberg appears to allow information to leak out to right-wing organisations like The Spotlight in the US so that information can be discredited as the rantings of extremists. Bilderberg produces official participant lists - which are on my site - but I have testimonial evidence [www.bilderberg.org/1998.htm#Blair] these lists are only partial and that heads of state, influential bankers and others are 'missed off' the list to make the meeting seem less newsworthy.

Anything you can do to discredit the lies and prompt informed discussion about the Bilderbergers amongst journalists and in the newspapers/radio/TV etc. will be a service to the public.

I think we are entering a very dangerous time in history with the prospect of Global Corporate Rule moving ever nearer. These corporations and their top-down structures are totalitarian and apparently immortal. It is important that people are informed as to the dangers but they stand little chance of that with the media becoming idealogically narrower and every day being consolidated into fewer hands.

It is worth remembering that the solution to the cloud of darkness these great de-humanised profit machines cast across our world may well be spiritual rather than political.

See my Tribulation page for links


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16Feb99 - Tony's open letter to the Bilderbergers - with reply
This request to speak at the conference was an attempt to raise pivotal issues that the Bilderbergers seem unwilling to discuss:
The rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination and the rights of all of us to land and freedom from the slavery of debt.
[this is my old address- contact me here]
14 Lancaster Road
St. Werburghs
Bristol
BS2 9UP

Bilderberg Meetings
Amstel 216
1017 AJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Tuesday 16 February 1999


Dear Sir/Madam,

My previous letter [November 1998] seems to have been mislaid by yourselves. Please could you put my mind at rest by replying to the following. I am set to have a very busy spring and it would be difficult for me were I called to speak at short notice.

I would like the opportunity to make a three minute presentation on international land rights and economics at this spring’s Bilderberg meeting.

I realise the usual form is that presentations are made by invitation only but I’m sure you would not wish to be totally exclusive.

I’m certain you’ll agree it would be as well to avoid the mistakes that might come if any group pursues ‘tunnel vision’.

I will not be offended if you cannot fit me in but I would like the courtesy of a reply, I am sure you are aware of the central importance of private property rights to the success, or otherwise, of international finance.

yours,


Tony Gosling



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23Feb99 - Response:
BILDERBERG MEETINGS
Amstel 216
1017 AJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Phone +31 20 625 0252
Fax +31 20 624 4299

Mr Tony Gosling
14 Lancaster Road
St. Werburghs
BRISTOL BS2 9UP
England

23 February 1999

Dear Mr. Gosling

In response to your letter of 16 February 1999 I must confirm that Bilderberg decides on its own program and that presentations are solely by invitation.

Sincerely,

M. Bank
Executive Secretary



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World government on the way
Tony Gosling - May 1998
When 'the high priests of globalisation' hold their annual gathering in the UK you might expect it to make the news. But the media chiefs in attendance conspire to keep Bilderberg Conferences as far the public eye as possible.

This extraordinary cartel of the world's richest bankers, media barons, multinational bosses, economists and politicians have been meeting secretly since 1954. Their alleged plutocratic plans, such as the EEC and EMU, later appear 'just to happen'.

A closer look at three central Bilderberg figures is illuminating.

Conrad Black, boss of the Telegraph and Hollinger news empire, hosted the 1996 conference. He is a devoted to one of the first preponents of World Government: Napoleon Bonaparte. In the early 1800's Napoleon suggested that: "Two powers like France and England, with a good understanding between them, might govern the world".

David Rockefeller runs Chase Manhattan, the bank that is prepared, quietly, to use it's 350 billion dollar power for political ends. A leaked Chase memo showed they used Mexican indebtedness to persuade the government to 'eliminate' Zapatistas (in the troubled Chiapas region) rather than talk to them.[see the memo on my page]

Finally Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who set up the annual Bilderberg Conferences, was an officer in Heinrich Himmler's elite SS or staff guard in Nazi Germany.

Articles, reports and background on the Bilderberg Conferences as well as 'insider leaks' from the Canadian 'New World Order Intelligence Update' and the U.S. 'Spotlight' newspaper can be found on the web through:

www.bilderberg.org/1998.htm

The Bilderbergers provide a disturbing insight into a New World Order which may be just around the corner. How chilling that whilst these individuals have arguably more wealth and power than any other group on earth we are allowed to hear not a single word of what they say.

In today's global network of power the Bilderbergers reign supreme. But they remain hideously silent on what their future holds for us and, more importantly, for our children and future generations.



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November 1998 to February 1999 - Bilderberg questions tabled at European Parliament by Patricia McKenna MEP
European Parliament examining Bilderbergers
Tony Gosling
Since 1954 the secretive Bilderbergers have been holding private meetings that shape international economic strategy. They are one of the handful of groups that make up the annual 'Tribal Gatherings of the high priests of globalisation'*.

Though powerful people in and out of the public sphere attend they are 'requested' never to refer to the meetings as the place the international policy consensus has been reached.

At last elected members of the European Pariament are asking pertinent questions about the way in which cabals like the Bilderbergers compromise the integrity of senior public figures. In this case the unelected and powerful European Commissioners.

*Will Hutton (see: the article here)



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Written questions, with evasive answers, tabled by Patricia McKenna MEP [Green Party - Ireland] to the European Commission, 3 Dec '98, in response to previous answers (see below)
Bilderberg Meetings: (Priority question)
Can the Commission explain more clearly its answer to my question H-0933/98, where it insists that participants attend Bilderberg *in a private capacity*, against all the evidence that these are far from being purely private meetings. If they are such, why does the Commission announce them in its Press Communiques, published by Reuters - would it announce a Commissioner attending a confernece on stamp-collecting, if that were his or her personal hobby?

And why is it that the Commissioners attending tend to be relevant to items on the agenda - Commissioner Van den Broek for Enlargement, Former Yugoslavia and Turkey, Commissioner Bjerregaard for Global Governance (applies to climate), Commissioner Monti for the European economy (Internal Market), or Commissioner Brittan for the EU/US Market Place. And most recently, at Turnberry, Minister George Robertson was ferried by military helicopter, on the clear understanding that he was present in an official capacity, just as happened in the past with Prime Minister Blair and then Minister Kenneth Clarke, now a member of the Steering Committee.

Does the Commission actually expect Members of Parliament to accept that British Ministers are attending these meetings in their official capacities, while Commissioners attend the same meeting in a private capacity?

And, why would the police exclude, and even arrest and charge, card carrying journalists if these were genuinely private meetings, whereas, if that were actually so, it would be the responsibility of the organizers to control access to the meetings by journalists, and the police would merely provide security checks to ensure the safety of the participants.

Since former Commissioners have continuing rights from, and duties to, the European Union, surely it behoves them to answer questions on these meetings, should the Commission so choose to ask them, and will the Commission now undertake to ask all former Commissioners still living whether they attended these and other similar meetings during their time as Commissioners.

P-3880/98EN Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (19 January 1999)
The Commission's reply that Members of the Commission who attended Bilderberg meetings expressed their personal views means that they were not representing the Commission, that they did not speak on behalf of the Commission and that their comments were not binding on the Commission. Naturally they were invited to attend the meetings mainly on account of their functions. The Commission considers that its Members should be free to express their views on subjects relating to the work of the Community, in particular during exchanges of views in international forums, without their participation being in any way binding on the Commission.



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Further questions:
Participation of Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard in 1995 Bilderberg Meeting:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Bjerregaard in Bürgenstock from 8-11 June 1995, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

Participation of Commissioner Hans Van den Broek in 1995 Bilderberg Meeting:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Van den Broek in Bürgenstock from 8-11 June 1995, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

Participation of Commissioner Mario Monti in Bilderberg:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Monti in Toronto from May 30 to June 2 1996, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

Does the Commission feel that Commissioner Monti should have declared his membership of the Bilderberg Steering Committee?

Participation of Commissioner Emma Bonino in 1998 Bilderberg Meeting:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Bonino in Turnberry, Scotland from 14-17 May 1998, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

Participation of Commissioner Leon Brittan in 1998 Bilderberg Meeting:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Brittan in Turnberry, Scotland from 14-17 May 1998, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

The Common answer to the 5 questions to individual Commissioners,
Answered by Santer, newly emboldened by the Censure fiasco:
E-3899/98EN to E-3903/98EN Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (5 February 1999)

Travel and accommodation costs were covered in accordance with the provisions currently in force.

With respect to Mr Monti's participation at the Bilderberg Steering Committee meeting, the Commission would refer the Honourable Member to the answer to her oral question H-933/98 at question time at the second November part-session. (Debates of the Parliament No November II 1998).



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Patricia McKenna's previous questions [now with answers]: November 98. To the EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Commissioner Mario Monti (Strasbourg, 5.30-7pm, Nov 17th '98)
SUBJECT: Participation of Commissioners in Bilderberg Group

Question:
"Will the Commission fully inform Parliament about the content and conclusions (or consensus reached) of the Bilderberg meetings attended by various Commissioners over the years, indicating fully which Commissioners attended which meetings since 1954. If not, why not."

"Will the Commission clarify whether Commissioners attend in their private or official capacities, since on the one hand Bilderberg and the participants normally claim they attend in their private capacities, whereas on the other hand the Commission has formally announced the participation in the past by Mrs Bjerregaard, Mr Monti, and Mr Van den Broek, and also Mr Kenneth Clarke and Mr Tony Blair have stated to the House of Commons in the past that they attended in their official capacities, and the full security apparatus of the host state not only protects the participants but also ensures the secrecy of the meetings, including the arresting and charging of journalists reporting on the meetings? Is Mr Monti's membership of the Bilderberg Group Steering Committee fully compatible with the duties and obligations of being a Member of the European Commission as per Articles 155 to 163 of the EC Treaty ?"

Commissioner Mario Monti's reply to Question 69 (H-0933/98) tabled by Patricia McKenna
The Bilderberg meetings are an international forum in which political leaders and economists express their personal views on topics of general interest, particularly in the spheres of foreign policy and world economics. The participants attend meetings in a private capacity and the statements which they make are not binding on the Commission; no resolutions are passed, no votes are taken and no political communiques are issued.

For the above reasons, the Commission is unable to supply details of the substance and conclusions of such meetings, nor does it have any statistics regarding the participation of its members since the first meeting held in 1954.

Of the current Commission Members, Mrs Bjerregaard and Mr van den Broek attended the 1995 meeting, Mr Monti the 1996 meeting and Sir Leonard Brittan and Mrs Bonino the 1998 meeting. They all spoke in a private capacity at those meetings. Mr Monti was a member of the Steering Committee between 1983 and 1993, before becoming a Member of the Commission in 1995.

To the COUNCIL OF MINISTERS (Strasbourg, 5.30-7 pm, 18th November 1998)
SUBJECT: Council Member participation in Bilderberg Group

Question:
"Will the Council fully inform Parliament about the content and conclusions (or consensus reached) of the Bilderberg meetings attended by various Council Members over the years, indicating fully which Council Members attended which meetings since 1954. If not, why not."

"Will the Council clarify whether Council Members attend in their private or official capacities, since on the one hand Bilderberg and the participants normally claim they attend in their private capacities, whereas on the other hand Mr Kenneth Clarke and Mr Tony Blair have stated to the House of Commons in the past that they attended in their official capacities, the full security apparatus of the host state not only protects the participants but carries Ministers to the meetings (Mr Robertson at the recent Turnberry meeting) and also ensures the secrecy of the meetings and, for example, most recently Mr Campbell Thomas, a journalist and reserve police officer was arrested and charged at the Turnberry, Scotland meeting, it would appear for trying to report on the meeting for the Scottish Daily Mail, subsequently losing his position as a *special constable*?"

Commissioner Mario Monti's reply to Question No 4. (H-0932/98) tabled by Patricia McKENNA
In reply to the Honourable Member's question, I must stress that the Council has never had any occasion to discuss the matters alluded to. It might be pointed out in this connection that the meetings referred to took place outside the European Community framework. I should also like to draw the Honourable Member's attention to the fact that, in line with standard practice followed since the creation of the European Communities, the Council refrains from commenting on or taking a view on events outside their formal meetings. The Honourable Member will understand that, on these grounds, I am not in a position to reply to the specific question raised.



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The New Unhappy Lords
They have given us into the hand of new unhappy lords,
Lords without anger and honour, who dare not carry their swords.

They fight by shuffling papers; they have bright dead alien eyes;

They look at our labour and laughter as a tired man looks at flies.

And the load of their loveless pity is worse than the ancient wrongs,

Their doors are shut in the evening; and they know no songs.

GK Chesterton - "The Secret People"



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Extracts from my first source articles:
Many more articles here on the reports page and elsewhere - things have moved on a bit since I first read these articles!
1. 'The Bilderberg Group, The Invisible Power House'
With its membership selected from the power elite of Europe and North America, many wonder if the Bilderbergers are conspiring to establish a 'new world order'.
Nexus magazine, Vol. 3 #1, Available from:
PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia.
+61 (0) 7 5442 9280

2. 'Bilderberg Meetings, including letters from the Bilderberg secretariat' On Target Magazine
"'Democracy' has been imposed upon one autonomous regime after another as power is centralised by this International Oligarchy as communities and cultures are decimated. We believe that this evil power is ultimately Satanic...."
'On Target' Available from: Donald A Martin
Bloomfield Books, 26 Meadow Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 6TD, England.
Telephone (01787) 376374
3. 'Bilderberg treason first decided it: SINGLE CURRENCY MEANS THE END FOR BRITAIN' Portman Papers
"...ordinary people... do not know Bilderberg exists, and hence are powerless to scrutinize the highly questionable activity of this treasonous, corporatist oligarchy of influence."
Portman Papers, Vol. 1 No 6, available from
20 Portmans, North Curry, Taunton, TA3 6NL.
Derek Tozer, 01823 490590.



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Bilderberg organisational structure
Lord Carrington in his Hertfordshire garden with sculpture of a pagan god - Bilderberg Chairman 1990-99 - photo Lord Snowdon

The following Bilderberg Organisational structure is from Bilderberg pamphlet dated November 1997 - see the 2002 version
Source: Grattan Healey, Green Party adviser to Patricia McKenna MEP at the European Parliament.

Members Advisory Group *
Canada: Anthony GS Griffin, Company Director.

Germany: Otto Wolff von Amerongen, Chairman and CEO of Otto Wolff Industrieberatung und Beteiligungen GMBH.

International: Max Kohnstamm, Former Secretary General, Action Committee for Europe; Former President, Europe University Institute.

Italy: Giovanni Agnelli, Honorary Chairman, Fiat SpA.

Netherlands: Ernst H. van der Beugel, Emeritus Professor of International Relations, Leiden University; Former Honorary Secretary General of Bilderberg Meetings for Europe and Canada.

United Kingdom: Lord Roll of Ipsden, Senior Adviser, SBC Warburg Dillon Read.

United States of America: William Bundy, Former Editor, Foreign Affairs;
David Rockefeller, Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank International Advisory Committee.

* all former members of the Steering Committee

Steering Committee:
Chairman: Peter, Lord Carrington-Chairman of the Board, Christie's International plc; Former Secretary-General NATO.

Secretary-General: Victor Halberstadt-Professor of Public Economics, Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Treasurer: Pieter Korteweg-President and Chief Executive Officer, Robeco Group.

National Representatives
Austria: Franz Vranitzky, Former Federal Chancellor.

Belgium: Etienne Davignon-Chairman, Société Générale de Belgique; Former Vice Chairman of the Commission of the European Communities.

Canada: Conrad Black, Chairman, Telegraph Group Ltd; (2nd place vacant).

Denmark: Toger Seidenfaden, Editor-in-chief, Politiken.

