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The
world in the palm of their hands: Bilderberg 2005, Part II By Daniel Estulin
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/060705Estulin/060705estulin.html
June 7, 2005-Because of the near total blackout of this year's Bilderberg conference in the mass media, knowledge of what transpired behind the heavy guarded walls of Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Überfahrt in Rottach-Egern, Bavaria, Munich, Germany, May 5-8 is limited to the readers of Internet publications willing to challenge the veracity of the US mainstream media and the corrupt Bush administration.
The discussions Bilderberg participants engaged in, and the consensus they reached, will influence the course of Western civilization and the future of the entire planet. This meeting took place behind closed doors in total secrecy, protected by a phalanx of armed assassins.
And speaking of human nature, power corrupts. It corrupts those who wield it. And it corrupts those who seek to influence those who wield it. Media have long been part of the world of elites. The free press is a myth when powerful people own it. Only when many small people own it will it be a truly free press, and will on our "right to know" be possible.
In the Orwellian world of modern day journalism, where a new form of political correctness frames their every utterance, the language is contracting. Because the goal of totalitarian thought control is to make the expression of political incorrectness impossible, words are used, not to make debating points, but to end all discussion.
In Bilderberg politics, life is compressed into a small number of people who spend a short period of time in a circle with a stunted radius.
UN Tax
Someone asked how global taxation can be sold to the American public. One European commissioner suggested using the rhetoric of helping countries build peaceful, stable societies once conflict subsides as the battering ram. Someone asked for the timing of the appeal. Another former commissioner mentioned that the best time to ask for cash is once the conflict subsided and the world is subjected to brutal images of destruction. A Norwegian Bilderberger disagreed. What looked to be Bjorn T. Grydeland, Norwegian Ambassador to the European Union, said that on the contrary, it's much easier to get world attention and money for a region when a conflict rages.
So much was confirmed a posteriori when Denmark's Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller, during a recent debate in the United Nations, stated on the record that "If the international community is not able to act swiftly, the fragile peace is at risk, with loss of more lives as a consequence." Until July 1, 2005 Denmark holds the council presidency when it will be replaced by the British.
Bilderbergers are planning to use what they denominated as a UN Peacebuilding Commission apparently to help win the peace in post-conflict countries as one of the tools in secretly imposing the UN tax on an unsuspecting world population.
Jim Tucker said as much in his Bilderberg report in the American Free Press when he wrote, "There was some informal discussion of timing for a vote in the United Nations on establishing a direct global tax by imposing a 10-cents-a-barrel levy on oil at the well-head. This is important to the Bilderberg goal of establishing the UN as a formal world government. Such a direct tax on individuals is symbolically important. Bilderberg's global tax proposal has been pending before the UN for three years but the issue has been blacked out by the Bilderberg-controlled U.S. media."
Mark R. Warner, governor of Virginia and a first time Bilderberg invitee, expressed concern about how much additional financial responsibility the United States would take on as a result. At this point José M. Durao Barroso, president of the European Commission, expressed a view held by many within Bilderberg that the
United States does not provide a fair share of economic aid to poor countries. My sources confirm Jim Tucker´s report that "Kissinger and David Rockefeller, among other Americans, beamed and nodded approval." Although the United States pays more into the foreign aid piggy bank than any country in the world, the Bilderbergers and the United Nations are poised to demand much more funding from them to meet the peacebuilding proposal.
Peak Oil
An American Bilderberger wondered what it would take for the oil prices to go back to $25 a barrel. Another American Bilderberger, believed to be Allan E. Hubbard, assistant to the president for Economic Policy, laconically stated that the general public does not realize that the price for cheap oil can be the bursting of the debt bubble. Cheap oil slows economic growth because it depresses commodity prices and reduces world liquidity. There is a strong indication, based on the information reported from the Bilderberg 2005 meeting in Rottach-Egern, that the Federal Reserve is extremely concerned about the debt bubble. An American Bilderberger reported that if the price of oil is to go down to its previous low of $25 a barrel, the debt-driven asset bubble will explode.
Martin S. Feldstein, president of National Bureau of Economic Research, added that $50 a barrel involves greater cash flow. According to publicly available information, the United States consumes daily approximately 20 million barrels of oil out of a total world consumption of 84 million barrels. At $50 a barrel, the aggregate oil bill for the US comes to $1 billion a day, $365 billion a year, about 3 percent of the 2004 US gross domestic product (GDP). About 60 percent of US consumption is imported at a cost of $600 million a day, or $219 billion a year.
A short, stout man asked if the surging oil price would influence economic growth. Someone sitting in the front row noted that higher energy prices do not take money out of the economy, they merely shift profit allocation from one business sector to another. An American Bilderberger wondered what an oil price increase can mean for the general public. A tall, skinny gentleman reportedly mused that expensive oil means reduced consumption in other sectors, unless higher income can be generated from the increased cash flow. A French Bilderberger noted that in western society, higher income translates into longer working hours, which often results in lower standard of living.
Someone raised a question about the impact of a sharp rise of energy prices on asset values. A German Bilderberger responded that the net effect is a de facto depreciation of money, misidentified as growth.
A US general noted that war spending helps jump start the economy, noting that the trick to keeping the opposition at bay is to limit collateral damage to foreign soil.
A British Bilderberger noted that oil at $120 a barrel will greatly benefit Britain and the US, but that Russia and China would be the biggest winners. An expert in International relations and policy studies noted that for the Chinese this would be a real bonanza. The Chinese import energy not for domestic consumption, but rather to fuel its growing cheap exports, a cost that would duly be passed on to foreign buyers. A European banker pointed out that Russia could effectively devalue the dollar by re-denominating its energy trade with Europe from dollars into euros, forcing Europe's central banks to rebalance their foreign exchange reserves in favour of the euro. Jean-Claude Trichet, governor of the European Central Bank was present during the debate.
US Airlines
and Pension Funds
An American Bilderberger inquired about the effect of $50 oil on the crisis in government pension insurance. High oil prices threaten the economic viability of airlines and motor vehicles sectors. The employees' pensions at US Airways were recently terminated by the bankruptcy court. United Airlines and others are on the list as well. An American Bilderberger noted that the US Social Security is going through its worst accounting crisis in years. The spectre was raised of companies defaulting on their financial obligations to the workers. Someone commented that government-run pension funds will not be able to shoulder an industry wide default on their obligations without a federal bailout.
