Bilderberg Group

The Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an unofficial annual invitation-only conference of around 130 guests, most of whom are persons of influence in the fields of business, media and politics. It was founded by Joseph Retinger from Poland, Unilever-chairman Paul Rijkens, the former Priminister of Belgium Paul van Zeeland and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 1954

The elite group meets annually at luxury hotels or resorts throughout the world — normally in Europe, and once every four years in the United States or Canada. It has an office in Leiden in the Netherlands.[1] The 2007 conference took place from May 31 to June 3 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey.[2] The 2008 conference took place in Chantilly, Virginia, United States.[3][4]

Contents

Attendees

Main article: List of Bilderberg attendees

Attendees of Bilderberg include central bankers, defense experts, mass media press barons, government ministers, prime ministers, royalty, international financiers and political leaders from Europe and North America.

Some of the Western world's leading financiers and foreign policy strategists attend Bilderberg. Donald Rumsfeld is an active Bilderberger, as is Peter Sutherland from Ireland, a former European Union commissioner and chairman of Goldman Sachs and of British Petroleum. Rumsfeld and Sutherland served together in 2000 on the board of the Swedish/Swiss engineering company ABB. Former U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary and former World Bank head Paul Wolfowitz is also a member. The group's current chairman is Etienne Davignon, the Belgian businessman and politician.

Mainstream criticism

Critics claim the Bilderberg Group promotes the careers of politicians whose views are representative of the interests of multinational corporations, at the expense of democracy.[5] Journalists who have been invited to attend the Bilderberg Conference as observers have discounted these claims, calling the conference "not much different from a seminar or a conference organized by an upscale NGO"[6] with "nothing different except for the influence of the participants."[7]

Non-mainstream criticism

The group's secrecy and its connections to power elites encourages speculation and mistrust by groups or individuals that believe that the group is part of a conspiracy to create a New World Order. This is further encouraged by the frequent use of the term 'New World Order' by its members when referring to their ultimate goal of world integration/dominance/control. The group is frequently accused of secretive and nefarious world plots by groups such as the John Birch Society.[8] This thinking has progressively found acceptance within both elements of the populist movement and fringe politics. [9] According to investigative journalist Chip Berlet, the prominent origins of Bilderberger conspiracy theories can be traced to activist Phyllis Schlafly. [10]

Radio host Alex Jones claims the group intends to dissolve the sovereignty of the United States and other countries into a supra-national structure similar to the European Union. This accusation is also linked with others claiming plans for a merger of Canada with United States, hoping Canadian influence will be calming to American society and foreign policy. See the North American Union.

From "The Hunt for Red Menace:" "The views on intractable godless communism expressed by [Fred] Schwarz were central themes in three other bestselling books which were used to mobilize support for the 1964 Goldwater campaign. The best known was Phyllis Schlafly's A Choice, Not an Echo which suggested a conspiracy theory in which the Republican Party was secretly controlled by elitist intellectuals dominated by members of the Bilderberger group, whose policies would pave the way for global communist conquest. Schlafly's husband Fred had been a lecturer at Schwartz's local Christian anti-communism Crusade conferences." [11]

Jonathan Duffy, writing in BBC News Online Magazine states "In the void created by such aloofness, an extraordinary conspiracy theory has grown up around the group that alleges the fate of the world is largely decided by Bilderberg."[12]

Denis Healey, a Bilderberg founder and former British Chancellor of the Exchequer, decries such theories. He was quoted by BBC News as saying "There's absolutely nothing in it. We never sought to reach a consensus on the big issues at Bilderberg. It's simply a place for discussion."[12]

Some popular media references to the group are in Fredrick Forsyth's novel "The Icon" where the group decides to undermine a nationalist Russian leader loosely modeled on Vladimir Putin (among others).

Meetings

[4]

Popular culture references

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has a track on his album Old Money titled "How to Bill The Bilderberg Group."

See also

References

  1. ↑ The masters of the universe, Asia Times, May 22 2003, accessed on August 18 2007
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 What was discussed at Bilderberg?, Turkish Daily News, June 5 2007, accessed on August 18 2007
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Balkenende to Meet Bush in Washington". NIS News Bulletin (2008). Retrieved on 2008-05-25.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Bilderberg Announces 2008 Conference". BusinessWire (2008). Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
  5. ↑ "Inside the secretive Bilderberg Group", BBC. Retrieved on 2008-03-26. 
  6. ↑ Why are we scared of Bilderberg? - Turkish Daily News Jun 01, 2007
  7. ↑ What was discussed at Bilderberg? - Turkish Daily News Jun 05, 2007
  8. ↑ John Birch Society: “the Bilderberg” http://www.publiceye.org/rightwoo/rwooz9-04.html
  9. ↑ [RIGHT WOOS LEFT http://www.publiceye.org/rightwoo/rwooz9.html#P8_45
  10. ↑ Origins of the Bilderberger conspiracy http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bilderberg
  11. ↑ Origins of the Bilderberger conspiracy http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bilderberg
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Jonathan Duffy (2004-06-03). "Bilderberg: The ultimate conspiracy theory". BBC News.
  13. ↑ High-security fences surround resort town in preparation for summit, Edmonton Journal, August 18 2007, accessed on August 19 2007
  14. ↑ "Asia Times Online :: Asian News, Business and Economy.". Retrieved on 2007-08-22.
  15. ↑ Panetta, Alexander (2006). "Secretive Bilderbergers meet". www.thestar.com. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. Retrieved on 2006-06-12.
  16. ↑ Bilderberg 2007 - Towards a One World Empire?, Nexus Magazine, Volume 14, Number 5 (August - September 2007), accessed on August 18 2007

External links

Note: the Bilderberg Group does not have a website.[1]