Finland: Jorma Ollila, President and CEO, Nokia Corporation.

France: Bertrand Collomb, Chairman and Executive Officer, Lafarge; Andre Levy-Lang, Chairman, Banque Paribas.

Germany: Christoph Bertram, Diplomatic Correspondent, Die Zeit; Hilmar Kopper, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG; Matthias Nass, Managing Editor, Die Zeit.

Greece: George A David, Chairman, Hellenic Bottling Company SA.

Ireland: Peter D. Sutherland, Chairman and Managing Director, Goldman Sachs International; Former Director General, World Trade Organisation.

Italy: Umberto Agnelli, Chairman, Instituto Finanziaro Industriale (IFIL).

Italy/International: Renato Ruggiero, Director General, World Trade Organisation, Former Minister of Foreign Trade.

Norway: Westye Hoegh, Chairman of the Board, Leif Hoegh & Co ASA.

Portugal: Francisco Pinto Balsemao, Professor of Communication Science, New University of Lisbon; Chairman, Impresa SGPS; Former Prime Minister.

Spain: Jaime Carvajal Urquijo, Chairman and General Manager, Iberfomento.

Sweden: Percy Barnevik, Chairman, ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd.

Switzerland: David de Pury, Chairman, de Pury, Pictet, Turrettini & Co Ltd.

Turkey: Selahattin Beyazit, Director of Companies.

United Kingdom: Kenneth Clarke, Member of Parliament;
J. Martin Taylor, Group Chief Executive, Barclays PLC.

United States of America: Paul A. Allaire, Chairman, Xerox Corporation;
John S Corzine, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs & Co;
Marie-Josee Drouin, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute Inc;
Louis V. Gerstner, Chairman, IBM Corporation;
Richard C. Holbrooke, Former Assistant Secretary for European Affairs; Vice Chairman CS First Boston;
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr, Senior Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Field, (Attorneys-at-Law);
Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates Inc; Former Secretary of State;
Jack Sheinkman, Chairman of the Board, Amalgamated Bank;
Paul Wolfowitz, Dean, Nitze School of Advanced International Studies; Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy;
Casimir A. Yost, Director, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

USA/International: James D. Wolfensohn, President, The World Bank;



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"Elite and Discreet"
from The Economist - 26 Dec 1987
Our Good Conference Guide: Magic mountains for the mind
The complete guide - Magic Mountains of the Mind - is on the Dangerous Liaisons page
Bilderberg
Ne plus ultra
BILDERBERG takes its name from a Dutch hotel where, in the early 1950s, the first meeting took place under the aegis of Prince Bernhard. The occasion has outgrown the hotel, but the Dutch link remains. Among several European royals who attend as occasional guests, Queen Beatrix and her husband come regularly. A Dutch professor who has brokered coalition governments into existence on her behalf is one of the secretary-generals (the other, American, one lives in San Francisco), and Bilderberg's tiny secretariat sits in The Hague. The meetings now take place by informal rotation in countries of the Atlantic community.

Some 100 or more attend, by invitation of a steering committee. The meetings happen once a year, in the spring. They last 2.5 days (Thursday night until Sunday lunch) and are held in varying but always comfortable surroundings - in 1987 Lake Como, before that Gleneagles. Apart from a half-day on the golf links or sleeping off the previous night's dinner, morning and afternoon sessions fill up the time.

A mixture of able and distinguished folk attend - a sprinkling of serving prime and cabinet ministers, central-bank governors, defence and other experts. They talk, often to galvanising and fascinating effect, about the main issues of the day - East-West relations, arms control, deficits, debt, the Falklands, sanctions, whatever. Their thoughts may not be repeated outside the meetings and never are. This frustrates outsiders but helps 100 great and good people be frank with each other, as does the fact that Bilderberg members are limited to people of NATO and West European countries who know how to be kind or rude to each other without causing such misunderstandings as would occur if Indians, Fijians, Africans, Chinese or Japanese were also present.

Elite and discreet, Bilderberg has inevitably been talked of in hushed tones by conspiracy theorists over the years. It needn't be. The lists of attenders are published, as are the agendas, and before each meeting the chairman (currently Lord Roll) holds a press conference at which few journalists bother to turn up.

Where does the money come from? Not complicated. The steering-group members raise from business the small sums necessary to keep the organising secretariat going hand-to-mouth in The Hague. Members from the host country raise enough money to pay for the hotel and conference when it takes place on their home soil (they are allowed to ask extra guests to make this money-raising easier). Participants pay their own long-haul travel, but are usually shepherded as VIPs from the nearest airport. They also pay expenses over and above the basic bill for their hotel room - the Bilderberg custom being that a whole hotel is booked for each meeting so that Bilderbergers may be alone with each other, their words, their thoughts and, these days, their security men.

When you have scaled the Bilderberg, you have arrived.

* * *

The complete conference guide - Magic Mountains of the Mind - is on the Dangerous Liaisons page


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Conference venues since 1954
BILDERBERG CONFERENCES, 1954-2002
51...............2003....please let me know at tony@gaia.org
50. 30 May - 2 June 2002: Chantilly, Virginia, USA.
49. 24-27 May 2001: Gothenburg, Sweden.
48. 1-4 June 2000: Genval, Brussels, Belgium.
47. 3-6 June 1999: Sintra, Portugal.
46. 14-17 May 1998: Turnberry, Ayrshire, Scotland.
45. 12-15 June 1997: Lake Lanier, Georgia, USA.
44. 30 May -1 June 1996: Toronto, Canada.
43. 8-11 June 1995: Zurich, Switzerland.
42. 3-5 June 1994: Helsinki, Finland.
41. 22-25 April 1993: Athens, Greece.
40. 21-24 May 1992: Evian-les-Bains, France.
39. 6-9 June 1991: Baden-Baden, Germany.
38. 11-13 May 1990: Glen Cove, New York, USA.
37. 12-14 May 1989: La Toja, Spain.
36. 3-5 June 1988: Telfs-Buchen, Austria.
35. 24-26 April 1987: Villa d'Este, Italy.
34. 25-27 April 1986: Gleneagles, Scotland.
33. 10-12 May 1985: Rye Brook, New York USA.
32. 11-13 May 1984: Saltsjöbaden, Sweden.
31. 13-15 May 1983: Montebello, Canada.
30. 14-16 May 1982: Sandefjord, Norway.
29. 15-17 May 1981: Bürgenstock, Switzerland.
28. 18-20 April 1980: Aachen, W. Germany.
27. 27-29 April 1979: Baden, Austria.
26. 21-23 April 1978: Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
25. 22-24 April 1977: Torquay, England.
1976: No conference was held due to Prince Bernhard's involvement in the Lockheed Scandal.
24. 25-27 April 1975: Çesme, Turkey.
23. 19-21 April 1974: Megìve, France.
22. 11-13 May 1973: Saltsjöbaden, Sweden.
21. 21-23 April 1972: Knokke, Belgium.
20. 23-25 April 1971: Woodstock, Vermont, USA.
19. 17-19 April 1970: Bad Ragaz, Switzerland.
18. 9-11 May 1969: Marienlyst, Denmark.
17. 26-28 April 1968: Mont Tremblant, Canada.
16. 31 March - 2 April 1967: Cambridge, England.
15. 25-27 March 1966: Wiesbaden, W. Germany.
14. 2-4 April 1965: Villa d'Este, Italy.
13. 20-22 March 1964: Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.
12. 29-31 May 1963: Cannes, France.
11. 18-20 May 1962: Saltsjöbaden, Sweden.
10. 21-23 April 1961: St Castin, Canada.
9. 28-29 May 1960: Bürgenstock, Switzerland.
8. 18-20 September 1959: Yesilköy, Turkey.
7. 13-15 September 1958: Buxton, England.
6. 4-6 October 1957: Fiuggi, Italy.
5. 15-17 February 1957: St Simons Island, Georgia, USA.
4. 11-13 May 1956: Fredensborg, Denmark.
3. 23-25 September 1955: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, W. Germany.
2. 18-20 March 1955: Barbizon, France.
1. 29-31 May 1954: Oosterbeek, Netherlands.



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Books that comment on the Bilderberg conferences:
A useful source and/or starting point for the following and similar publications is:
Bloomfield Books, 26 Meadow Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk, England, CO10 6TD.
Telephone 01787 376374
Atkinson, Rodney, 'Europe's Full Circle, Corporate Elites and the New Fascism', Compuprint, 1997, £7.95, ISBN 0 9525110 0 2 "Europe has come full circle. The UK faces the same political crisis as in the 1930's... suppression rather than expression of public opinion." From This England books: 01242 515156.

Atkinson, Rodney & McWhirter, Norris, 'Treason at Maastricht : the destruction of the nation state' Compuprint, 1995. ISBN 0950935395 (pbk) 0952511010 (hbk)

Blackstone/Plowden: 'Inside the think tank' London, 1988.

Chesterton, A. K.: (Arthur Kenneth) 'The new unhappy lords: an exposure of power politics', Candour Publishing Co, 1972. ISBN 0851720218 (DeluXe ed.) - 0851720242 - 0851720250 (pbk.) Extract from this vitriolic author here

De Jager C.:The Structure of the Quiet Photosphere and the Low Chromosphere, Proc. of the Bilderberg Conference Arnhem, Holland, April 17-21, 1967. Reidel 1968. [presentation at conference]

Domhoff, G. William: 'State autonomy or class dominance? : case studies on policy making in America'. Aldine de Gruyter 1996. ISBN 0202305112 & 0202305120 (pbk)

Engdahl, F. William: 'Mit der Oelwaffe zur Weltmacht. Der Weg zur neuen Weltordnung' Dr. Boettiger Verlags-GmbH, Wiesbaden, ISBN 3-925725-15-6

Eringer, Robert: 'Bilderberg Group, The Global Manipulators', Pentacle, Bristol, 1980. ISBN 0 906850 04 5 Choice extracts here for your delight

Ewertverlag S.L.: 'Secret Societies and Their Power in the 20th Century', 1995. ISBN 3-89478-654-X

Gill, Stephen: 'American Hegemony and the Trilateral commission', Cambridge University Press, 1990, ISBN 0521362865

Hatch, Alden: 'H. R. H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands; an authorized biography', Biog. of Prince Leopold Bernhard consort of Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands, Harrap, 1962. Read the chapter on Bilderberg and the one on the Nazis here

Icke, David: 'The Robots's Rebellion', Gateway Books, 1994. ISBN 1-85860-022-7

Icke, David: ' ...and the truth shall set you free', Bridge of Love Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-9526147-0-7 .

Korten, David: 'When Corporations Rule the World', Earthscan, 1995, ISBN 1853834343 & 1853833134

Krieg, A. H.: 'The Satori and the New Mandarins', Hallberg, Tampa, Florida, 1998, ISBN 087319 044 0. Note: this book lists all known Bilderberg members. http://www.sover.net/~akrieg/

Ligens/Loth: 'Documents on the history of European Integration', Volume 2 and 4 : Berlin/ NYC 1986/ 1991

Pomian, John: Joseph Retinger - Memoires of an eminence grise: Sussex 1972 (very difficult to get your hands on it!)

Rarick, John: 'Bilderberg: The cold war international', US-Congress, Congressional Record Vol.117 Part 24, 92nd Congress 1st session, Wednesday, September 15th 1971

Ross, Gaylon, Sr.: Who´s Who of the Elite: San Marcos, Texas 1995

Scholte, Jan Aart: 'Global capitalism and the state: International affairs', 73,3 (1997) p. 427-452

Sklar, Holly: ed. 'The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management'. Boston: South End Press, 1980. 604 pages; includes a Who's Who from pages 90-131.

Sklar, Holly: 'Reagan, Trilateralism and the Neoliberals': South End Press 1986

Van-der-Pijl, Kees: 'The making of an Atlantic ruling class', Verso, 1984, ISBN 0860918017

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TREASON - The New World Order, Cassandra Press, 1996. ISBN 0-945946-14-7

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Feature Film: "They Live" by John Carpenter. The film depicts how an alien race has infiltrated earth, slowly taking over all govenment and the World Power Elite. Released in 1989, it gives an uncomfortably accurate picture of manipulators hidden from the people.



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Links to other web sites:
Warning! - Some of these sites and articles come from groups with right wing views. Their factual information (eg. The Spotlight) is often entirely accurate but the spin put upon it may make articles painfully vitriolic.
One great irritation to me is racism. The assumption that because some of the world's most powerful men are Jewish bankers then all Jews are to blame, should be obvious nonsense to anyone who bothers to think it through.
Have those who research the Bilderbergers been taken in by the extreme right??????????
Who Controls The Australian Government? An Australian ex-politician blames the Bilderbergers http://www.senet.com.au/~brucehan/index36.htm

New ways to break the power of the elite - site pulled by Yahoo http://members.ams.chello.nl/jsteenis/

Bilderberg Chairman - Etienne Davignon http://www.generale.be/CommUK/CVUK/CV2StevieUK.html

Bilderberg Secretary General - Victor Halberstadt http://ruljis.leidenuniv.nl/group/jfof/www/halberstadt.htm

Ever been inside a G8 meeting? You'll be suprised at the symbol on the table in front of poor old conned Mr Blair http://www.conspiracywatch.com/Illuminatisym.html

Bilderberg and the West by Peter Thompson excerpted from the book Trilateralism edited Holly Sklar South End Press, 1980 http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Trilateralism/Bilderberg.html

The Bilderberg and the Council on Foreign Relations http://towardfreedom.com/feb98/conspir.htm

Hotel DE BILDERBERG, Oosterbeek, Holland http://www.hotels-holland.com/bilderberg/oosterbeek-debilderberg.htm

italian translations-> http://members.xoom.com/_XMCM/razlag/wwfnazisti.html

The News in Portugal - complete Bilderberg 1999 articles http://www.the-news.net/bildeberg/index.htm

27Oct99 - Bilderberg steering group meet in Washington? (offsite) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/19991012_xex_the_next_bil.shtml

4th November 1999 SAMUEL R. BERGER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR REMARKS TO THE BILDERBERG STEERING COMMITTEE http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/1999/11/5/3.text.1

Republican and Democratic parties in the U.S. to merge? http://syninfo.com/ian/PRIVATE/1999/11/23/1999112320221128.html

The Bilder Burger Vegetarian Sandwich http://www.happyclown.com/mcprint.html

Etienne Davignon - new Bilderberg Chairman http://www.cordis.lu/esprit/src/biodavig.htm

Search The UK Parliament pages for the latest Bilderberg questions http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/cgi-bin/tso_fx?DB=tso

Illuminati News http://user.tninet.se/~gbl020q/illum_index.htm

Names and who is related to what other organisations - Namebase http://www.pir.org/

Recent lists of names of the elite etc. http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/weekdx.htm

Etienne F. Davignon, Chairman, Société Générale de Belgique - profile http://www.gilead.com/about/man_davignon.html

Those who have real power typically avoid exposure and unwanted attention by denying that they have it. The Establishment exists but doesn't want the public to get the full picture of its control. http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/weekdx.htm

The Juggernaut of Globalisation - from South Africa http://sane.org.za/news6/news6_elite.htm

Photo Gallery of the Elite http://www.islandnet.com/~persewen/photo_index2.htm

Bilderbergers and the Kosovo Crisis - John Whitley's site http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley/bild98.htm

Nazi industrialists escape to the USA in a giant U-Boat before Hitler's fall. Prince Bernhard, Bilderberg supremo, is loitering on the coast! http://mallofmaine.com/ca35/

Collection of John Whitley's Bilderberg Articles http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley/bildpres.htm

Rodney Atkinson on Bilderberg http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/place/qq28/democracy/bildb.htm

Wall Street/SS connections Bernhard/Dulles http://www.silcom.com/~patrick/mag3/pwrprnts.htm

Black Envy - Anti Conrad Black Site http://www.blackenvy.com/

August '98 - Bilderberg/Cyprus war update http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley/BILDNEWS.HTM

Collection of John Whitley's articles on the Bilderbergers http://www.turnercom.com/jdk/canal77.html

Spotlight Magazine http://www.webbindustries.com/spotlight/

Latest Parascope articles on Bilderberg http://www.parascope.com/mx/articles/bilderberg.htm

Secret Organisations and the legacy of the right http://www.thegrid.net/clear/moralright.htm

Vernon Jordan Bilderberg Article http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/jordan012798.htm

Bible Prophecies and Bilderberg http://www.thelordswork.com/articles\bilder.html

Tony Blair and Kenneth Clarke ticked off by the House of Commons over Bilderberg expenses http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199798/cmselect/cmstnprv/180iii/sp0304.htm

Understanding the New World Order - The Bilderberg Files http://www.kreative.net/understandingNWO/utnwo11a.txt

Norwegian Bilderberg site http://thor.prohosting.com/~bilderb/

German language introduction and criticism on the Bilderbergers - http://www.4rie.com/rie%209.html#anchor1343569 [noit sure about this address ed.]