Appearance at Bilderberg 2005 of a Nobel Peace Prize Committee Chairman Geir Lundestad is likely to mean, according to sources familiar with the discussion, a full-court press by the American, British and Israeli delegation on the Nobel committee in preventing an Israeli nuclear technician, Mordechai Vanunu, from winning the coveted award. Vanunu spent 18 years in an Israeli prison-11 and a half of them in solitary confinement-for providing evidence of Israel's nuclear arsenal to a British newspaper in 1986. Should Vanunu win the Nobel for Peace, it would bring uncomfortable attention to the Israeli nuclear arsenal, especially in the face of growing evidence that Israel and the United States are about to punish Iran for trying to develop their own nuclear weapons. Strong pressure was applied on Lundestad not to choose Hans Blix, UN weapons inspector in Iraq, nor Mohamed El Baradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a man President Bush tried to remove for not being tough enough on Iran.
Some of this year's other nominees are George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for supposedly protecting world peace; the European Union; French President Jacques Chirac, former Czech President Vaclav Havel; Pope John Paul II; Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya; and U.S. Senator Richard Lugar and former Senator Sam Nunn for their Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which is intended to dismantle nuclear weapons left over from the Soviet Union.
One of the best kept secrets is the degree to which a handful of giant conglomerates all belonging to the secret Bilderberg Group, Council on Foreign Relations, NATO, the Club of Rome and the Trilateral Commission control the flow of information in the world and determine what we see on television, hear on the radio and read in newspapers, magazines, or books.
Bilderberg has, at one time or another, had representatives of all major US and European newspapers and network news outlets attend. The inadequately named international free press attends on their solemn promise to report nothing. This is how Bilderberg keeps its news blackout virtually complete in the United States and in Europe.
This year´s
invitees included Nicolas Beytout, editor-in-chief, Figaro; Oscar Bronner,
publisher and editor, Der Standard; Donald Graham, chairman of The Washington
Post; Matthias Nass, deputy editor, Die Zeit; Norman Pearlstine, editor-in-chief,
Time; Cuneyt Ulsevere, columnist for the Hurriyet; John Vinocur, senior
correspondent, International Herald Tribune; Martin Wolf, associate editor,
Financial Times; Fareed Zakaria, editor, Newsweek International; Klaus Zumwinkel,
chairman, Deutsche Post; John Micklethwait, U.S. editor, The Economist and
Adrian Wooldridge, foreign correspondent, The Economist. Micklethwait and
Wooldridge acted as the meeting´s rapporteurs.
The discussion was led off with a series of rhetorical questions from the speaker. Is China really abusing its competitive advantage, or is it being victimized by the US and the EU? Is a trade war imminent? Should China revalue the yuan, (its currency), and if so, how should it do this?
An American Bilderberger noted that China in 2005 is one of the leading world economic powers whose actions influence the world economy. Another American believed to be, but not positively identified as, Michael A. Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute said that if China doesn't revalue the yuan it would cause the entire world trade system to go out of whack. Someone mentioned that the current situation can be dangerous for the Chinese economy due to the creation of excess liquidity.
Elena Nemirovskaya, founder of the Moscow School of Political Studies, asked what would happen if the yuan was allowed to float freely. An economist responded that that could bring about serious consequences to the world's financial markets. China's foreign exchange reserves are to a large extent made up of US Treasury bills. An appreciation of the yuan would cause its dollar reserves to depreciate. A German Bilderberger pointed out that this could force the Federal Reserve to have to raise interest rates, thus causing the current housing boom in the US to come to a screeching halt.
An over-sized Dutchman pointed out that the International Monetary Fund needs to play an active role in helping the yuan.
"Is there a real danger, then" asked an Italian Bilderberger "of this dispute deteriorating into an all out trade war?" "Not likely," according to an unidentified blond from Northern Europe, believed to be a Swede, because China has totally integrated itself into the market economy." An American Bilderberger and a member of the US government noted that all the posturing is part of the act to keep the voters back home happy.
China's move into the Mekong region did not go unnoticed at the conference. William J. Luti, US Deputy Under Secretary of Defence for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, explained that China's rapid expansion into the Mekong region, comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam could threaten US interests in the area. Such moves by China would give it an enhanced role in Southeast Asia. Over the last several years, China has invested heavily in transport infrastructure development linking China's southwestern Yunan Province and the Mekong region.
A European Bilderberger pointed out that China is heavily dependent on oil imports. Someone asked for a figure. A tall, lanky man with glasses, believed to be Jeroen van der Veer, chairman of Royal Dutch Shell, responded that some 40 percent of China´s supply is imported.
In fact, China´s move into the Mekong region is the result of acute awareness that the country´s energy supplies are vulnerable to interference. Overall, 32 percent of energy supplies, China´s lifeblood, pass through the narrow and easily blocked Strait of Malacca.
A French Bilderberger pointedly asked Henry Kissinger if the US government's sabre- rattling against Iran means the beginning of new hostilities. Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), asking for his turn to speak, dismissed the notion of an Iran invasion as unrealistic due to the sheer physical size of the country and its population size, not to mention billions involved in getting the operation off the ground. Up to the eyeballs in the Iraq quagmire, the United States military is wary of any new adventures in the hostile terrain against a much healthier enemy, both better prepared and organised. A Swiss Bilderberger asked if a hypothetical attack on Iran would involve a preemptive strike against its nuclear sites. Richard Haass replied that such an attack would prove to be counterproductive because Teheran's counterattack options could range from "unleashing terrorism and promoting instability in Iraq, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, to triggering oil price increases that could trigger a global economic crisis".
During dinner, according to several sources, Richard Perle criticised Haass´ position and explained his opposition to his view.
A woman believed to be Heather Munroe-Blum, vice-chancellor of McGill University in Quebec, Canada, asked a rhetorical question about what would happen if Iran were to continue building its nuclear arsenal? Haass replied that in this case scenario, the United States would have no choice but to grant Iran the same status as it does to Pakistan and India.