Robert Gaylon Ross, Sr.'s scary Bilderberg Page http://www.4rie.com/rie/rie3.html Old address: http://www.ld.centuryinter.net/rie/rie3.html

Nexus Magazine. Armen Victorian's definitive, well researched article http://www.peg.apc.org/~nexus/Bilderbergers.html

New World Order Intelligence Update http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley

Biblical look at the Illuminati http://home.cdsnet.net/~rkhaeske/html/new_world_religion.htm

Clinton approved for presidency by the Bilderbergers http://www.dcia.com/clinton.html

America's Subversion - The Enemy Within http://www.execpc.com/~amerisub/

Watch out for the Power Elite http://home.sol.no/~abels/engelsk/power4.htm

Georgia paper reports on 1997 meeting http://www.creativeloafing.com/gwinnett/newsstand/archives/061497gw/news.htm

James Wolfenson is admired in Africa! http://www.ghana.africaonline.com/AfricaOnline/newsstand/independent/22/page09.html

Two pages with general Bilderberg information and articles http://wwwcip.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/~tky20848/docs/BILDER2.TXT http://wwwcip.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/~tky20848/docs/BLDRBRGR.TXT

Short biog. of Will Hutton, Editor of The Observer and Bilderberg attendee http://www.guardian.co.uk/stakeholder/issues/hutton.html

Lots of Bilderberg references in German http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/m/marzahn.norbert/1996/marzahn.0696

New World Order - Quotes and Chronology http://www.khouse.org/articles/prophetic/19970301-90.html

Irish New World Order articles http://www.connect.ie/emc/Media/Conspiracies/

Bill Clinton's 'Coming Out Party' at the 1991 Bilderberg Conference http://bubblemouth.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/980202/jordan.html

Excellent Bilderberg and elites analysis page http://www.sunz.com/tri.html

Sun.tzu's analysis of Bilderberg and other elite groups http://www.ccnet.com/~suntzu75/pirn9735.htm

George Ball talks about Ross Perot's attitude to Bilderberg http://pages.map.com/bkpowell/georgeball.htm (link down?)

The Jeremiah project Bilderberg Pages http://www2.southwind.net/~jeremiah/nworder04.html

The Bilder-Burger Vegetarian Sandwich http://www.happyclown.com/bilder.html

Articles by a tenacious man who followed the Bilderbergers around http://www.livelinks.com/sumeria/politics/bilders.html

Complete list and pics. of some of the 1996 participants http://www.abbc.com/esa/eng/sections/contents.html

Bilderberg and the IMF http://www.abcnews.aol.com/onair/nightline/html_files/transcripts/ntl0114.html

Bilderberg Conference, Rockefeller, Mexican oil and dead Zapatistas http://www.senderberl.com/recapturing/america/postscript2.htm

The Lobster journal http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk

The end of the world and the New World Order by Tim Callahan http://www.skeptic.com/04.3.callahan-end.html

The 'Destroy Babylon' Bilderberg Page http://www.zipcon.net/isaiah/Meeting.HTM

An Australian Band, Black Lung, that sing about global elites http://www.cyberden.com/cyberden/imcc/pages/blhome.html

Conspiracy booklist http://www.frugal.com/~ayli/30.con.html

David Icke has been talking about the Bilderbergers ever since he 'left' his job in television http://www.david-icke.com/newsspr9.htm

National Patriotic Front leader in Russia, Gennadi Zyuganov, blasts Bilderberg. http://web.bu.edu/ISCIP/content/digest/ed7.html

Eisenhower's diary describes Bilderberg http://sunsite.unc.edu/lia/president/EisenhowerLibrary/finding_aids/DDE's_Diary.html

List of International organisations http://www.uia.org/uialists/org/o15.htm

Article on 1996 Bilderberg AGM http://moneymaker.com/money/bildebrg.htm

Listed on the CV of the Prime Minister of Portugal http://www.primeiro-ministro.gov.pt/p-curriculo.html

The art of deception, including more background on secret societies http://www.thegrid.net/clear/huck.htm

Ark-hive, comprehensive world government and conspiracy pages http://www.netizen.org/arc-hive/hiv_sec.htm

Bilder-burglers http://www.iahushua.com/WOI/burglar.html

Greek site (in English) detailing Bilderberg activities from an insider's view and links page http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8604/index.html

Bilderberg and the new world order http://www.parascope.com/mx/bilder.htm

Peacemaking in action...? Greeks and Turks encouraged to have a drink together at Bilderberg http://www.turkey.org/news/e051496.htm

Bilderberg brings down the Turkish government? http://www.constitution.org/piml/96062507.txt

The Kennedy Arts Centre reiterates Wolfenson's key role in Bilderberg http://kennedy-center.org/home/html/jdwbio.html

Healing the hurts of nations http://www.isleofavalon.co.uk/local/h-pages/palden/healhurt/hn-euro2.html#Bild

Comment on Richard Fletcher's essay 'Who Were They Travelling With?' http://www.pir.org/books.88

European Socialism must adapt to Bilderberg's new reality http://www.endoftheline.com/political/environ.htm

Some Bilderbergers break silence http://www.webbindustries.com/spotlight/f_bb_art004.html

'Civic' Bilderberg duties of James Wolfenson, President of the World Bank http://www.reedref.com/mww/greatamer10.html

Watcher Website on the New World Order http://www.marsweb.com/~watcher/nwobild.html

Conspiracy Nation comments on Rockefeller and the Bilderbergers http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn/cn8-51

International Herald Tribune / October 9, 1996 / By Max Jakobson http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8604/tribune.htm

A better approach? http://www.twibp.com/archives/18/1.html
See also Power Élite www links on my bad links page

In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us' --The Grand Inquisitor, in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky -1879


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Anti-Semitism / conspiracy theory
There is a whole page now on how those that criticise Bilderberg might or might not be anti-Jewish - this is a false accusation which has been leveled at almost anyone from the left who has criticised Bilderberg and the obsessive secrecy surrounding the conferences. The page is entitled: Are critics of Bilderberg Anti-Jewish



Who are the Bilderberg


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Bilderberg Membership and Organisational Structure (2002)
1. Advisory Group
2. Steering Group
3. Membership
From the Bilderberg 'Information' pamphlet - available free from the Bilderberg Office in Leiden, Netherlands.
National totals of the 35 (34 men & 1 woman?) total steering group members:

USA 8*; Germany 4*; Great Britain 3*; Italy 3*; France 2; Switzerland 2*; Austria 1; Belgium 1; Canada 1; Denmark 1; Finland 1; Greece 1; Ireland 1; Netherlands 1; Norway 1; Portugal 1; Spain 1; Sweden 1; Turkey 1.

*One aspiring 'International citizen', Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, is Italian and one, Klaus Schwab, is Swiss (totals include 'inner circle' advisory group).
Members Advisory Group
Or 'inner circle'
Italy - Giovanni Agnelli

Great Britain - Eric Roll of Ipsden

USA - David Rockefeller

Germany (D)- Otto Wolff von Amerongen


Steering Committee
The 31 national BB 'outer circle' Steering Group Representatives:
HONORARY SECRETARY GENERAL
Great Britain - J. Martin Taylor
Chairman, WH Smith Group PLC;
International Advisor, Goldman Sachs International

HONORARY CHAIRMAN
Belguim - Etienne Davignon
Vice Chairman, Societe Generale de Belgique

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
Maja Banck-Polderman

USA Allaire, Paul A. - Former Chairman and C.E.O., Xerox Corporation

P Balsemao, Francisco Pinto - Chairman, IMPRESA, S.G.P.S.; former Prime Minister

I Bernabe, Franco - Chairman, Franco Bernabe & C. S.p.A.

CDN Black, Conrad M. - Chairman, Telegraph Group Limited

GB Clarke, Kenneth - Member of Parliament, former Chancellor of the Exchequer

F Collomb, Bertrand - Chairman and C.E.O., Lafarge

GR David, George A. - Chairman, Coca-Cola H.B.C. S.A.

NL Halberstadt, Victor - Professor of Public Economics, Leiden University

USA Johnson, James A. - Vice Chairman, Perseus LLC

USA Jordan, Jr., Vernon E. - Managing Director, Lazard Freres & Co. LLC

TR Kiraq, Suna - Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, Koq Holding A.S.

USA Kissinger, Henry A. - Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.

D Kopper, Hilmar - Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank A.G.

USA Kravis, Marie-Josee - Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Inc

F Levy-Lang, Andre - Former Chairman, Paribas

USA Mathews, Jessica T. - President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

N Myklebust, Egil - Chairman of the Board, Norsk Hydro ASA

D Nass, Matthias - Deputy Editor, Die Zeit

FIN Ollila, Jorma - Chairman of the Board and C.E.O., Nokia Corporation

INT Padoa-Schioppa, Tommaso - Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank

E Rodriguez Inciarte, Matias - Executive Vice Chairman, BSCH

D Schrempp, Jiirgen E. - Chairman of the Board of Management, DaimlerChrysler AG

INT Schwab, Klaus - President, World Economic Forum

DK Seidenfaden, Toger - Editor-in-Chief, Politiken

IRL Sutherland, Peter D. - Chairman and Managing Director, Goldman Sachs International

CH Vasella, Daniel L. - Chairman and C.E.O., Novartis AG

A Vranitzky, Franz - Former Federal Chanoellor

S Wallenberg, Jacob - Chairman of the Board, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken

USA Wolfensohn, James D. - President, The World Bank


Bilderberg Members
I - Agnelli, Giovanni

I - Agnelli, Umberto

GB - Airey, Terence

DK - Andersen, Tage

A - Androsch, Hannes

GR - Arliotis, Charles C.

USA - Ball, George W.

S - Barnevik, Percy

F - Baumgartner, Wilfrid S.

GB - Bennett, Frederic M.

USA - Bennett, Jack F.

INT - Bertram, Christoph

D - Bertram, Christoph

TR - Beyazit, Selahattin

TR - Birgi, Nuri

CH - Boveri, Walter E.

USA - Brady, Nicholas F.

GR - Carras, Costa

E - Carvajal Urquijo, Jaime

USA - Cary, Frank T.

GB - Cavendish-Bentinck, Victor F.W.

DK - Christiansen, Hakon

I - Cittadini Cesi, Gian G.

USA - Collado, Emilio

USA - Corzine, Jon S.

USA - Dam, Kenneth W.

USA - Dean, Arthur H.

DK - Deleuran, Aage

NL - Duisenberg, Willem F.

CDN - Duncan, James S.

USA - Finley, Murray H.

GB - Frame, Alistair

GB - Franks, Oliver

CDN - Frum, David

GB - Gaitskell, Hugh T.N.

USA - Gerstner, Louis V.

USA - Getchell, Charles

CDN - Griffin, Anthony G.S.

GB - Gubbins, Colin

S - Gustafsson, Sten

ICE - Hallgrimsson, Geir

USA - Hauge, Gabriel

N - Hauge, Jens

GB - Healey, Denis W.

USA - Heinz, Henry J.

D - Herrhausen, Alfred

N - Hoegh, Leif

N - Hoegh, Westye

USA - Holbrooke, Richard C.

A - lgler, Hans

FIN - lloniemi, Jaakko

A - Jankowitsch, Peter

B - Janssen, Daniel E.

NL - Karsten, C. Frits

GB - Knight, Andrew

I NT - Kohnstamm, Max

A - Kothbauer, Max

NL - Korteweg, Pieter

CH - Krauer, Alex

F - Ladreit de Lacharriere, Marc

B - Lambert, Leon J.G.

USA - Lord, Winston

S - Lundvall, Bjorn

CH - Lutolf, Franz J.

CDN - Macdonald, Donald S.

USA - MacLaury, Bruce K.

USA - Mathias, Charles McC.

GB - Maudling, Reginald

NL - Meynen, Johannes

USA - Mitchell, George J.

F - Montbrial, Thierry de

I - Monti, Mario

USA - Moyers, Bill D.

USA - Murphy, Robert D.

DK - Norlund, Nils

NL - Oort, Conrad J.

USA - Perkins, James A

GR - Pesmazoglu, John S.

I - Prodi, Romano

CH - Pury, David de

USA - Ridgway, Rozanne L.

USA - Rockefeller, David

USA - Rockefeller, Sharon Percy

GB - Roll of Ipsden, Eric

F - Rothschild, Edmond de

INT - Ruggiero, Renato

NL - Rijkens, Paul

GB - Sainsbury, John

I - Saraceno, Pasquale

F - Seilliere, Ernest-Antoine

USA - Sheinkman, Jack

I - Silvestri, Stefano

GB - Smith, John

B - Snoy et d'Oppuers, Jean C.

D - Sommer, Theo

USA - Stone, Shepard

GB - Taverne, Dick

USA - Taylor, Arthur R.

DK - Terkelsen, Terkel M.

N - Tidemand, Otto Grieg

I - Valetta, Vittorio

CH - Umbricht, Victor H.

S - Wallenberg, Marcus

N - Werring, Niels

USA - Whitehead, John C.

USA - Whitman, Marina von Neumann

USA - Williams, Joseph H.

USA - Williams, Lynn R.

D - Wischnewski, Hans-Jurgen

D - Wolff von Amerongen, Otto

USA - Wolfowitz, Paul

I - Zannoni, Paolo



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Bilderberg participants by country
Links to Grattan Healy's pages listing recent Bilderberg participants by country:

Austria --------- Belgium --------- Canada --------- Denmark --------- Finland --------- France --------- Germany --------- Greece --------- Iceland --------- Ireland --------- Italy --------- Luxembourg --------- Netherlands --------- Norway --------- Portugal --------- Spain --------- Sweden --------- Switzerland --------- Turkey --------- United Kingdom --------- USA

Miscellaneous (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia)

Self-Declared Internationalist participants

Alphabetical list of ALL participants



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Bilderberg Film

The Secret Rulers of the World - The Bilderberg Group

55mins - PAL - World of Wonder - Jon Ronson - UK

This hour long Channel Four TV documentary about the 1999 Sintra Bilderberg Meeting includes interviews with Jim Tucker, Paul Luckman, Lord Healy, Alex Jones and the ADL. It was broadcast on 27th June 2001. It was part of the 'Secret Rulers of the World' series which included programmes on The Oklahoma Bombing, Ruby Ridge, Bohemian Grove, and David Icke. I can supply no profit copies of the film to people in the UK for £10.00 (or £5.00 if you're in the UK and supply your own VHS tape). If you're abroad it's £15.00. Please send a cheque, postal order, international money order (or whatever your bank suggests) to 'Tony Gosling' at my contact address. Allow a week or so for the UK and three weeks for abroad.


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What are Bilderberg Conferences all about?
TG 08Feb00 - The Bilderberg Secretariat proclaims the conferences to be '...private in order to encourage frank and open discussion'. Frank and open discussion is a good thing in any forum but when those doing the discussing are some of the very most powerful financiers and media tycoons in the world it begs the question: If what they discuss is for the good of ordinary people why not publicise it! Isn't it a perverted use of the word 'open' when no-one can find out what they're saying?

Is Bilderberg a secret conspiracy?
When such rich and powerful people meet up in secret, with military intelligence managing their security, with hardly a whisper escaping of what goes on inside, people are right to be suspicious. But the true power of Bilderberg comes from the fact that participants are in a bubble, sealed off from reality and the devastating implications on the ground of the black-science economic solutions on the table.

No, it's not a 'conspiracy'. The world's leading financiers and foreign policy strategists don't get together at Bilderberg to draw up their 'secret plans for the future'. It's subtler than that. These meetings create an artificial 'consensus' in an attempt to spellbind visiting politicians and and other men of influence. Blair has fallen for this hook, line and sinker. It's about reinforcing - often to the very people who are on the edge of condemning Globalisation - the illusion that Globalisation is 'good', 'popular' and that it's inevitable.

Bilderberg is an extremely influential lobbying group. That's not to say though that the organisers don't have a hidden agenda, they do, namely accumulation of wealth and power into their own hands whilst explaining to the participants that globalisation is for the good of all. It is also a very good forum for 'interviewing' potential future political figures such as Clinton (1991) and Blair (1993). [see above for more on this]

The ideology put forward at the Bilderberg conferences is that what's good for banking and big business is good for the mere mortals of the world. Silently banished are the critical voices, those that might point out that debt is spiralling out of control, that wealth is being sucked away from ordinary people and into the hands of the faceless corporate institutions, that millions are dying as a direct result of the global heavyweight Rockefeller/Rothschild economic strategies.

When looking at one of the (partially reliable) participant lists it should be remembered that quite a number of participants are invited in an attempt to get them on-board the globalisation project. These are carefully selected people of influence, who have been openly critical of globalisation. Examples are Jonathan Porritt (Bilderberg 1999) and Will Hutton (Bilderberg 1997) but there are many others. Most of these kinds of participants are happy to speak about the conference afterwards, and may even be refreshingly critical.

The Bilderberg organisers are accepted by those 'in the know' as the prophets of Capitalism. Will Hutton, deputy Editor of The Observer newspaper in London and left-leaning Economist, described private clubs of the elite as masterminded by 'The High Priests of Globalisation'. The ecclesiastical allusion is not accidental. The Bilderberg high-priests are a force against good, out to wipe morality from the earth. For the organisers Bilderberg Conferences are an annual ideological assault by the world's most power-hungry people. Not content with owning unimaginable amounts of money and property they want to use that wealth to acquire even more power for themselves. Power is the most dangerous and addictive drugs known to man. Will the craving be satisfied when a handful of men own and control everything on earth?

And just like the Nazi party in the 1930's the global Capitalist Elite are rising in power by peaceful means. There are some very uncomfortable and unexplained connections between Bilderberg and the Nazis through the Conference's founder Prince Bernhard.

These crown princes of capital use violence at the sharp end - the destruction of dissent - the repossession of homes men and women have worked a lifetime for - needless deaths from starvation and geopolitical machinations - this violence is notable by its absence from the annual meetings.

One can't help but wonder, when the Bilderberg organisers, Rothschild, Rockefeller, Kissinger and the rest have completed their project of enclosing all global goods and services into their own hands, enclosing too the media to stop people freely discussing what they are up to. What then?? What happens when the men who would be gods turn out to be the global devils?

Who is behind Bilderberg?
Bilderberg is run by a Steering Group - if you're wondering who's responsible for so much of the capital-friendly and dissent-crushing law-making, poverty and general misery in the world this may be the place to look. Up-to-date lists are available from the Bilderberg Secretariat. This is the closest approximation to a shadow transatlantic government. And this is another hidden agenda at Bilderberg.

There may be other groups pulling the strings behind even the Steering Group possibly even high degree occult groups such as The Masons or Illuminati! [eg.] - but that is 'conspiracy theory', Bilderberg is not.

There must certainly be some sociopathic minds behind Bilderberg since they go to so much trouble to promote policies that lead to exploitation, inequality and despair. These individuals seem oddly switched off from the suffering they are clearly causing. Surely only pernicious people would want to control the ideology of the world's mainstream press, and undermine natural political discourse. Public opinion and democratic institutions are a threat when you want to own the world.

The perverse objective of the Bilderberg Steering Group is to dress totalitarian ideology up to appear rational and push it out, unattributable, for mass consumption under Chatham House rules. Meanwhile, outside the Bilder-bubble, 'god-is-money' globalisation is the new religion. The greedy are given a pat on the back as they plunder both the earth and do their best to destroy the human spirit.

See also Kinder Capitalists in Armani Specs. on the function of Bilderberg by Will Hutton


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Official (and therefore only partially reliable) participant lists for 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 conferences see separate pages
Sacking of a columnist who discussed Bilderberg in the London Financial Times


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The Banned Articles of C. Gordon Tether
Extracts from a pamphlet of 46 banned Financial Times articles entitled
'The Banned Articles of C. Gordon Tether'
Goodhead News Press - Bicester - 1977
ISBN 0 905821 00 9
Introduction - by C. Gordon Tether
03May76 - The Prince and the Bilderbergers
[back cover] C. Gordon Tether entered economic journalism at the height of the 1930's slump. War service in the R.A.F. apart, he spent the whole of his working life first with the Financial News and then with the Financial Times when the two papers merged after World War II. He took over the banking and finance column under the pen-name 'Lombard' in the mid 1950's and built it into one of the papers' leading features.

His views came to be widely quoted abroad, while in this country Sir Harold Wilson paid tribute to him on more than one occasion as one of Britain's most distinguished independent journalists. His column eventually achieved such longevity that it earned an entry in the Guinness book of Records as the longest running feature in the British press.

Believing the meaningful freedom of the press provides the best safeguard of the democratic way of life, Mr Tether has always attached the greatest importance to the preservation of his independence. This brought him into serious conflict with the Financial Times after the appointment of a new editor in 1973, attempts being made to establish closer control over the contents of his daily columns and his choice of subject. Although the result was the increasingly frequent suppression of his work, he refused to abandon his stand.

A disputes committee set up by the National Union of Journalists and the Newspaper Publishers Association eventually found that the Financial Times had sought to change Mr. Tether's conditions of working and that the change was concerned with eroding the independence of his work. It also, however, declared itself unable to resolve the dispute and shortly after it had reported the Financial Times took Mr. Tether's column away from him and handed it over to a team of writers.

Introduction - by C. Gordon Tether
On the afternoon of 20th July last, a letter from the Editor of the Financial Times, Mr M. H. Fisher, arrived on my desk. It was to inform me that he was no longer prepared to publish my copy in the Lombard column, which from that moment would be written by other writers on his staff. This marked a new turn in the struggle, in which I had been engaged for some three years, to preserve the independence of the internationally renowned column I had created and had written daily without interruption, holidays apart, for more than twenty years.

Beyond a sentence inserted at the foot of the column a few days later saying that I had ceased to write it, no explanation was offered for my sudden departure and no indication given that it was not my wish nor my intention to desert the column.

The attack on my independence had taken several forms, of which the most conspicuous was the total suppression of columns on an ever-increasing scale. In all nearly fifty articles suffered this fate, about half of this number during the six months before I was finally exiled on 20th July 1976.

Al these banned articles are now being published for two reasons. In the first place, many of those who were not acquainted with the background may have been puzzled by the Financial Times' treatment of my column, or may have gained a false impression of what was involved. They will now be able to see for themselves what they were being denied the opportunity of reading.

Secondly, their publication can make a useful contribution to the important debate on Press freedom now taking place with special regard to the writer's duty - as expressed in the NUJ's code of conduct - 'to defend the principle of freedom of the Press in relation to the collection of information and the expression of comment and criticism'.

The Editor of the Financial Times wrote to me on 8th July 1974, '...like any other journalist on this paper you are subject to the directives of the Editor who alone decides what appears or does not appear in the Financial Times.' My experience will demonstrate what one interpretation of this proposition can mean for a writer who has devoted the whole of his working life to the creation of a responsible column that has made a not inconsiderable contribution to the national and international debate.

C Gordon Tether
February 15th 1977

The Prince and the Bilderbergers
Article 30 in 'The banned articles of C. Gordon Tether'
This censored Financial Times' 'Lombard' Column was written 3rd May 1976
Published in Verdict - November 1976
Whatever the conclusions reached by the committee which the Dutch Government has very sensibly set up to inquire into the charge that Prince Bernhard was a recipient of Lockheed largess, one thing is certain. It is that the affair will breathe new life into that long-smoldering controversy over the role that the Bilderberg group and its clandestine get-togethers play in world economics and business affairs. For the prince took a large part in the formation of this organisation, its first meeting having been held under his chairmanship in 1954. And, as the president, he has been the master of ceremonies at its annual conferences ever since.

A pamphlet published by an organisation calling itself the 'American Friends of Bilderberg' says that the group owes its origin to the fact that, in the early 1950's a number of people on both sides of the Atlantic were seeking a means of bringing together leading citizens - in and out of government - for informal discussions on problems facing the Atlantic community. 'It was felt' it goes on, 'that such meetings would create a better understanding of the forces and trends affecting Western nations, and, in particular, would help to clear up differences and misunderstandings that might weaken the West.'

Nothing much wrong with that, you might say. Are there not, indeed, many other organisations that concern themselves with the same good cause? And this being so, why should the activities of the Bilderberg group be singled out for special attention - and largely hostile attention at that?

Two Reasons
There seems to be two main reasons for this. One is that the 'Bilderbergers' have always insisted upon clothing their comings and goings in the closest secrecy. Until a few years back, this was carried to such lengths that their annual conclave went entirely unmarked in the world's Press. In the more recent past, the veil has been raised to the extent of letting it be known that the meetings were taking place. But the total ban on the reporting of what went on has remained in force.

This acute concern with privacy is usually justified on the grounds - as the American Friends of Bilderberg put it - that 'the gatherings have to be closed and off the record in order to assure freedom of speech and opinion.' But there has been an inevitable tendency for conspiratologists to argue that only those with something to hide could consistently behave in such clandestine fashion.

The other main reason why the Bilderberg set-up has come to be a favourite target for the finger of suspicion is to be found in the nature of its 'cast-list'.

There are no members of Bilderberg as such. 'Each year' - and again I quote - 'an invitation list is compiled by Prince Bernhard in consultation with an informal international steering committee.' Yet invariably included in the 80 to 100 participants are representatives of many of the world's largest capitalist empires - men wielding immense power in the fields of economics and business. And many of these attend all the meetings , along with a number of 'regulars' operating in other parts of the corridors of power - one of them being Mr. Healy, the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Evidence
It is this close identification with the megaton-weights of the international business community that has encouraged the growth of the idea that Bilderbergism is the arm of a movement whose main aim is to create - 'a world fit for multinationals to live in' - which may indeed even see itself as spear-heading the establishment of World Government by such interests. And it is because of this that prince Bernhard's involvement in the Lockheed affair must be expected to give new impetus to the Bilderberg controversy.

It naturally has to be accepted that the Prince did not take bribes from Lockheed unless and until the investigating body has proved otherwise. But this does not alter the fact that there is a strong suggestion in what has emerged so far that he was involved in some degree in the 'wheeling and dealing' processes which have evidently played an extremely important part in the international fight for aircraft business.

There is no difficulty in seeing that this does not prove anything so far as the Bilderberg group is concerned. But it would hardly be surprising if the fact that light of this kind has been thrown on the activities of its top man was not seized upon as supporting evidence by those who maintain that Bilderbergism is an unseen force of great significance in world affairs that we aught to know a lot more about.

I should add that official accounts I have seen of Bilderberg meetings issued on a 'personal and strictly confidential' basis do not contain anything that would not rank as standard fare at any international conference whose purpose was 'to clear up differences and misunderstandings that might weaken the West.' But any conspiratologist who has the Bilderbergers in his sights will quickly make the point that the real meat of their discussions - the alleged global conspiracy work - will find no place in such documentation and then proceed to ask why it is that, if there is so little to hide, so much effort is devoted to hiding it?



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Suggested letter to your MP about Bilderberg
............MP
House of Commons
Westminster
LONDON
SW1A 0AA

Dear....

I am concerned about the secretive annual Bilderberg conferences.

Like many other British citizens I worry about the anti-democratic nature of these conferences where a selection of the most powerful politicians, business men and media chiefs from Europe and North America gather to shape international policy for the West. I believe the people of Britain have a right to know more about these secretive conferences which have so often shaped their destinies.

Given that 'the EU was nurtured at Bilderberg meetings' I would be grateful if you would ask/table questions and or introduce early day motions to discover and make public answers to the following:

1. Who, from the UK parliament, has been invited to attend the Bilderberg conferences?

2. Will their attendance be publicly funded?

3. Will the media be able to cover the meeting and, if not, why not?

4. Will those that attend Bilderberg face parliamentary questioning on their return to the UK?

Yours sincerely

..................



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22Nov00 - Bilderberg's Magic Wand of Power
Bilderberg, it is said, has an uncanny knack of inviting people who later reach very powerful elected positions. It is another one of those surely unprovable allegations, that the most powerful people in the world are selected or 'interviewed' for supposedly democratically elected jobs, including heads of state, at Bilderberg.
Hard evidence of anything to do with Bilderberg policy-wise is almost impossible to get hold of. All venues are swept for bugs (not that we were using any at Genval this June!) and minutes of the steering group are definitely not publicly available.

Nevertheless, circumstantial evidence suggests Bilderberg really do have a magic wand. Take a look at the list of important career moves for the following democratic appointments:


Bill Clinton - Head of State - USA
Attends Bilderberg meeting, Germany, 1991 - gets Presidential Nomination Aug 1992
Tony Blair - effective Head of State - UK
Attends Bilderberg meeting, Greece, 1993 - becomes party leader Jul 1994 - becomes Prime Minister May 1997
Jack Santer - previous Head of State (sacked for corruption) - Europe
Attends Bilderberg, Germany, 1991 - becomes European President Jan 1995
Romano Prodi - present Head of State - Europe
On Bilderberg Steering Committee mid 1980's, attends Bilderberg meeting, Portugal, Jun 1999 - sworn in as President of Europe Sep 1999 (term lasts until Jan 2005)
George Robertson - CEO - NATO
Attends Bilderberg meeting, Scotland, 1998 - sworn in as Secretary General of NATO Aug 1999
A remarkable series of coincidences.

Who has been to Bilderberg? - participants broken down by country
Why not see if your favourite (or maybe despised?) head of state went to Bilderberg a year or two before an important success in his or her career? Why not search the attendance lists on the Bilderberg meeting pages?

http://www.bilderberg.org/1999.htm is a good place to start.

I have not dug deep for this information, a few minutes on the internet is enough to put two and two together here. They, how you say, take the piss! Bon chance!