A US general commented that the China-Iran-Russia alliance is changing the geopolitical situation in the area. Rapprochement between Russia and China is viewed by the Bilderbergers as a significant event not to be taken lightly, even though it has received little media attention in the west. A secret US government report was cited wherein, according to sources, the Chinese have spent upwards of several billion dollars in acquiring Russia's latest and most sophisticated weapons technology. Someone pointed out that the Sino-Russian alliance is not limited to military trade and that the non-military exchange of goods has grown 100 percent since the beginning of the Bush presidency. A delegate at the conference, believed to be, but not positively identified by the secret service sources, Anatoliy Sharansky, Israeli former minister for Jerusalem & Diaspora Affairs, stated categorically during a Friday night cocktail party that the counterweight to the Moscow-Beijing-Teheran axis is the US-Israeli-Turkey alliance.
A financial expert from a European nation intervened by stating that Russia financially is much better off today than four years ago because tax revenues, generated by fuel and arms production and exports as a result of heavy emphasis on military production, have financed strong growth of wages and pension incomes, boosting private consumption. A German Bilderberger pointedly asked Richard Perle if the "war on terrorism" will intensify over the second term of the Bush presidency.
The feeling of enough-is-enough wasn't limited to the European Bilderbergers wary of Bush's Hitler-like delirious proclamations of regime changes worldwide. Haass had pointedly told Richard Perle during a Saturday night cocktail party that the Bush administration has over-estimated its ability to change the world. Haass, according to several sources at the conference is reported to have stated that regime change can be attractive because it "is less distasteful than diplomacy and less dangerous than living with new nuclear states." However, he noted, "There is only one problem, it is highly unlikely to have the desired effect soon enough."
Iran
The presence of a top US general, James L. Jones, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, and retired US Army General John M. Keane at the Bilderberg meeting in Germany suggested to us that the next stage of the conquest is about to begin.
An American neocon at an afternoon drink-fest said he was convinced that the "Iranian opposition movement" will unseat the mullahs. Nicholas Beytout, editor-in chief of the French periodical Le Figaro, exclaimed "You don't really believe that!" A tall, bold, well-dressed Swiss gentleman, believed to be Pascal Couchepin, head of the powerful Department of Home Affairs, replied reflexively that it will only succeed in having the Iranians rally behind their government. He ended by saying "You don't know Iranians."
Tempers boiled over momentarily when a French Bilderberger raising his voice told Kissinger that "an attack on Iran will escalate out of control." According to sources working for the CIA and the special unit of the US Army charged with protecting the US delegation at Rottach-Egern, both the CIA and the FBI are in open revolt against the Bush White House.
A member of the Greek Parliament asked Eival Gilady, strategic adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "What would happen if Iran were to retaliate?" Someone pointed out that even if the United States or Israel were to show restraint in their use of tactical nuclear weapons, an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would surely not only engulf neighbour state,s raising the likelihood of a broader war, but also would succeed in creating a nuclear disaster through nuclear radiation spilling over a wide area. As a follow up question, someone asked, "How much of this war has to do with America doing its utmost to prevent Iran from becoming a regional power?"
A French Bilderberger wished to know if the impending attack on Iran would involve the United States and Israel working in tandem or "would it be a NATO operation?" The question was directed at NATO´s Secretary General Jaap G. de Hoop Scheffer. Another European Bilderberger wanted to know how the US was planning to cope with three wars simultaneously, referring to Iraq, Afghanistan and now Iran. The reader should be reminded that there are now 150,000 US troops deployed in Iraq who are unable to move to another theatre of operations because of effective resistance tactics.
The Israeli delegation was pressed to answer if they were prepared to use nuclear weapons against Iran. The answer was incoherent.
What is so terrifying about the Iran theatre of operations is that according to our deep sources, both of whom belong to the Bilderberg Group, there are two alternative dates set for the invasion. The earliest possible date would be the "deadest of summer" sometime in August and the other alternative is the late fall campaign. It substantially confirms the information provided by Scott Ritter, the ex-Marine turned UNSCOM weapons inspector, who stated that "George W. Bush has `signed off´ on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005." Ritter goes on to say that the June date suggests that the US and Israel are "in a state of readiness."
The discussion began with a European expert on international relations pointing out that over the next several years Russia is poised to assert itself and to increasingly challenge the Bush administration's foreign policy goals. Someone openly asked the committee if the world is safer today than in 2001 and will it be safer in four years time? A Dutchman responded by saying there is little doubt that the hand of international terrorism has been substantially strengthened by the US and its heavy-handed policy in the Middle East. A Danish Bilderberger wondered out loud what happened to the US promise to take a lower key approach in Iraq, referring to the heavy-handed tactics employed by the American troops in the siege of Fallujah, which played an important role in alienating a large cross-section of moderate Arab states. Additionally, pointed out the Dutchman, terrorism hasn't been confined to the Iraq theatre of operations, but has escalated across Asia, Africa and most of the Middle East.
A blond woman believed to be Thérèse Delpech, director for Strategic Affairs for the Atomic Energy Commission, said that unilateralist policy actions by the US will only succeed in alienating friendly nations and emboldening enemy combatants. "US is not all-powerful. It must coordinate its policy with other great powers to achieve its ends."
An oil expert believed to be from Britain, possibly John Kerr, a director for Royal Dutch Shell, focused on the oil pipeline from Siberia to northern China. The Bilderbergers openly wondered at the medium-term repercussions of this deal. An American investment banker asked just how much oil is expected to flow through this pipeline. Another member of the oil cartel offered a 65-80 million barrels per year as a ballpark figure.
During a Saturday night session at the bar, neocon Richard N. Perle was seen and heard talking to a group of Bilderbergers, amongst them Philippe Camus, president of the European Space Agency, EADS; Donald Graham, chairman of the Washington Post and James L. Jones, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, about the near-future test-firing of India´s Agni 3 intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. James Jones said that such a weapon would greatly increase India's capabilities because, according to the four-star general, India's strategic deterrence will be able to strike targets deep inside neighbouring China. In fact, Dr M Natarajan, head of the prestigious Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said as much two weeks later in New Delhi on 17 May.
Additionally, the Bilderbergers discussed how to dust off a "boring" image of Angela Merkel, Germany's future leader. A short, over-sized male Bilderberger offered an opinion that in order for the widest cross-section of the German public to accept Merkel, the leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union, as chancellor, it would be important to give a new definition to the term "family values." German Bilderbergers well-versed in conservative Bavarian collective psyche believe that Merkel´s image, a divorcee with a doctorate degree in physics, isn't considered "reliable" to attract sufficient votes in this staunchly conservative area of the country. The idea, according to people within ear shot of the discussion "in the up-coming campaign would be to stress the importance of families rather than marriage as an institution."
Bilderbergers pushing Schroeder aside in favour of a new candidate could very well signify that after three years of strife between American and European Bilderbergers over the war in Iraq, the secret society is ready to move forward with a much revised and cohesive policy. It must be remembered that Schroeder, along with French President Chirac, was one of the most vociferous European critics of the US-led Iraq intervention. Both Schroeder, representing the left and Merkel, representing the right, are owned by the Bilderbergers. It has been the group's policy since its inception in 1954 to own both horses in the race. For the record, every US president belongs to the Bilderberg Group or its interlocked sister organization, The Council on Foreign Relations. Although Bush junior didn't personally attend the secret meeting in Rottach-Egern, the US government was well-represented by William Luti, Richard Perle and Dennis Ross of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
History teaches by analogy, not identity. The historical experience is not one of staying in the present and looking back. Rather it is one of going back into the past and returning to the present with a wider and more intense consciousness of the restrictions of our former outlook.
If democracy is the rule of the people, secret government agendas and influence-peddling sinister cliques, which stand for cunning selfishness, are incompatible with it. The whole idea of clandestine spheres of influence waging secret campaigns is therefore foreign to the notion of democracy and must be fought with zealous determination.
Through lies and obfuscations, Bilderbergers are desperately trying to foist onto the unwilling world population a totalitarian, one-world government, a single global currency and a syncretic universal religion.
Those of us who care deeply about the future of politics, domestic and international, cannot afford to ignore the fact that the grimly political One World Government is no longer merely a shadow subculture. It has, in fact, emerged as the dominant force in world affairs.
Daniel Estulin is an award-winning investigative journalist who has been researching the Bilderbergers for over 13 years. Estulin was one of only two journalists in the world who witnessed and reported (from beyond the heavily guarded perimeter) the super secret meeting at the Dorint Sofitel Seehotel in Rottach-Egern, Munich, Bavaria, Germany, on May 5-8, 2005. He can be reached at d.estulin@ctconsultoria.com.
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/060705Estulin/060705estulin.html
"Murio la Verdad"
Counterpunch and Online Journal - May 27, 2005
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/052405Estulin/052405estulin.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/estulin05272005.html
The annual
secret meeting of the Bilderberg group determines many of the headlines and
news developments you will read about in the coming months. But the Establishment
media completely black it out. With the exception of half-a-dozen high ranking
members of the press who are sworn to secrecy, few have ever heard of the
exclusive and secretive group called The Bilderbergers.
Mainstream news organizations boastful about their no-holds barred investigative exploits, have been strangely reluctant to lift the blackout curtain hiding a major event: the Bilderberg group's secret annual meeting for the world's most powerful financiers, industrialists, and political figures.
2005 was a bad year for Bilderberg and its future looks gloomy. Herculean efforts to keep their meetings secret in Rottach-Egern failed miserably. Bilderberg's grief is free world´s glory-and hope for further restraining the power grabbers in the dawn of a new millennium.
One certainty is that although Bilderberg Group has lost some of its past luster, it is meeting under its usual secrecy that makes freemasonry look like a playgroup. Staff at the hotel are photographed and put through special clearance. From porters to senior managers, the employees are warned (under the threat of never working in the country again) about the consequences of revealing any details of the guests to the press.
International and national media are said to be welcome only when an oath of silence has been taken, news editors are held responsible if any of their journalists 'inadvertently' report on what takes place.
While Bush, Blair, Chirac, Berlusconi and Company attended the G8 summits of the world's foremost democratically elected leaders, they were accompanied by the massed ranks of the world media. In stark contrast, the comings and goings at Bilderberg take place under cover of a virtual publicity black-out.
The discussions they will engage in this year from deciding how the world should deal with European-American relations, the Middle East powder keg, the Iraq war, the global economy and how to stave off war in Iran, and the consensus they reach, will influence the course of Western civilization and the future of the entire planet. This meeting takes place behind closed doors in total secrecy, protected by a phalanx of armed guards.
After three straight years of open hostilities and tension amongst the European, British and American Bilderbergers caused by the war in Iraq, the aura of complete congeniality amongst them has returned. Bilderbergers have reaffirmed and remain united in their long-term goal to strengthen the role the UN plays in regulating global conflicts and relations.
However, it is important to understand that Americans are no more the "Hawks" than the European Bilderbergers the "Doves". Europeans joined in supporting the 1991 invasion of Iraq by President Bush father, celebrating, in the words of one notable Bilderberg hunter the end of "America's Vietnam syndrome." Europeans also supported former President Bill Clinton's invasion of Yugoslavia, bringing NATO into the operation.
A much-discussed subject in 2005 at Rottach-Egern was the concept of imposing a direct UN tax on people worldwide through a direct tax on oil at the wellhead. This, in fact, sets a precedent. If enacted, it will be the first time, when a non-governmental agency, read the United Nations, directly benefits from a tax on citizens of free and enslaved nations.
Bilderberger proposal calls for a tiny UN levy at the outset which the consumer would hardly notice. Jim Tucker of the court-killed Spotlight magazine years ago wrote "establishing the principle that the UN can directly tax citizens of the world is important to Bilderberg. It is another giant step toward world government. Bilderbergers know that publicly promoting a UN tax on all people on Earth would meet with outrage. But they are patient; it first proposed a direct world tax years ago and celebrates the fact that it is now in the public dialogue with little public attention or concern."