Do please let me know if you find other Heads of State in the good old free western world world that got one of those magical Bilderberg invites, before they hit the big time.

cheers

Tony


btw - The President of the European Commission is the unelected President of Europe. For those of you that haven't been told yet the European Commission is an unelected cabinet government for a corporate controlled European superstate. This apparatus is looking decidedly fascist in its unaccountable top-down structure with policy being 'suggested' to the Commission by the European Round Table of Industrialists, a group the current Bilderberg Chairman Etienne Davignon helped found. It really is a small world.
Even MEP's will tell you their role is merely to rubber stamp directives issued by the Commission. It is verging on the critical that treaties are not signed and what admittedly imperfect national sovereignty we have left is not ceeded to such an organisation which is being given increasing power without proper accountability.

Democratic Europe yes, Corporate Superstate no thanks very much.


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The Ashdown Diaries - Volume One 1988-1997
Penguin - 2000 - ISBN 0 14 029775 8 - pp.42-44
Thursday 11 May, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Bilderberg Conference
At 2 o’clock to Heathrow to catch a flight to Santiago de Compostela for the Bilderberg Conference – described to me as ‘fifty people who run the world and twenty hangers on’. No doubt which category I am in!

I discovered that the people here include Henry Kissinger, Lord Carrington (1), The King and Queen of Spain, The Queen of Holland, Phillipe Gonzalez the prime minister of Spain, Wilfried Martens the Prime Minister of Belgium, Dr. Franz Vranitzky the Chancellor of Austria, John Smith (2) and too many Tory Government Ministers to name.

Dinner was excellent. I ate a dozen oysters and a load of shellfish. This could be fun.

Afterwards, Cecil Parkinson (3), John Smith and I sat in armchairs drinking brandy. Cecil turned out to be rather engaging and astonishingly frank about the Government's position. He left for bed early and John and I continued for another hour or so, accompanied by considerably more brandy.

Smith believes that the Labour Party can do it by themselves and are well on their way to just this. He rejects the idea of pacts. I got the impression of somebody who has a very quick but narrow mind. I am not sure whether this is his natural way or comes from belonging to the Labour party since birth. He is an engaging talker, but there seems to be something missing. Everything seems to be politics.

Friday, 12 May, Santiago de Compostela
Bilderberg Conference
A bit of a thick head following John Smith and the brandy last night. A brief breakfast then into the meeting. We sat in a glass-panelled room overlooking the sea, slightly crowded together, Nevertheless very congenial. The first discussion was on recent developments in Eastern Europe. Tim Garton Ash (4) gave an exceptionally good talk.

In the afternoon a discussion on arms control, chaired by Carrington, in which Henry Kissinger and Teo Sommer (the editor of Die Zeit) gave an inside view. Fascinating stuff. Kissinger was a bit hesitant to start with but his summing-up was brilliant.

In the afternoon we talked about Europe, Giovanni Agnelli (5) and Lloyd Bentsen (6) giving their versions. The show was stolen, however, by Peter Sutherland, (7) who is very very bright. The general view is that the Soviet Union’s economy is in the most wretched state and bound to fail, along with those of most of the Eastern Bloc countries. The West should not encourage the break-up of the Warsaw Pact, but should help the process of rapprochment as far as it can.

Saturday 13 May, Santiago de Compostela
Bilderberg Conference
US/Soviet relations in the morning. This was by far and away our best session, with Rosanne Ridgeway, the Chief of the Disarmament Staff in the White House, giving us her view. She is a remarkable lady with seemingly a firm grip on everything around her. However, I found her attitude to modernization quite chilling. Apparently the Soviets are about to offer deep cuts in conventional forces down to parity. She didn’t think this made any difference to the question of stationing modernized nuclear weapons in Germany. She must be mad!

In afternoon a long discussion on monetary union in Europe. Nearly everybody attacked Mrs. Thatcher, even her closest admirers. The only exception was Cecil Parkinson, who put up a spirited loyal defence, but didn’t make any sense and had his leg pulled by everyone else.

Sunday 14 May, Santiago de Compostela
Bilderberg Conference
Contacted by ITN at 11.00am, [how interesting that ITN failed to tell the public Paddy was at Bilderberg - ed.] who told me that Owen had held a meeting the night before and the SDP had decided they were no longer a national party. To put a brave face on it, Owen has apparently indicated that he will continue with ‘guerilla tactics’, whatever that means. ITN asked me for a comment and I tried not to sound triumphalist. I deliberately left the door open to the possibility of a merger, though, of course, this is not in reality a practical option. But we must look as welcoming as possible.

At last! This long wretched period – at least in so far as Owen is concerned – appears over. I have not felt so cheered in years.

A brilliant cloudless day. I spent the afternoon by the swimming pool, reading through the proofs of Citizens Britain (8) and making further amendments. The trick will be to ensure that reviewers see it not just as a motley collection of ideas, but as a framework for the new shape of progressive politics in Britain.

Footnotes:

Lord Carrington had just finished his appointment as Secretary General of NATO, before this he held various Cabinet positions in Conservative Governments
Rt Hon John Smith MP (1938-94). At the time the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. He subsequently became Leader of the Labour Party until his sudden and unexpected death. MP (Labour) for Lanarkshire North (1970-83), Monklands East (1983-94).
Secretary of State for Energy. MP (Conservative) for Enfield West (Nov 1970-74), Hertfordshire South (1974-83), Hertsmere (1983-92). He now sits in the House of Lords.
Fellow of St Anthony’s College, Oxford, Author of many books and articles on international affairs, especially Eastern Europe.
International industrialist.
The 1988 Democratic Party nominee for US Vice-President. He served in Clinton’s first Administration as Secretary to the Treasury.
Formerly a European Commissioner, now an international businessman.
At the beginning of 1989, I had decided to write a book as a part of my plan to reverse the decline of the Party and start building for the future. The aim was to mark out a core of ideas which would articulate what we stood for and explain why we still had a role. The book was completed in the summer and published for our Autumn Conference.
from: The Ashdown Diaries - Volume One 1988-1997 - Penguin - 2000 - ISBN 0 14 029775 8


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What is the Power Elite? - Opening paragraphs of C Wright Mills' classic 1950's book of the same name
Introduction to: The Power Elite, C Wright Mills, Oxford University Press, 1956. ISBN 0 19 500680-1
The Higher Circles
The powers of ordinary men are circumscribed by the everyday worlds in which they live, yet even in these rounds of job, family, and neighborhood they often seem driven by forces they can neither understand nor govern. ‘Great changes’ are beyond their control, but affect their conduct and outlook none the less. The very framework of modern society confines them to projects not their own, but from every side, such changes now press upon the men and women of the mass society, who accordingly feel that they are without purpose in an epoch in which they are without power.

But not all men are in this sense ordinary. As the means of information and of power are centralized, some men come to occupy positions in American society from which they can look down upon, so to speak, and by their decisions mightily affect, the everyday worlds of ordinary men and women. They are not made by their jobs; they set up and break down jobs for thousands of others; they are not confined by simple family responsibilities; they can escape. They may live in many hotels and houses, but they are bound by no one community. They need not merely ‘meet the demands of the day and hour’; in some part, they create these demands, and cause others to meet them. Whether or not they profess their power, their technical and political experience of it far transcends that of the underlying population. What Jacob Burckhardt said of ‘great men,’ most Americans might well say of their elite: ‘They are all that we are not.”

The power elite is composed of men whose positions enable them to transcend the ordinary environments of ordinary men and women; they are in positions to make decisions having major consequences. Whether they do or do not make such decisions is less important than the fact that they do occupy such pivotal positions: their failure to act, their failure to make decisions, is in itself an act that is often of greater consequence than the decisions they do make. For they are in command of the major hierarchies and organisations of modern society. They rule the big corporations. They run the machinery of the state and claim its prerogatives. They direct the military establishment. They occupy the strategic command posts of the social structure, in which are now centered the effective means of the power and the wealth and the celebrity which they enjoy.

The power elite are not solitary rulers. Advisers and consultants, spokesmen and opinion-makers are often the captains of their higher thought and decision. Immediately below the elite are the professional politicians of the middle levels of power, in the Congress and in the pressure groups, as well as the new and old upper classes of town and city and region. Mingling with them, in curious ways which we shall explore, are those professional celebrities who live by being continually displayed but are never, so long as they remain celebrities, displayed enough. If such celebrities are not at the head of any dominating hierarchy, they do often have the power to distract the attention of the public or afford sensations to the masses, or, more directly, to gain the ear of those who do occupy positions of direct power. More or less unattached, as critics of morality and technicians of power, as spokesman of God and creators of mass sensibility, such celebrities and consultants are part of the immediate scene in which the drama of the elite is enacted. But that drama itself is centered in the command posts of the major institutional hierarchies....

See http://www.cwrightmills.org


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05Aug99 - George Robertson confirmed as new Secretary General of NATO
Is it mere coincidence that the only Government Minister named (there may have been others) as an attendee of last year's conference in the UK, when Kosovo was so clearly discussed, was the same George Robertson, and that the UK's previous NATO Sec Gen., Lord Carrington, was in the chair?

Paul Keenan
mbi@btinternet.com

NATO LEADERS CONTROLLED BY BILDERBERG
To understand who controls the leadership of NATO, the world's biggest military operation and now the 'World Army', you only have to look at the connection of the NATO Secretary-Generals to the Bilderberg Group.

The earlier sec-gens do not appear to have been Bilderberg attendees, but if you know different, please let me know. These were Lord Ismay (1952-1957), Paul Henri Spaak (1957-1961), Dirk U. Stikker (1961-1964), and Manlio Brosio (1964-1971).

But from then on, the leader of NATO has become a Bilderberg appointment.

They are:

Joseph Luns (1971-1984) Bilderberg Group
Lord Carrington (1984-1988) Bilderberg Group, chairman 1991-1998).
Manfred Wörner (1988-1994) Bilderberg Group
Willy Claes (1994-1995) Bilderberg Group
Javier Solana (1995-1999) Bilderberg Group
Lord Robertson (1999- ) Bilderberg Group
How much easier it therefore becomes to instigate Bilderberg policy in the Gulf, Bosnia, Kosovo, etc., etc..



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PEPIS - Power Elite Public Information Service - email list - roughly one posting every month
PAST 'PEPIS' MESSAGES HERE ON THIS SITE:
From 1998 - From 1999 - From 2000 - From 2001 - From 2002
or http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/pepis/messages/ ...maybe
See also:

Bilderberg discussion - interactive Egroup
Other Email lists etc.
PEPIS - Power Elite Public Information Service -- If you want to receive edited information, roughly monthly, about Bilderberg Conferences and closely related material, sign up below. This service will always be entirely free of charge and is part of my one-man campaign to get a press conference, open to all journalists, at these conferences.
JOIN THE LIST HERE:
Enter your Email address to join the PEPIS List:

Powered by: MessageBot

You will get an introductory message explaining how to remove yourself from the list should you wish to
Remove yourself from the list here http://messagebot.com/messagebot/remove.html
PEPIS is archived in three places if you want to have a look
From 1998 - From 1999 - From 2000 - From 2001 - From 2002
http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/pepis/
http://www.mail-archive.com/

Bilderberg interactive - Discussion list slowly starting:
Post anonymously any info you have for moderated discussion of Bilderberg conferences as they happen - nutters or unsympathetic spooks need not join
Bilderberg egroup webpage: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/bilderberg
Other websites /email lists
ALSO Do bear in mind that there has been a service specialising in material on the Council on Foreign Relations run by roundtable - contents reccommended: roundtable@geocities.com
Council on Foreign Relations - roundtable CFR criticism site http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2807


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Bilderberg offices - In Europe and North America
These numbers have changed as Maja Banck and the Bilderberg secretariat attempts to evade press and public scrutiny. Please email or otherwise contact me if you find these telephone numbers are not working and/or you find new numbers and addresses.
Current Bilderberg Steering Group pamphlets listing steering group members are available free of charge from these offices, as well as past attendance lists. All press enquiries should be directed to this office.
New European Office (Secret Location: Leiden)
Maja Banck-Polderman (Executive Secretary)
PO Box 3017
2301 DA Leiden
The Netherlands
Phone +31 71 5280 521
Fax +31 71 5280 522
Old European office - no longer in use:
Maja Banck-Polderman
Bilderberg Meetings
Amstel 216
1017 AJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Old phone no: +31 (20) 625 0252
Old Fax: +31 (20) 624 4299 (old fax number - may be out of date)
These were ex-directory phone numbers at The Old Bilderberg Towers, Amstel 216, from an anon. source: 626-8932, 626-8932, 624-1672 (phone of Victor Halberstaat?), 620-6278, 420-7075, 420-7400 (pretty def. Bilderberg phone), 620-9104. add +31 (20) to all if dialling from outside Amsterdam.

North America
Charles W. Muller
American Friends of Bilderbergs, Inc.
477 Madison Ave., 6th Floor
New York, NY 10022

Phone: +1 (212) 879 0545

Bilderberg Public Relations.
Charles W Muller or Ronnie Glattauer of
Murden & Co., Georgia, USA,

Phone: +1 (770) 945 8921

Another office reported at:
Bilderberger Group
1, Smidswater,
Den Haag,
Netherlands

Phone (070) 45 21 21



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British Prime minister, Tony Blair, gives a misleading answer about his 1993 Bilderberg trip when quizzed at question time
There's heaps of evidence that he was there, so why bother to deny the trip? What has Blair got to hide?
Blair asked about Bilderberg trips, replies: "none"
Was Blair at the 1993 Bilderberg Conference in Athens? Evidence - clearly Yes
Blair's rise to power following Bilderberg attendance
Further parliamentary Bilderberg questions
Letter from a worried MP, Christopher Gill
Blair replies to parliamentary question on Bilderberg participation - From Commons written answers March 1998:
"Mr. Christopher Gill MP: To ask the Prime Minister which members of his Government have attended meetings of the Bilderberg Group. [34298]

The Prime Minister [holding answer 16 March 1998]: None. "

Might the PM have forgotten the trip? No, this reply is misleading. Blair attended the 1993 Bilderberg Conference in Athens. He even belatedly declared it in the register of members' interests. His presence was reported in, to take just one source, The London Times, 4th March 1996, page 16 in an article entitled Wall Street, treason and Pat Buchanan by William Rees-Mogg, who attended Bilderberg 1993 in Athens too.
What we are not told is that anything that took place before Blair was made PM is deemed not to have existed when replying to parliamentary questions. How convenient!
Five proofs that Tony Blair was at the 1993 Conference in Athens... fuller details below
William Rees-Mogg writing in The Times who was also there
1993 Bilderberg Press Release
Parliamentary Memorandum
The Times Diary
The Guardian
Firstly, confirmation from eyewitness and London Times columnist, William Rees-Mogg on 4th March 1996
..."Last time I went to a Bilderberg conference, it was held in Athens, about three years ago. Tony Blair was there, not yet leader of the Labour Party, Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel were there, the Queen of The Netherlands was there. It was all pleasantly grand. ..... The Queen of The Netherlands is as Euro-fanatic as Ted Heath, Tony Blair is a modest good European, I have been an anti-Maastricht campaigner and Mr Black is a Canadian neo-realist who owns 500 newspapers."

from 04Mar96 - London Times article: "WALL STREET, TREASON AND PAT BUCHANAN."