Bilderberg wants "tax harmonization" so high-tax countries could compete with more tax-friendly nations-including the United States-for foreign investment. They would "harmonize" taxes by forcing the rate in the United States and other countries to rise so that socialist Sweden's 58-percent level would be "competitive."
The rise of
the NGOs, a development former President Clinton suddenly [one day after
it was discussed at Rottach-Egern] calls one of "the most remarkable things
that have happened since the fall of the Berlin Wall." Ironically,
Clinton´s statement was picked up by The Wall Street Journal, a paper
always represented at the Bilderberg meetings by Robert L. Bartley, its Vice
President and Paul Gigot, editorial page editor.
The Bilderbergers have been vigorously debating to have, for the first time, unelected, self-appointed, environmental activists be given a position of governmental authority on the governing board of the agency which controls the use of atmosphere, outer space, the oceans, and, for all practical purposes, biodiversity. This invitation for "civil society" to participate in global governance is described as expanding democracy.
According to sources within Bilderberg, the status of NGOs would be elevated even further in the future. The NGO activity would include agitation at the local level, lobbying at the national level, producing studies to justify global taxation through UN organizations such as Global Plan, one of Bilderberg´s pet projects for over a decade. The strategy to advance the global governance agenda specifically includes programs to discredit individuals and organizations that generate "internal political pressure" or "populist action" that fails to support the new global ethic. The ultimate objective, according to the source, being to suppress democracy.
The United Nations Environment Programme, along with all the environmental treaties under its jurisdiction, would ultimately be governed by a special body of environmental activists, chosen only from accredited NGOs appointed by delegates to the General Assembly who are themselves appointed by the President of the United States, who is controlled by the Rockefeller-CFR-Bilderberg interlocking leadership
This new mechanism would provide a direct route from the local, "on-the-ground" NGO affiliates of national and international NGOs to the highest levels of global governance. For example: The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, a group of affiliated NGOs, recently petitioned the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO asking for intervention in the plans of a private company to mine gold on private land near Yellowstone Park. The UNESCO Committee did intervene, and immediately listed Yellowstone as a "World Heritage Site in Danger." Under the terms of the World Heritage Convention, the United States is required to protect the park, even beyond the borders of the park, and onto private lands if necessary.
The ideas being discussed, if implemented, will bring all the people of the world into a global neighbourhood managed by a world-wide bureaucracy, under the direct authority of a minute handful of appointed individuals, and policed by thousands of individuals, paid by accredited NGOs, certified to support a belief system, which to many people - is unbelievable and unacceptable.
Bilderbergers are celebrating the result it wanted. The return of a much humbled Tony Blair to 10 Downing Street with a much reduced parliamentary majority. European Bilderbergers are still angry at him for supporting America´s war in Iraq. While teaching Blair a useful lesson in international politics, Bilderbergers feel he is a far safer candidate to continue on the path of European integration than his conservative rival Michael Howard.
In full force
was that faction known as the so-called "neo-conservatives"--those who have
determined that Israel's security should come at the expense of the safety
to the United States and be central to all U.S. foreign policy decisions.
Most notable among this group is the Israeli spy Richard Perle, who was investigated by the FBI for espionage on behalf of Israel. Perle played the critical role in pushing the United States into the war against Iraq. He was forced to resign from the Pentagon´s Defense Policy Board, on March 27, 2003 after it was learned that he had been advising Goldman Sachs International, a habitual Bilderberg attendee, on how it might profit from the war in Iraq.
Another neo-conservative figure on hand was Michael A. Ledeen, an "intellectual´s intellectual." Ledeen serves for the American Enterprise Institute, a think-tank founded in 1943, with which Richard Perle has long been associated. AEI and the Brookings Institution operate a Joint Center for Regulatory Studies (JCRS) with the purpose of holding lawmakers and regulators "accountable for their decisions by providing thoughtful, objective analyses of existing regulatory programs and new regulatory proposals." The JCRS pushes for cost-benefit analysis of regulations, which fits with AEI's (and Bilderberger) ultimate goal of deregulation.
These neo-conservatives were also joined this year at Bilderberg by a handful of other top former Washington policy makers and publicists known for their sympathies for Israel, including former State Department official Richard N. Haas, president of the CFR, former Assistant Secretary of State and "father" of the Dayton accord, Richard Holbrooke, and Dennis Ross of the pro-Israel Washington Institute for Near East Policy, effectively an offshoot of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and JINSA as well as the newly elected World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz.
Dennis Ross, Richard N. Perle, and company are itching to "transfer" translation: to ethnically cleanse as many Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza as possible. "Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories," former Prime Minister Netanyahu told students at Bar-Ilan University in 1989. The residents of the European Community may be clueless about the intentions of Zionists toward the Palestinians, but in Israel, to my astonishment, ethnic cleansing is a popular subject of discussion. Fifty percent or more of Israelis think ethnic cleansing is a good idea. This from a nation that supposedly remembers the Holocaust. Fiction, is indeed stranger than the truth.
An American Bilderberger expressed concern over the sky-rocketing price of oil. One oil industry insider at the meeting remarked that growth is not possible without energy and that according to all indicators, world's energy supply is coming to an end much faster than the world leaders have anticipated. According to sources, Bilderbergers estimate the extractable world's oil supply to be at a maximum of 35 years under current economic development and population. However, one of the representatives of an oil cartel remarked that we must factor into the equation, both the population explosion and economic growth and demand for oil in China and India. Under the revised conditions, there is apparently only enough oil to last for 20 years. No oil spells the end of the world's financial system. So much has already been acknowledged by The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times, two periodicals who are regularly present at the annual Bilderberg conference.
Conclusion: Expect a severe downturn in the world's economy over the next two years as Bilderbergers try to safeguard the remaining oil supply by taking money out of people's hands. In a recession or, at worst, a depression, the population will be forced to dramatically cut down their spending habits, thus ensuring a longer supply of oil to the world's rich as they try to figure out what to do.
During the afternoon cocktail, European Bilderberger noted that there is no plausible alternative to hydrocarbon energy. One American insider stated that currently the world uses between four and six barrels of oil for every new barrel it finds and that the prospects for a short term break through are slim, at best.