Secondly, confirmed in a press release issued by Bilderberg Secretariat at the conference:
(attendance list extracted from Press Release)...............
S, Carl Bildt; Prime Minister
ICE, Bjorn Bjarnason; Member of Parliament
CDN, Conrad M Black; Chairman, The Telegraph plc
GB, Tony Blair; Member of Parliament (Shadow Home Secretary, Labor) <===HERE IS BLAIR!
N, Erik G.; Managing Director and CEO, Braathens SAFE
IL, Connor Brady; Editor, The Irish Times
GB, Rudric Braithwaite; Foreign Policy adviser to Prime Minister
............(continues)

reference on this site
Thirdly, confirmation from a Memorandum submitted by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards:
"Complaint against Mr Kenneth Clarke 1. Mrs Lynn Riley, of Chepstow, Monmouthshire, wrote on 28 February 1997 to a Member of the House, alleging that Mr Kenneth Clarke MP had failed to register `the free trip and accommodation he received from the Bilderberg Group ... unlike Tony Blair who attended the same meeting'. She enclosed a letter from Mr Clarke dated 6 September 1995 in which he states that `my recollection is that I paid for my flight but that I was accommodated while I was there'. The Member passed the correspondence on to me……………………….

5. Mr Clarke subsequently explained that he and Mr Blair considered that they were attending the conference as representatives of the Government and the Opposition respectively, and stated that `I was quite confident that I was at the time meeting the rules applying to Ministers, and it did not occur to me that the new rules concerning registration could apply to this visit'. "

Fourthly, confirmation in the London Times Diary
The London Times: diary, 24 May 1995, p16:
"With concern about sleaze in mind, Tony Blair has belatedly listed in the updated Register of Members' Interests (published tomorrow) a visit he made in 1993 to the Bilderberg Conference in Athens as Shadow Home Secretary. His companion, Kenneth Clarke, suffers no such qualms, he hasn't registered the trip."

Fifthly, confirmation in The Guardian, 29May97, in article headed "GALLOWAY CLEARED IN SAUDI CASE."
By DAVID HENCKE WESTMINSTER CORRESPONDENT.

"Committee backs Downey report on MP's role in deportation case
.... "The former chancellor Kenneth Clarke was also cleared of any major breach of Commons rules after allegations about his attendance at a conference in Greece with Tony Blair. The committee agreed in a report published with Sir Gordon that any breach of the rules on registration was "relatively minor". Mr Clarke allegedly failed to register a free trip and accommodation at the Bilderberg Conference on European and world affairs in April 1993 when he was home secretary. Mr Clarke paid his own air fare, but his accommodation was provided by the hosts.

GUARDIAN 29/07/97 P6

Chronology of Blair's rise to power
One possible reason why the Prime Minister has lied to the House of Commons about attending the 1993 Bilderberg meeting might be that it was the first stage of a business-driven, corporate press aided, selection process for his rise to political office. An 'interview' for the top job in Britain. Another is that he has been to more of these meetings than official Bilderberg attendance lists admit to. [see my article about Blair's unofficial presence at the 1998 conference in Scotland]

1993 - April 22nd-25th - Athens, Blair attends Bilderberg
1994 - July 21st - Blair becomes party leader by block votes [article]
1997 - May 2nd - Blair becomes Prime Minister
1998 - the rest, a miserable history of betrayal of working people
Now why not check out the magical rise to power of other western leaders approved by Bilderberg!
Other Parliamentary Bilderberg questions
[ Search here for latest Bilderberg questions in the Commons/Lords ]
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/cgi-bin/tso_fx?DB=tso
Commons - Prime Minister Tony Blair's written answers (20 May 1999) Bilderberg Group
Mr. John Bercow MP: To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Hereford (Mr. Keetch) of 7 May 1999, Official Report, columns 476-77, on the Bilderberg Group, what official (i) transport and (ii) funds have been used to facilitate attendance at Bilderberg meetings of members of his Government; which members have attended meetings; what reports they have made on the meetings; and what subsequent communication they have had with others attending on subjects discussed at the meetings. [84213] [John Bercow MP]
The Prime Minister: As far as I am aware, only one member of this Government--the Defence Secretary--has attended a meeting of the Bilderberg Group. He provided a detailed account of his attendance in answers to the hon. Members for Ludlow (Christopher Gill MP) on 23 July 1998, Official Report, column 609, and for Hereford (John Keetch MP) on 20 July 1998, Official Report, column 434.

Commons - Written Answers (8 Apr 1998) Bilderberg Group
Mr. Nicholas Winterton MP: To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment she has made of the operations and influence on world trade of the Bilderberg Group. [37923]
Mrs. Roche: The Department has made no such assessments.

Commons - Written Answers (7 Apr 1998) Bilderberg Group
Mr. Nicholas Winterton MP: To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received on the influence of the Bilderberg group on world agricultural prices. [37924]
Mr. Rooker: No such representations have been received.

Commons - Prime Minister Tony Blair's written Answers (30 Mar 1998) Bilderberg Group
Mr. Christopher Gill MP: To ask the Prime Minister which members of his Government have attended meetings of the Bilderberg Group. [34298]
The Prime Minister [holding answer 16 March 1998]: None.

Letter From Christopher Gill MP, seriously concerned about the Bilderbergers' influence
CHRISTOPHER GILL RD MP

HOUSE OF COMMONS
LONDON SW1A OAA

Mr. T. Gosling,

21 November 1998

Thank you for your letter of the 9th November 1998 expressing your concern about the Bilderberg Group.

I do not for one moment discount the possibility of there being some very powerful forces at work and that their intention is to undermine and destroy the nation state.

That being said I feel sure that you will agree that we have to be practical about these things and I am at a loss to know how we as individuals can counteract the activities of such bodies as the Bilderbergers. Given the reluctance of elected politicians to acknowledge the nature of the very real threat to our democracy it seems inconceivable that they will openly attack these groups and the thought that they might actually proscribe them is just too fanciful for words. Neither am I aware of any mechanism by which individuals can be prevented from holding private meetings if they so choose nor of compelling them to publish their agenda and resolutions. The fact that their intentions may be treasonable is hardly the point if national governments see nothing wrong in their activities.

It seems to me that the only sensible course of action as far as people like ourselves are concerned is to concentrate all our efforts on trying to convince one or other of the main political parties, firstly, to recognise the enormity of the threat to our democratic rights and secondly, to come out of their corner fighting to defend them. As a democrat I believe in using the system to achieve my political objectives. Where this belief falls down is when there is a conspiracy to deny choice and I don't mind saying that I dread the lang term consequences of continuing on down that particular road.

At the end of the day the people will win but how much more desirable it is that they should win by the ballot rather than by the bullet.

Please be assured that I am doing everything I know how, within the Conservative Party, to bring about a fundamental realignment before it is altogether too late.

Yours sincerely,

Christopher Gill MP



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Fear Not the Forces of Darkness
7th July 1999 - Tony Gosling

Full page on the 1999 conference
There has been some particularly nasty disinformation around this summer's Bilderberg Conferences including a false participant list and a message on the 'June 18th global day of action' list from a made-up organisation accusing me of being taken in by Nazis [www.bilderberg.org/1999.htm#warning].

Please do check Bilderberg out for youself on the site I created free of speculation and racist claptrap to fill the knowledge gap from those on the 'left' and 'greens' about these global manipulators.

The alignment of the most powerful banking, media, and political forces at unaccountable forums must be taken seriously. Will Hutton calls them 'The High Priests of Globalisation'. Vandana Shiva, at last years People's Summit in Birmingham, called Globalisation: 'The New Totalitatianism'. We would hardly expect Bilderberg - which was started by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands - card carrying member of the SS at the beginning of World War II [www.bilderberg.org/bernhard.htm] - to be open about their activities or averse to a bit of disinformation.

Globalisation of their ownership power is the goal. 'Public opinion' and 'democracy' are competition that must be taken out of the picture. The annual meetings attempt to persuade powerful people who are critical of Globalisation to 'get on board'. This leaves the prime movers behing the pseudo-philosophy of Globalisation as a rich and powerful clutch of unaccountable 'High Priests': David Rockefeller, Evelyn De Rothschild, Henry Kissinger etc.. The Blairs and the Clintons of this world are merely their 'followers'.

Bilderberg appears to allow information to leak out to right-wing organisations like The Spotlight in the US so that information can be discredited as the rantings of extremists. Bilderberg produces official participant lists - which are on my site - but I have testimonial evidence [www.bilderberg.org/1998.htm#Blair] these lists are only partial and that heads of state, influential bankers and others are 'missed off' the list to make the meeting seem less newsworthy.

Anything you can do to discredit the lies and prompt informed discussion about the Bilderbergers amongst journalists and in the newspapers/radio/TV etc. will be a service to the public.

I think we are entering a very dangerous time in history with the prospect of Global Corporate Rule moving ever nearer. These corporations and their top-down structures are totalitarian and apparently immortal. It is important that people are informed as to the dangers but they stand little chance of that with the media becoming idealogically narrower and every day being consolidated into fewer hands.

It is worth remembering that the solution to the cloud of darkness these great de-humanised profit machines cast across our world may well be spiritual rather than political.

See my Tribulation page for links


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16Feb99 - Tony's open letter to the Bilderbergers - with reply
This request to speak at the conference was an attempt to raise pivotal issues that the Bilderbergers seem unwilling to discuss:
The rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination and the rights of all of us to land and freedom from the slavery of debt.
[this is my old address- contact me here]
14 Lancaster Road
St. Werburghs
Bristol
BS2 9UP

Bilderberg Meetings
Amstel 216
1017 AJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Tuesday 16 February 1999


Dear Sir/Madam,

My previous letter [November 1998] seems to have been mislaid by yourselves. Please could you put my mind at rest by replying to the following. I am set to have a very busy spring and it would be difficult for me were I called to speak at short notice.

I would like the opportunity to make a three minute presentation on international land rights and economics at this spring’s Bilderberg meeting.

I realise the usual form is that presentations are made by invitation only but I’m sure you would not wish to be totally exclusive.

I’m certain you’ll agree it would be as well to avoid the mistakes that might come if any group pursues ‘tunnel vision’.

I will not be offended if you cannot fit me in but I would like the courtesy of a reply, I am sure you are aware of the central importance of private property rights to the success, or otherwise, of international finance.

yours,


Tony Gosling



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23Feb99 - Response:
BILDERBERG MEETINGS
Amstel 216
1017 AJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Phone +31 20 625 0252
Fax +31 20 624 4299

Mr Tony Gosling
14 Lancaster Road
St. Werburghs
BRISTOL BS2 9UP
England

23 February 1999

Dear Mr. Gosling

In response to your letter of 16 February 1999 I must confirm that Bilderberg decides on its own program and that presentations are solely by invitation.

Sincerely,

M. Bank
Executive Secretary



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World government on the way
Tony Gosling - May 1998
When 'the high priests of globalisation' hold their annual gathering in the UK you might expect it to make the news. But the media chiefs in attendance conspire to keep Bilderberg Conferences as far the public eye as possible.

This extraordinary cartel of the world's richest bankers, media barons, multinational bosses, economists and politicians have been meeting secretly since 1954. Their alleged plutocratic plans, such as the EEC and EMU, later appear 'just to happen'.

A closer look at three central Bilderberg figures is illuminating.

Conrad Black, boss of the Telegraph and Hollinger news empire, hosted the 1996 conference. He is a devoted to one of the first preponents of World Government: Napoleon Bonaparte. In the early 1800's Napoleon suggested that: "Two powers like France and England, with a good understanding between them, might govern the world".

David Rockefeller runs Chase Manhattan, the bank that is prepared, quietly, to use it's 350 billion dollar power for political ends. A leaked Chase memo showed they used Mexican indebtedness to persuade the government to 'eliminate' Zapatistas (in the troubled Chiapas region) rather than talk to them.[see the memo on my page]

Finally Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who set up the annual Bilderberg Conferences, was an officer in Heinrich Himmler's elite SS or staff guard in Nazi Germany.

Articles, reports and background on the Bilderberg Conferences as well as 'insider leaks' from the Canadian 'New World Order Intelligence Update' and the U.S. 'Spotlight' newspaper can be found on the web through:

www.bilderberg.org/1998.htm

The Bilderbergers provide a disturbing insight into a New World Order which may be just around the corner. How chilling that whilst these individuals have arguably more wealth and power than any other group on earth we are allowed to hear not a single word of what they say.

In today's global network of power the Bilderbergers reign supreme. But they remain hideously silent on what their future holds for us and, more importantly, for our children and future generations.



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November 1998 to February 1999 - Bilderberg questions tabled at European Parliament by Patricia McKenna MEP
European Parliament examining Bilderbergers
Tony Gosling
Since 1954 the secretive Bilderbergers have been holding private meetings that shape international economic strategy. They are one of the handful of groups that make up the annual 'Tribal Gatherings of the high priests of globalisation'*.

Though powerful people in and out of the public sphere attend they are 'requested' never to refer to the meetings as the place the international policy consensus has been reached.

At last elected members of the European Pariament are asking pertinent questions about the way in which cabals like the Bilderbergers compromise the integrity of senior public figures. In this case the unelected and powerful European Commissioners.

*Will Hutton (see: the article here)



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Written questions, with evasive answers, tabled by Patricia McKenna MEP [Green Party - Ireland] to the European Commission, 3 Dec '98, in response to previous answers (see below)
Bilderberg Meetings: (Priority question)
Can the Commission explain more clearly its answer to my question H-0933/98, where it insists that participants attend Bilderberg *in a private capacity*, against all the evidence that these are far from being purely private meetings. If they are such, why does the Commission announce them in its Press Communiques, published by Reuters - would it announce a Commissioner attending a confernece on stamp-collecting, if that were his or her personal hobby?

And why is it that the Commissioners attending tend to be relevant to items on the agenda - Commissioner Van den Broek for Enlargement, Former Yugoslavia and Turkey, Commissioner Bjerregaard for Global Governance (applies to climate), Commissioner Monti for the European economy (Internal Market), or Commissioner Brittan for the EU/US Market Place. And most recently, at Turnberry, Minister George Robertson was ferried by military helicopter, on the clear understanding that he was present in an official capacity, just as happened in the past with Prime Minister Blair and then Minister Kenneth Clarke, now a member of the Steering Committee.

Does the Commission actually expect Members of Parliament to accept that British Ministers are attending these meetings in their official capacities, while Commissioners attend the same meeting in a private capacity?

And, why would the police exclude, and even arrest and charge, card carrying journalists if these were genuinely private meetings, whereas, if that were actually so, it would be the responsibility of the organizers to control access to the meetings by journalists, and the police would merely provide security checks to ensure the safety of the participants.

Since former Commissioners have continuing rights from, and duties to, the European Union, surely it behoves them to answer questions on these meetings, should the Commission so choose to ask them, and will the Commission now undertake to ask all former Commissioners still living whether they attended these and other similar meetings during their time as Commissioners.

P-3880/98EN Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (19 January 1999)
The Commission's reply that Members of the Commission who attended Bilderberg meetings expressed their personal views means that they were not representing the Commission, that they did not speak on behalf of the Commission and that their comments were not binding on the Commission. Naturally they were invited to attend the meetings mainly on account of their functions. The Commission considers that its Members should be free to express their views on subjects relating to the work of the Community, in particular during exchanges of views in international forums, without their participation being in any way binding on the Commission.



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Further questions:
Participation of Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard in 1995 Bilderberg Meeting:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Bjerregaard in Bürgenstock from 8-11 June 1995, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

Participation of Commissioner Hans Van den Broek in 1995 Bilderberg Meeting:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Van den Broek in Bürgenstock from 8-11 June 1995, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

Participation of Commissioner Mario Monti in Bilderberg:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Monti in Toronto from May 30 to June 2 1996, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

Does the Commission feel that Commissioner Monti should have declared his membership of the Bilderberg Steering Committee?

Participation of Commissioner Emma Bonino in 1998 Bilderberg Meeting:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Bonino in Turnberry, Scotland from 14-17 May 1998, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

Participation of Commissioner Leon Brittan in 1998 Bilderberg Meeting:
Concerning the Bilderberg meeting attended by Commissioner Brittan in Turnberry, Scotland from 14-17 May 1998, could the Commission state:

1. What were the items which made up the total travel, and were the costs reimbursed at the time, or if not who paid them?

2. Since Bilderberg normally pays the lavish accomodation, should this be declared by the Commissioner,

3. Did the Commissioner receive the specified subsistence allowance for the days of this trip?

4. Did the Commissioner take leave of absence for this trip?

The Common answer to the 5 questions to individual Commissioners,
Answered by Santer, newly emboldened by the Censure fiasco:
E-3899/98EN to E-3903/98EN Answer given by Mr Santer on behalf of the Commission (5 February 1999)

Travel and accommodation costs were covered in accordance with the provisions currently in force.

With respect to Mr Monti's participation at the Bilderberg Steering Committee meeting, the Commission would refer the Honourable Member to the answer to her oral question H-933/98 at question time at the second November part-session. (Debates of the Parliament No November II 1998).



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Patricia McKenna's previous questions [now with answers]: November 98. To the EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Commissioner Mario Monti (Strasbourg, 5.30-7pm, Nov 17th '98)
SUBJECT: Participation of Commissioners in Bilderberg Group

Question:
"Will the Commission fully inform Parliament about the content and conclusions (or consensus reached) of the Bilderberg meetings attended by various Commissioners over the years, indicating fully which Commissioners attended which meetings since 1954. If not, why not."

"Will the Commission clarify whether Commissioners attend in their private or official capacities, since on the one hand Bilderberg and the participants normally claim they attend in their private capacities, whereas on the other hand the Commission has formally announced the participation in the past by Mrs Bjerregaard, Mr Monti, and Mr Van den Broek, and also Mr Kenneth Clarke and Mr Tony Blair have stated to the House of Commons in the past that they attended in their official capacities, and the full security apparatus of the host state not only protects the participants but also ensures the secrecy of the meetings, including the arresting and charging of journalists reporting on the meetings? Is Mr Monti's membership of the Bilderberg Group Steering Committee fully compatible with the duties and obligations of being a Member of the European Commission as per Articles 155 to 163 of the EC Treaty ?"

Commissioner Mario Monti's reply to Question 69 (H-0933/98) tabled by Patricia McKenna
The Bilderberg meetings are an international forum in which political leaders and economists express their personal views on topics of general interest, particularly in the spheres of foreign policy and world economics. The participants attend meetings in a private capacity and the statements which they make are not binding on the Commission; no resolutions are passed, no votes are taken and no political communiques are issued.

For the above reasons, the Commission is unable to supply details of the substance and conclusions of such meetings, nor does it have any statistics regarding the participation of its members since the first meeting held in 1954.

Of the current Commission Members, Mrs Bjerregaard and Mr van den Broek attended the 1995 meeting, Mr Monti the 1996 meeting and Sir Leonard Brittan and Mrs Bonino the 1998 meeting. They all spoke in a private capacity at those meetings. Mr Monti was a member of the Steering Committee between 1983 and 1993, before becoming a Member of the Commission in 1995.

To the COUNCIL OF MINISTERS (Strasbourg, 5.30-7 pm, 18th November 1998)
SUBJECT: Council Member participation in Bilderberg Group

Question:
"Will the Council fully inform Parliament about the content and conclusions (or consensus reached) of the Bilderberg meetings attended by various Council Members over the years, indicating fully which Council Members attended which meetings since 1954. If not, why not."

"Will the Council clarify whether Council Members attend in their private or official capacities, since on the one hand Bilderberg and the participants normally claim they attend in their private capacities, whereas on the other hand Mr Kenneth Clarke and Mr Tony Blair have stated to the House of Commons in the past that they attended in their official capacities, the full security apparatus of the host state not only protects the participants but carries Ministers to the meetings (Mr Robertson at the recent Turnberry meeting) and also ensures the secrecy of the meetings and, for example, most recently Mr Campbell Thomas, a journalist and reserve police officer was arrested and charged at the Turnberry, Scotland meeting, it would appear for trying to report on the meeting for the Scottish Daily Mail, subsequently losing his position as a *special constable*?"

Commissioner Mario Monti's reply to Question No 4. (H-0932/98) tabled by Patricia McKENNA
In reply to the Honourable Member's question, I must stress that the Council has never had any occasion to discuss the matters alluded to. It might be pointed out in this connection that the meetings referred to took place outside the European Community framework. I should also like to draw the Honourable Member's attention to the fact that, in line with standard practice followed since the creation of the European Communities, the Council refrains from commenting on or taking a view on events outside their formal meetings. The Honourable Member will understand that, on these grounds, I am not in a position to reply to the specific question raised.



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The New Unhappy Lords
They have given us into the hand of new unhappy lords,
Lords without anger and honour, who dare not carry their swords.

They fight by shuffling papers; they have bright dead alien eyes;

They look at our labour and laughter as a tired man looks at flies.

And the load of their loveless pity is worse than the ancient wrongs,

Their doors are shut in the evening; and they know no songs.

GK Chesterton - "The Secret People"



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Extracts from my first source articles:
Many more articles here on the reports page and elsewhere - things have moved on a bit since I first read these articles!
1. 'The Bilderberg Group, The Invisible Power House'
With its membership selected from the power elite of Europe and North America, many wonder if the Bilderbergers are conspiring to establish a 'new world order'.
Nexus magazine, Vol. 3 #1, Available from:
PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia.
+61 (0) 7 5442 9280

2. 'Bilderberg Meetings, including letters from the Bilderberg secretariat' On Target Magazine
"'Democracy' has been imposed upon one autonomous regime after another as power is centralised by this International Oligarchy as communities and cultures are decimated. We believe that this evil power is ultimately Satanic...."
'On Target' Available from: Donald A Martin
Bloomfield Books, 26 Meadow Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 6TD, England.
Telephone (01787) 376374
3. 'Bilderberg treason first decided it: SINGLE CURRENCY MEANS THE END FOR BRITAIN' Portman Papers
"...ordinary people... do not know Bilderberg exists, and hence are powerless to scrutinize the highly questionable activity of this treasonous, corporatist oligarchy of influence."
Portman Papers, Vol. 1 No 6, available from
20 Portmans, North Curry, Taunton, TA3 6NL.
Derek Tozer, 01823 490590.



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Bilderberg organisational structure
Lord Carrington in his Hertfordshire garden with sculpture of a pagan god - Bilderberg Chairman 1990-99 - photo Lord Snowdon

The following Bilderberg Organisational structure is from Bilderberg pamphlet dated November 1997 - see the 2002 version
Source: Grattan Healey, Green Party adviser to Patricia McKenna MEP at the European Parliament.

Members Advisory Group *
Canada: Anthony GS Griffin, Company Director.

Germany: Otto Wolff von Amerongen, Chairman and CEO of Otto Wolff Industrieberatung und Beteiligungen GMBH.

International: Max Kohnstamm, Former Secretary General, Action Committee for Europe; Former President, Europe University Institute.

Italy: Giovanni Agnelli, Honorary Chairman, Fiat SpA.

Netherlands: Ernst H. van der Beugel, Emeritus Professor of International Relations, Leiden University; Former Honorary Secretary General of Bilderberg Meetings for Europe and Canada.

United Kingdom: Lord Roll of Ipsden, Senior Adviser, SBC Warburg Dillon Read.

United States of America: William Bundy, Former Editor, Foreign Affairs;
David Rockefeller, Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank International Advisory Committee.

* all former members of the Steering Committee

Steering Committee:
Chairman: Peter, Lord Carrington-Chairman of the Board, Christie's International plc; Former Secretary-General NATO.

Secretary-General: Victor Halberstadt-Professor of Public Economics, Leiden University, the Netherlands.

Treasurer: Pieter Korteweg-President and Chief Executive Officer, Robeco Group.

National Representatives
Austria: Franz Vranitzky, Former Federal Chancellor.

Belgium: Etienne Davignon-Chairman, Société Générale de Belgique; Former Vice Chairman of the Commission of the European Communities.

Canada: Conrad Black, Chairman, Telegraph Group Ltd; (2nd place vacant).

Denmark: Toger Seidenfaden, Editor-in-chief, Politiken.

Finland: Jorma Ollila, President and CEO, Nokia Corporation.

France: Bertrand Collomb, Chairman and Executive Officer, Lafarge; Andre Levy-Lang, Chairman, Banque Paribas.

Germany: Christoph Bertram, Diplomatic Correspondent, Die Zeit; Hilmar Kopper, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG; Matthias Nass, Managing Editor, Die Zeit.

Greece: George A David, Chairman, Hellenic Bottling Company SA.

Ireland: Peter D. Sutherland, Chairman and Managing Director, Goldman Sachs International; Former Director General, World Trade Organisation.

Italy: Umberto Agnelli, Chairman, Instituto Finanziaro Industriale (IFIL).

Italy/International: Renato Ruggiero, Director General, World Trade Organisation, Former Minister of Foreign Trade.

Norway: Westye Hoegh, Chairman of the Board, Leif Hoegh & Co ASA.

Portugal: Francisco Pinto Balsemao, Professor of Communication Science, New University of Lisbon; Chairman, Impresa SGPS; Former Prime Minister.

Spain: Jaime Carvajal Urquijo, Chairman and General Manager, Iberfomento.

Sweden: Percy Barnevik, Chairman, ABB Asea Brown Boveri Ltd.

Switzerland: David de Pury, Chairman, de Pury, Pictet, Turrettini & Co Ltd.

Turkey: Selahattin Beyazit, Director of Companies.

United Kingdom: Kenneth Clarke, Member of Parliament;
J. Martin Taylor, Group Chief Executive, Barclays PLC.

United States of America: Paul A. Allaire, Chairman, Xerox Corporation;
John S Corzine, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs & Co;
Marie-Josee Drouin, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute Inc;
Louis V. Gerstner, Chairman, IBM Corporation;
Richard C. Holbrooke, Former Assistant Secretary for European Affairs; Vice Chairman CS First Boston;
Vernon E. Jordan, Jr, Senior Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Field, (Attorneys-at-Law);
Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates Inc; Former Secretary of State;
Jack Sheinkman, Chairman of the Board, Amalgamated Bank;
Paul Wolfowitz, Dean, Nitze School of Advanced International Studies; Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy;
Casimir A. Yost, Director, Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

USA/International: James D. Wolfensohn, President, The World Bank;



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"Elite and Discreet"
from The Economist - 26 Dec 1987
Our Good Conference Guide: Magic mountains for the mind
The complete guide - Magic Mountains of the Mind - is on the Dangerous Liaisons page
Bilderberg
Ne plus ultra
BILDERBERG takes its name from a Dutch hotel where, in the early 1950s, the first meeting took place under the aegis of Prince Bernhard. The occasion has outgrown the hotel, but the Dutch link remains. Among several European royals who attend as occasional guests, Queen Beatrix and her husband come regularly. A Dutch professor who has brokered coalition governments into existence on her behalf is one of the secretary-generals (the other, American, one lives in San Francisco), and Bilderberg's tiny secretariat sits in The Hague. The meetings now take place by informal rotation in countries of the Atlantic community.

Some 100 or more attend, by invitation of a steering committee. The meetings happen once a year, in the spring. They last 2.5 days (Thursday night until Sunday lunch) and are held in varying but always comfortable surroundings - in 1987 Lake Como, before that Gleneagles. Apart from a half-day on the golf links or sleeping off the previous night's dinner, morning and afternoon sessions fill up the time.

A mixture of able and distinguished folk attend - a sprinkling of serving prime and cabinet ministers, central-bank governors, defence and other experts. They talk, often to galvanising and fascinating effect, about the main issues of the day - East-West relations, arms control, deficits, debt, the Falklands, sanctions, whatever. Their thoughts may not be repeated outside the meetings and never are. This frustrates outsiders but helps 100 great and good people be frank with each other, as does the fact that Bilderberg members are limited to people of NATO and West European countries who know how to be kind or rude to each other without causing such misunderstandings as would occur if Indians, Fijians, Africans, Chinese or Japanese were also present.

Elite and discreet, Bilderberg has inevitably been talked of in hushed tones by conspiracy theorists over the years. It needn't be. The lists of attenders are published, as are the agendas, and before each meeting the chairman (currently Lord Roll) holds a press conference at which few journalists bother to turn up.

Where does the money come from? Not complicated. The steering-group members raise from business the small sums necessary to keep the organising secretariat going hand-to-mouth in The Hague. Members from the host country raise enough money to pay for the hotel and conference when it takes place on their home soil (they are allowed to ask extra guests to make this money-raising easier). Participants pay their own long-haul travel, but are usually shepherded as VIPs from the nearest airport. They also pay expenses over and above the basic bill for their hotel room - the Bilderberg custom being that a whole hotel is booked for each meeting so that Bilderbergers may be alone with each other, their words, their thoughts and, these days, their security men.

When you have scaled the Bilderberg, you have arrived.

* * *

The complete conference guide - Magic Mountains of the Mind - is on the Dangerous Liaisons page


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Conference venues since 1954
BILDERBERG CONFERENCES, 1954-2002
51...............2003....please let me know at tony@gaia.org
50. 30 May - 2 June 2002: Chantilly, Virginia, USA.
49. 24-27 May 2001: Gothenburg, Sweden.
48. 1-4 June 2000: Genval, Brussels, Belgium.
47. 3-6 June 1999: Sintra, Portugal.
46. 14-17 May 1998: Turnberry, Ayrshire, Scotland.
45. 12-15 June 1997: Lake Lanier, Georgia, USA.
44. 30 May -1 June 1996: Toronto, Canada.
43. 8-11 June 1995: Zurich, Switzerland.
42. 3-5 June 1994: Helsinki, Finland.
41. 22-25 April 1993: Athens, Greece.
40. 21-24 May 1992: Evian-les-Bains, France.
39. 6-9 June 1991: Baden-Baden, Germany.
38. 11-13 May 1990: Glen Cove, New York, USA.
37. 12-14 May 1989: La Toja, Spain.
36. 3-5 June 1988: Telfs-Buchen, Austria.
35. 24-26 April 1987: Villa d'Este, Italy.
34. 25-27 April 1986: Gleneagles, Scotland.
33. 10-12 May 1985: Rye Brook, New York USA.
32. 11-13 May 1984: Saltsjöbaden, Sweden.
31. 13-15 May 1983: Montebello, Canada.
30. 14-16 May 1982: Sandefjord, Norway.
29. 15-17 May 1981: Bürgenstock, Switzerland.
28. 18-20 April 1980: Aachen, W. Germany.
27. 27-29 April 1979: Baden, Austria.
26. 21-23 April 1978: Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
25. 22-24 April 1977: Torquay, England.
1976: No conference was held due to Prince Bernhard's involvement in the Lockheed Scandal.
24. 25-27 April 1975: Çesme, Turkey.
23. 19-21 April 1974: Megìve, France.
22. 11-13 May 1973: Saltsjöbaden, Sweden.
21. 21-23 April 1972: Knokke, Belgium.
20. 23-25 April 1971: Woodstock, Vermont, USA.
19. 17-19 April 1970: Bad Ragaz, Switzerland.
18. 9-11 May 1969: Marienlyst, Denmark.
17. 26-28 April 1968: Mont Tremblant, Canada.
16. 31 March - 2 April 1967: Cambridge, England.
15. 25-27 March 1966: Wiesbaden, W. Germany.
14. 2-4 April 1965: Villa d'Este, Italy.
13. 20-22 March 1964: Williamsburg, Virginia, USA.
12. 29-31 May 1963: Cannes, France.
11. 18-20 May 1962: Saltsjöbaden, Sweden.
10. 21-23 April 1961: St Castin, Canada.
9. 28-29 May 1960: Bürgenstock, Switzerland.
8. 18-20 September 1959: Yesilköy, Turkey.
7. 13-15 September 1958: Buxton, England.
6. 4-6 October 1957: Fiuggi, Italy.
5. 15-17 February 1957: St Simons Island, Georgia, USA.
4. 11-13 May 1956: Fredensborg, Denmark.
3. 23-25 September 1955: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, W. Germany.
2. 18-20 March 1955: Barbizon, France.
1. 29-31 May 1954: Oosterbeek, Netherlands.