Someone asked for an estimate to the world´s accessible conventional oil supply. The amount was quoted at approximately one trillion barrels. As a side note of interest, the planet consumes a billion barrels of oil every 11.5 days.
Another Bilderberger asked about hydrogen alternative to the oil supply. The US government official agreed gloomily that hydrogen salvation to the world´s eminent energy crisis is a fantasy.
This confirms public statement made in 2003 by HIS, the world´s most respected consulting firm cataloguing oil reserved and discoveries that for the first time since the 1920s there was not a single discovery of an oil field in excess of 500 million barrels.
The oil industry at the 2005 Bilderberg conference was represented by John Browne, BP´s Chief Executive Officer, John Kerr, Director Royal Dutch Shell, Peter D. Sutherland, BP Chairman and Jeroen van der Veer, Chairman Committee of Managing Directors Royal Dutch Shell.
It should be remembered that in late 2003, oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, announced that it had overstated its reserved by as much as 20 percent. Queen Beatrix of Holland, Royal Dutch Shell´s principal shareholder is a full fledged member of the Bilderbergers. Her father, prince Bernhard was one of the founders of the group back in 1954. The Los Angeles Times reported that "For petroleum firms, reserves amount to nothing less that ´the value of the company´. In fact, Shell cut its reserve estimates not once, but three times, prompting the resignation of its co-chairman. At Rottach-Egern, in May 2005, industry's top executives tried to figure out how to keep the truth about diminishing oil reserves from reaching the public. Public knowledge of the diminishing reserved directly translates into lower share prices, which could destroy financial markets, leading to a collapse of the world economy.
The first
day of secret meetings at Bilderberg 2005 was dominated by talk of EU referendum
in France and whether Chirac can persuade France to vote Yes on May 29. A
Yes vote, according to sources within Bilderberg would put a lot of pressure
on Tony Blair to finally deliver Britain into the waiting arms of the New
World Order through their own referendum on the treaty scheduled for 2006.
Matthias Nass wondered out load that a No vote in France could undoubtedly
cause political turmoil in Europe and overshadow Britain's six-month EU
presidency starting on July 1. Bilderbergers, hope that Blair and Chirac,
whose at times open animosity has spilled into a public arena on more than
one occasion, can work together for mutual benefit and political survival.
Another European Bilderberger added that both leaders must put behind them
as quickly as possible all past disputes on such topics as Iraq, the
liberalization of Europe´s economy and the future of budget rebate Britain
receives from the EU and work towards complete European integration, which
could desintigrate if France´s often "hard-headed and obstinate people",
in the words of a British Bilderberger, do not do the right thing, meaning
give up voluntarily their independence for the "greater good" of a Federal
European super state!
A German Bilderberger insider said that France´s Yes vote is in trouble because of the "outsourcing of jobs. Jobs in Germany and France are going to Asia and Poland*," [to take advantage of cheap labour.] Poland* is one of the former Soviet republics that have been admitted to the European Union bringing the total membership to 25 nations. A German politician wondered out loud how Tony Blair shall go about convincing Britons to embrace the European Constitution when due to the outsourcing of jobs, both Germany and France are suffering a 10% unemployment while Britain is doing well economically.
A USA law called Logan Act, states explicitly that it is against the law for federal officials to attend secret meetings with private citizens to develop public policies. Although Bilderberg 2005 was missing one of its luminaries, US State Department official John Bolton who was testifying before Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the American government was well represented in Rottach-Egern by Alan Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council; William Luti, deputy under secretary of defence; James Wolfensohn, outgoing president of the World Bank and Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of state, an ideologue of the Iraq war and incoming president of the World Bank. By attending Bilderberg 2005 meeting, these people are breaking Federal laws of the United States.
At a Saturday night cocktail [May 7] at the luxurious Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Überfahrt in Rottach-Egern, Bavaria, Munich, several Bilderbergers sharing the standing bar with Queen Beatrix of Holland and Donald Graham, Washington Post´s CEO were discussing the up-coming sale of Spanish telecommunications and cable giant Auna. Auna operates fixed line telephone services, a mobile-phone network, cable television system and is also an Internet provider. One of the Bilderbergers familiar with the matter [believed to be Henry Kravis, based on the physical description of the source at the meeting] stated that Auna´s mobile operations could bring in some 10 billion euros including debt, while another Bilderberger, a tall man with a receding hairline added that its fixed-line assets could fetch some 2.6 billion euros. Sources close to the Bilderbergers have stated off-the-record that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, a private-equity firm is interested in buying all of Auna. An abundance of cheap credit and low interest rates have made Auna an appetising target for private-equity buyers.
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co is represented at Bilderberg meetings by its luminary billionaire Henry Kravis and his small town Quebec-born wife Marie Joseé Kravis, a Senior Fellow at the neoconservative organization Hudson Institute.
Conclusions: Expect favourable coverage and support for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co from Grupo Prisa whose Consejero Delegado Juan Luis Cebrian always attends super secret Bilderberg meetings. In case Kravis fails to put together a competitive bid, then expect the same favourable coverage for Goldman Sachs Group, whose Martin Taylor is Bilderbergers Honorary Secretary General and whose other Bilderberger, Peter Sutherland is Goldman Sachs´ Chairman as well as Trilateral Commission´s European Chairman. In the past, exposing Bilderberg meetings has provided advance warning-months ahead of the mainstream media-of U.S. Iraqi invasion, tax increases, and the downfall of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister of Britain.
A political and military confrontation between these two nations in the petroleum-rich Sulawesi Sea [both claim the oil-rich area of Ambalat as their territorial rights] was the topic of a much animated discussion amongst several American and European Bilderbergers during an afternoon cocktail. An American Bilderberger waving his cigar suggested using the UN to "further a peace policy in the region". In fact, Bilderbergers at the lounge table all agreed that such a conflict might well give them an excuse to garrison the disputed area with UN "Peacekeepers" and thus ensure their ultimate control over the exploitation of this treasure, meaning untapped oil reserves.
European and American Bilderbergers realising the most urgent of needs to expand into developing markets in order to help sustain the illusion of endless growth have agreed to name Pascal Lamy, a French Socialist and a fanatical supporter of a European super state as the next WTO President. It will be remembered that Washington gave a conditional support to Lamy´s nomination in exchange to European support of Paul Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank. According to insider sources within the Bilderberger group, Lamy was chosen to help steer the global trading system through a time of rising protectionist sentiment in rich countries such as France and Germany, both reeling from high unemployment and reticent to increasingly muscular demands for market assess from emerging economies. Third World states, for example, are insisting on cuts to EU and US farm subsidies. The WTO liberalization drive collapsed in acrimony in Seattle in 1999 and again in Cancun in 2003. The Bilderbergers have secretly agreed on the need to force the poor countries into a globalized market for cheap goods while simultaneously forcing the poor into becoming customers. The current rift with China is a good example, as the Chinese have flooded the Western countries with cheap goods, amongst them textiles, driving down prices. As a trade off, the Bilderbergers have entered into an emerging market ripe and vulnerable to superior western know-how. Similar develop-ing countries are slowly acquiring more purchasing power and the industrialized world is gaining a foothold in their domestic economies by targeting them for cheap exports.
* * *
One can't help but wonder, when the Bilderberg organisers, Rockefeller, Kissinger, Queen Beatrix and the rest have completed their project of enclosing all global goods and services into their own hands. What then?
Francisco Goya´s Plate 79 of Disasters shows the fair maid of Liberty flat on her back, bosom exposed. Ghostly figures play about the corpse while monks dig her grave. Truth has died. Murió la verdad. How is that for an alternative? Forewarned is forearmed. We will never find the right answers if we can't ask the proper questions.
Daniel Estulin is a political commentator living in Madrid, author of four books on communication skills. He can be reached at: d.estulin@ctconsultoria.com
http://www.counterpunch.org/estulin05272005.html
http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/052405Estulin/052405estulin.html
* this change to the original article was requested by the author
http://www.americanfreepress.net
23May05
By James P. Tucker Jr.
ROTTACH-EGERN, Germany—Will the price of oil reach $150 a barrel in two years? Henry Kissinger made this prediction to Richard Holbrooke, according to two friendly sources inside the secret Bilderberg meeting. “It should not be long,” Kissinger told Holbrooke, vice chairman of Perseus LLC and longtime Bilderberg luminary. Kissinger said the demand for oil has far exceeded the supply. Oil, and who gets it, is part of the bitter Bilderberg dispute over Middle East policy.
One source said James Baker had made the same pre-diction while representing the Carlyle Group at an earli-er business conference, saying “look for $150 a barrel.” Baker represented the White House at Bilderberg meetings under former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush the Elder, where he served as chief of staff and treasury secretary, respectively.
The economic impact of tripling already-high oil prices would be staggering. Inflation would soar, because transportation—from raw material to finished product to marketplace—has a significant impact on virtually everything you buy—from neckties to houses.
Bilderberg hunkered down here May 5-8 to decide how the world should deal with European-American relations, the Middle East powder keg, the Iraq war, the global economy and potential war in Iran. The first appearance of Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) indicates Bilderberg considers him a presidential contender.
The absence of former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), John Kerry’s presidential running mate in 2004, indi-cates the Sun has set on his political career. Last year was Edwards’s first appearance and, like most of the “fringe” invitees, he has been cast aside like an old shoe.
European hostility toward Americans for the invasion of Iraq was rekindled by reports in the European press that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had secretly agreed with President Bush to go to war months in advance of the U.S. invasion.
The Guardian of London, among other newspapers, carried detailed accounts of a transcript of conversations between Blair and President Bush three months before the March 2002 invasion. The transcript clearly shows Blair promising, in advance, to join the United States in the war on Iraq.
This prompted hostile comments while Kissinger was presiding over a panel discussion on the meaning of “peace.” Europeans demanded to know if “Iran is next,” and “when does it end?” America was repeatedly warned not to “rush to war with Iran.”
But history demonstrates that Americans are no more the “war party” than the European Bilderbergers. Europeans joined in supporting the 1991 invasion of Iraq by President Bush the Elder, celebrating the end of “America’s Vietnam syndrome.” Europeans also support-ed former President Bill Clinton’s invasion of Yugoslavia, bringing NATO into the operation. The first shot ever fired in anger by NATO troops were in Yugoslavia. Bilderberg had made NATO, effectively, the UN’s standing army.
The British election results pleased Europeans, who grudgingly supported Blair because of his commitment to the European Constitution (EC). Britons will vote in 2006 on ratifying the EC. But they are happy that Blair’s Labor Party’s majority in Parliament shrank from 160 to 60 and he will likely be replaced as prime minister with-in two years.
To address the Mideast issue, Bilderberg brought together Eival Gilady and Natan Sharansky of Israel and Palestinian Ziad Abu-Amr.
Gilady is strategic adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Sharansky is a former minister for Jerusalem and diaspora affairs. Abu-Amr is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, president of the Palestinian Council on Foreign Relation and professor of political science at Birzeit University.
The Council on Foreign Relations, always richly represented at Bilderberg, serves as Bilderberg’s propaganda ministry. Scholarly “white papers” advocating Bilderberg policies routinely follow the secret sessions. This year, Bilderberg ordered Israel to keep its prom-ise to withdraw from some settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Also, they noted that Palestinians must be grateful for the portion of their territory they get back and not insist on pre-1967 borders. Israel seized these lands in a surprise attack in 1967.
“We must get along, despite our harsh differences, because we now live in an interdependent, global econ-omy,” said a lanky, gray-haired European in a discussion of “trans-Atlantic Relations.” Poverty in Africa or South America “or wherever” is a “threat to all of us, anywhere in the world,” he said.
Again, the United States was denounced for “not pro-viding a fair share” of economic aid to poor countries. Again, Kissinger and David Rockefeller, among other Americans, beamed and nodded approval. Bilderberg argues that, as a percentage of gross national product, Americans are “stingy.”