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Books that comment on the Bilderberg conferences:
A useful source and/or starting point for the following and similar publications is:
Bloomfield Books, 26 Meadow Lane, Sudbury, Suffolk, England, CO10 6TD.
Telephone 01787 376374
Atkinson, Rodney, 'Europe's Full Circle, Corporate Elites and the New Fascism', Compuprint, 1997, £7.95, ISBN 0 9525110 0 2 "Europe has come full circle. The UK faces the same political crisis as in the 1930's... suppression rather than expression of public opinion." From This England books: 01242 515156.

Atkinson, Rodney & McWhirter, Norris, 'Treason at Maastricht : the destruction of the nation state' Compuprint, 1995. ISBN 0950935395 (pbk) 0952511010 (hbk)

Blackstone/Plowden: 'Inside the think tank' London, 1988.

Chesterton, A. K.: (Arthur Kenneth) 'The new unhappy lords: an exposure of power politics', Candour Publishing Co, 1972. ISBN 0851720218 (DeluXe ed.) - 0851720242 - 0851720250 (pbk.) Extract from this vitriolic author here

De Jager C.:The Structure of the Quiet Photosphere and the Low Chromosphere, Proc. of the Bilderberg Conference Arnhem, Holland, April 17-21, 1967. Reidel 1968. [presentation at conference]

Domhoff, G. William: 'State autonomy or class dominance? : case studies on policy making in America'. Aldine de Gruyter 1996. ISBN 0202305112 & 0202305120 (pbk)

Engdahl, F. William: 'Mit der Oelwaffe zur Weltmacht. Der Weg zur neuen Weltordnung' Dr. Boettiger Verlags-GmbH, Wiesbaden, ISBN 3-925725-15-6

Eringer, Robert: 'Bilderberg Group, The Global Manipulators', Pentacle, Bristol, 1980. ISBN 0 906850 04 5 Choice extracts here for your delight

Ewertverlag S.L.: 'Secret Societies and Their Power in the 20th Century', 1995. ISBN 3-89478-654-X

Gill, Stephen: 'American Hegemony and the Trilateral commission', Cambridge University Press, 1990, ISBN 0521362865

Hatch, Alden: 'H. R. H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands; an authorized biography', Biog. of Prince Leopold Bernhard consort of Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands, Harrap, 1962. Read the chapter on Bilderberg and the one on the Nazis here

Icke, David: 'The Robots's Rebellion', Gateway Books, 1994. ISBN 1-85860-022-7

Icke, David: ' ...and the truth shall set you free', Bridge of Love Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-9526147-0-7 .

Korten, David: 'When Corporations Rule the World', Earthscan, 1995, ISBN 1853834343 & 1853833134

Krieg, A. H.: 'The Satori and the New Mandarins', Hallberg, Tampa, Florida, 1998, ISBN 087319 044 0. Note: this book lists all known Bilderberg members. http://www.sover.net/~akrieg/

Ligens/Loth: 'Documents on the history of European Integration', Volume 2 and 4 : Berlin/ NYC 1986/ 1991

Pomian, John: Joseph Retinger - Memoires of an eminence grise: Sussex 1972 (very difficult to get your hands on it!)

Rarick, John: 'Bilderberg: The cold war international', US-Congress, Congressional Record Vol.117 Part 24, 92nd Congress 1st session, Wednesday, September 15th 1971

Ross, Gaylon, Sr.: Who´s Who of the Elite: San Marcos, Texas 1995

Scholte, Jan Aart: 'Global capitalism and the state: International affairs', 73,3 (1997) p. 427-452

Sklar, Holly: ed. 'The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management'. Boston: South End Press, 1980. 604 pages; includes a Who's Who from pages 90-131.

Sklar, Holly: 'Reagan, Trilateralism and the Neoliberals': South End Press 1986

Van-der-Pijl, Kees: 'The making of an Atlantic ruling class', Verso, 1984, ISBN 0860918017

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TREASON - The New World Order, Cassandra Press, 1996. ISBN 0-945946-14-7

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Feature Film: "They Live" by John Carpenter. The film depicts how an alien race has infiltrated earth, slowly taking over all govenment and the World Power Elite. Released in 1989, it gives an uncomfortably accurate picture of manipulators hidden from the people.



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Links to other web sites:
Warning! - Some of these sites and articles come from groups with right wing views. Their factual information (eg. The Spotlight) is often entirely accurate but the spin put upon it may make articles painfully vitriolic.
One great irritation to me is racism. The assumption that because some of the world's most powerful men are Jewish bankers then all Jews are to blame, should be obvious nonsense to anyone who bothers to think it through.
Have those who research the Bilderbergers been taken in by the extreme right??????????
Who Controls The Australian Government? An Australian ex-politician blames the Bilderbergers http://www.senet.com.au/~brucehan/index36.htm

New ways to break the power of the elite - site pulled by Yahoo http://members.ams.chello.nl/jsteenis/

Bilderberg Chairman - Etienne Davignon http://www.generale.be/CommUK/CVUK/CV2StevieUK.html

Bilderberg Secretary General - Victor Halberstadt http://ruljis.leidenuniv.nl/group/jfof/www/halberstadt.htm

Ever been inside a G8 meeting? You'll be suprised at the symbol on the table in front of poor old conned Mr Blair http://www.conspiracywatch.com/Illuminatisym.html

Bilderberg and the West by Peter Thompson excerpted from the book Trilateralism edited Holly Sklar South End Press, 1980 http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Trilateralism/Bilderberg.html

The Bilderberg and the Council on Foreign Relations http://towardfreedom.com/feb98/conspir.htm

Hotel DE BILDERBERG, Oosterbeek, Holland http://www.hotels-holland.com/bilderberg/oosterbeek-debilderberg.htm

italian translations-> http://members.xoom.com/_XMCM/razlag/wwfnazisti.html

The News in Portugal - complete Bilderberg 1999 articles http://www.the-news.net/bildeberg/index.htm

27Oct99 - Bilderberg steering group meet in Washington? (offsite) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/19991012_xex_the_next_bil.shtml

4th November 1999 SAMUEL R. BERGER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR REMARKS TO THE BILDERBERG STEERING COMMITTEE http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/1999/11/5/3.text.1

Republican and Democratic parties in the U.S. to merge? http://syninfo.com/ian/PRIVATE/1999/11/23/1999112320221128.html

The Bilder Burger Vegetarian Sandwich http://www.happyclown.com/mcprint.html

Etienne Davignon - new Bilderberg Chairman http://www.cordis.lu/esprit/src/biodavig.htm

Search The UK Parliament pages for the latest Bilderberg questions http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/cgi-bin/tso_fx?DB=tso

Illuminati News http://user.tninet.se/~gbl020q/illum_index.htm

Names and who is related to what other organisations - Namebase http://www.pir.org/

Recent lists of names of the elite etc. http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/weekdx.htm

Etienne F. Davignon, Chairman, Société Générale de Belgique - profile http://www.gilead.com/about/man_davignon.html

Those who have real power typically avoid exposure and unwanted attention by denying that they have it. The Establishment exists but doesn't want the public to get the full picture of its control. http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/weekdx.htm

The Juggernaut of Globalisation - from South Africa http://sane.org.za/news6/news6_elite.htm

Photo Gallery of the Elite http://www.islandnet.com/~persewen/photo_index2.htm

Bilderbergers and the Kosovo Crisis - John Whitley's site http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley/bild98.htm

Nazi industrialists escape to the USA in a giant U-Boat before Hitler's fall. Prince Bernhard, Bilderberg supremo, is loitering on the coast! http://mallofmaine.com/ca35/

Collection of John Whitley's Bilderberg Articles http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley/bildpres.htm

Rodney Atkinson on Bilderberg http://ds.dial.pipex.com/town/place/qq28/democracy/bildb.htm

Wall Street/SS connections Bernhard/Dulles http://www.silcom.com/~patrick/mag3/pwrprnts.htm

Black Envy - Anti Conrad Black Site http://www.blackenvy.com/

August '98 - Bilderberg/Cyprus war update http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley/BILDNEWS.HTM

Collection of John Whitley's articles on the Bilderbergers http://www.turnercom.com/jdk/canal77.html

Spotlight Magazine http://www.webbindustries.com/spotlight/

Latest Parascope articles on Bilderberg http://www.parascope.com/mx/articles/bilderberg.htm

Secret Organisations and the legacy of the right http://www.thegrid.net/clear/moralright.htm

Vernon Jordan Bilderberg Article http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/jordan012798.htm

Bible Prophecies and Bilderberg http://www.thelordswork.com/articles\bilder.html

Tony Blair and Kenneth Clarke ticked off by the House of Commons over Bilderberg expenses http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199798/cmselect/cmstnprv/180iii/sp0304.htm

Understanding the New World Order - The Bilderberg Files http://www.kreative.net/understandingNWO/utnwo11a.txt

Norwegian Bilderberg site http://thor.prohosting.com/~bilderb/

German language introduction and criticism on the Bilderbergers - http://www.4rie.com/rie%209.html#anchor1343569 [noit sure about this address ed.]

Robert Gaylon Ross, Sr.'s scary Bilderberg Page http://www.4rie.com/rie/rie3.html Old address: http://www.ld.centuryinter.net/rie/rie3.html

Nexus Magazine. Armen Victorian's definitive, well researched article http://www.peg.apc.org/~nexus/Bilderbergers.html

New World Order Intelligence Update http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley

Biblical look at the Illuminati http://home.cdsnet.net/~rkhaeske/html/new_world_religion.htm

Clinton approved for presidency by the Bilderbergers http://www.dcia.com/clinton.html

America's Subversion - The Enemy Within http://www.execpc.com/~amerisub/

Watch out for the Power Elite http://home.sol.no/~abels/engelsk/power4.htm

Georgia paper reports on 1997 meeting http://www.creativeloafing.com/gwinnett/newsstand/archives/061497gw/news.htm

James Wolfenson is admired in Africa! http://www.ghana.africaonline.com/AfricaOnline/newsstand/independent/22/page09.html

Two pages with general Bilderberg information and articles http://wwwcip.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/~tky20848/docs/BILDER2.TXT http://wwwcip.rus.uni-stuttgart.de/~tky20848/docs/BLDRBRGR.TXT

Short biog. of Will Hutton, Editor of The Observer and Bilderberg attendee http://www.guardian.co.uk/stakeholder/issues/hutton.html

Lots of Bilderberg references in German http://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/m/marzahn.norbert/1996/marzahn.0696

New World Order - Quotes and Chronology http://www.khouse.org/articles/prophetic/19970301-90.html

Irish New World Order articles http://www.connect.ie/emc/Media/Conspiracies/

Bill Clinton's 'Coming Out Party' at the 1991 Bilderberg Conference http://bubblemouth.pathfinder.com/time/magazine/1998/dom/980202/jordan.html

Excellent Bilderberg and elites analysis page http://www.sunz.com/tri.html

Sun.tzu's analysis of Bilderberg and other elite groups http://www.ccnet.com/~suntzu75/pirn9735.htm

George Ball talks about Ross Perot's attitude to Bilderberg http://pages.map.com/bkpowell/georgeball.htm (link down?)

The Jeremiah project Bilderberg Pages http://www2.southwind.net/~jeremiah/nworder04.html

The Bilder-Burger Vegetarian Sandwich http://www.happyclown.com/bilder.html

Articles by a tenacious man who followed the Bilderbergers around http://www.livelinks.com/sumeria/politics/bilders.html

Complete list and pics. of some of the 1996 participants http://www.abbc.com/esa/eng/sections/contents.html

Bilderberg and the IMF http://www.abcnews.aol.com/onair/nightline/html_files/transcripts/ntl0114.html

Bilderberg Conference, Rockefeller, Mexican oil and dead Zapatistas http://www.senderberl.com/recapturing/america/postscript2.htm

The Lobster journal http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk

The end of the world and the New World Order by Tim Callahan http://www.skeptic.com/04.3.callahan-end.html

The 'Destroy Babylon' Bilderberg Page http://www.zipcon.net/isaiah/Meeting.HTM

An Australian Band, Black Lung, that sing about global elites http://www.cyberden.com/cyberden/imcc/pages/blhome.html

Conspiracy booklist http://www.frugal.com/~ayli/30.con.html

David Icke has been talking about the Bilderbergers ever since he 'left' his job in television http://www.david-icke.com/newsspr9.htm

National Patriotic Front leader in Russia, Gennadi Zyuganov, blasts Bilderberg. http://web.bu.edu/ISCIP/content/digest/ed7.html

Eisenhower's diary describes Bilderberg http://sunsite.unc.edu/lia/president/EisenhowerLibrary/finding_aids/DDE's_Diary.html

List of International organisations http://www.uia.org/uialists/org/o15.htm

Article on 1996 Bilderberg AGM http://moneymaker.com/money/bildebrg.htm

Listed on the CV of the Prime Minister of Portugal http://www.primeiro-ministro.gov.pt/p-curriculo.html

The art of deception, including more background on secret societies http://www.thegrid.net/clear/huck.htm

Ark-hive, comprehensive world government and conspiracy pages http://www.netizen.org/arc-hive/hiv_sec.htm

Bilder-burglers http://www.iahushua.com/WOI/burglar.html

Greek site (in English) detailing Bilderberg activities from an insider's view and links page http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8604/index.html

Bilderberg and the new world order http://www.parascope.com/mx/bilder.htm

Peacemaking in action...? Greeks and Turks encouraged to have a drink together at Bilderberg http://www.turkey.org/news/e051496.htm

Bilderberg brings down the Turkish government? http://www.constitution.org/piml/96062507.txt

The Kennedy Arts Centre reiterates Wolfenson's key role in Bilderberg http://kennedy-center.org/home/html/jdwbio.html

Healing the hurts of nations http://www.isleofavalon.co.uk/local/h-pages/palden/healhurt/hn-euro2.html#Bild

Comment on Richard Fletcher's essay 'Who Were They Travelling With?' http://www.pir.org/books.88

European Socialism must adapt to Bilderberg's new reality http://www.endoftheline.com/political/environ.htm

Some Bilderbergers break silence http://www.webbindustries.com/spotlight/f_bb_art004.html

'Civic' Bilderberg duties of James Wolfenson, President of the World Bank http://www.reedref.com/mww/greatamer10.html

Watcher Website on the New World Order http://www.marsweb.com/~watcher/nwobild.html

Conspiracy Nation comments on Rockefeller and the Bilderbergers http://www.europa.com/~johnlf/cn/cn8-51

International Herald Tribune / October 9, 1996 / By Max Jakobson http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8604/tribune.htm

A better approach? http://www.twibp.com/archives/18/1.html
See also Power Élite www links on my bad links page

In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us' --The Grand Inquisitor, in The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky -1879


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Anti-Semitism / conspiracy theory
There is a whole page now on how those that criticise Bilderberg might or might not be anti-Jewish - this is a false accusation which has been leveled at almost anyone from the left who has criticised Bilderberg and the obsessive secrecy surrounding the conferences. The page is entitled: Are critics of Bilderberg Anti-Jewish



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posted by News Compass  # Sunday, May 25, 2003 0 comments

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