There was discussion of timing for a vote in the United Nations on establishing a direct global tax by imposing a 10-cents-a-barrel levy on oil at the well-head. This is important to the Bilderberg goal of establishing the UN as a formal world government. Such a direct tax on individuals is symbolically important.
Bilderberg’s global tax proposal has been pending before the UN for three years but the issue has been blacked out by the Bilderberg-controlled U.S. media. Said one Bilderberger of the pending UN tax: “Let the tax pass the UN with absolutely no publicity. Talk with the (news) boys in advance and warn them about triggering right-wing hysteria. People won’t even notice that fraction of a penny per gallon. When people do become aware, perhaps in three years, they’ll simply say ‘ain’t that sumphin.’ ”
Other topics of discussion this year included “China and energy,” “Russia’s role in the world,” “economic lib-eration,” and U.S. Social Security “reform.” Bilderberg’s interest in how the United States deals with Social Security remains unclear. China’s demand for oil has increased dramatically in recent years, contributing to the current $50 price per barrel. Bilderbergers debated whether a proposed pipeline should move oil to Japan or China from Russia.
Bilderbergers were downcast when word came that some Senate Democrats, who had voted for “free” trade bills in the past, were threatening to kill the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) because of insufficient worker protections. CAFTA is a crucial step in expanding NAFTA into the Free Trade Area of the Americas, which is to include the entire Western Hemi-sphere except for Cuba until Fidel Castro is gone.
Kenneth Clarke, Conservative member of Parliament and a former chancellor of the exchequer in Britain, a long-time Bilderberg luminary, once told this journalist that the goal is to establish an “American Union” similar to the European Union with the dollar as the common currency. The “Asia-Pacific Union” is also emerging, which will complete the division of the Earth into three great regions for the administrative convenience of the planned world government.
http://www.americanfreepress.net
Danny Estulin, a widely known photo-journalist now operating out of Madrid, who has collaborated with American Free Press in pursuing Bilderberg for years, was seized by officials and held for two hours after getting off a plane in Milan en route to Rottach-Egern. Italian and Interpol police downloaded Estulin’s computer and seized two widely-read magazines that featured a two-part series on Bilderberg, with his photos and extensive stories beginning on the cover of both issues. Fortunately, Estulin had another set hidden else-where in his luggage.
Estulin was questioned for two hours in an attempt to intimidate him. Officials correctly suspected he was pur-suing Bilderbergers, who are outraged at the attention he has lavished upon them. They failed: Estulin filed sto-ries to several publications that retained him to cover Bilderberg.
It is Estulin’s Bilderberg photos that appear in AFP. While taking photos outside Bilderberg’s posh Dorint Sofital, on a public sidewalk, Estulin was seized by nine cops—four plainclothes and five in uniform. They seized his passport and Spanish residency card. They demanded to know if he could pay his hotel bill—not at the hotel’s request. Estulin showed cash and credit card. They said they would return his passport when he leaves Germany and warned him not to break the law.
Estulin continued taking photos and filing stories for the duration. But he was careful to avoid jaywalking. A year ago, Italian police held AFP’s Jim Tucker for several hours. He arrived unscathed this year, although Estulin heard three Secret Service men say they had observed Tucker on his flight to Munich.
And several years ago, security officers shackled AFP’s Christopher Bollyn and transported him miles from the Bilderberg venue site, dropping him and several other journalists in the middle of nowhere in hopes of deter-ring coverage. It did not work.
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=86537&ran=190681
By BOB LEWIS, Associated Press - The Virginian Pilot - 17 May 2005
RICHMOND -- Gov. Mark R. Warner quietly slipped away earlier this month to Germany for a secretive weekend conclave of global economic and foreign policy figures.
Warner confirmed Monday that he took part in the annual Bilderberg Meeting the weekend of May 6-8 at a resort hotel near Munich. Other U.S. participants included Henry Kissinger, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, Ford Motor Co. chairman and CEO Bill Ford and Richard Holbrooke, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder addressed the group, Warner said.
"My sense was you had the opportunity here to interact with the leading business leaders not only of the United States but in all of Europe," Warner said in an interview.
Participants are forbidden to disclose what they discussed. "I think I should honor the ground rules," Warner said when asked for details.
The organizers closely guard the identity of those it invites and the venue and times of the meetings.
"Out of deference to the inviters, this was something we weren't volunteering," said Warner's communications director, Ellen Qualls.
"We asked if we could get an attendees list, ... and they wouldn't give it to us," she said.
The Bilderberg Meeting was not on Warner's public schedule, and reporters were not told of his trip more than a week after his return. First word came in an unguarded remark from an administration official Monday. Warner's office confirmed the trip when asked by The Associated Press.
Using his personal money, Warner booked a commercial flight to Germany, Warner said. Just days earlier, he had returned feeling ill and eight pounds lighter from a two-week trade mission to Japan and India.
"It was an opportunity for him, as chairman of the NGA (National Governors Association) to talk about the challenges of the global economy for American workers, for companies and for schools, and, as governor of Virginia, to learn a bit more about how we as a state can compete," Qualls said.
A year ago, John Edwards, then a U.S. senator from North Carolina who became John Kerry's Democratic running mate, attended the Bilderberg Meeting.
Warner has been mentioned prominently as a possible contender for the 2008 Democratic nomination.
The secretive annual forum of prominent politicians, thinkers and businessmen began in 1954 in Holland at the Bilderberg Hotel, from which it takes its name.
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=86537&ran=190681
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000082&sid=aCXpd1XQBga0&refer=canada
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Hollinger International Inc. said directors including Henry Kissinger and Richard Perle are leaving the board, one week after former chief executive Conrad Black was charged with helping to steal $51.8 million from the company.
Kissinger, Perle, Richard Burt, Daniel Colson, Shmuel Meitar and James Thompson, all sued for allegedly disregarding the looting of the company, won't stand for re-election at Hollinger's Jan. 24 annual meeting, the Chicago-based company said today in a statement. The board will shrink to 11 members.
The company will announce a slate of director nominees next month. Black, 61, left Hollinger International after building a media company that owned newspapers including the Chicago Sun- Times, Britain's Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post. He attracted luminaries including Kissinger, a former U.S. secretary of state, and Perle, a former assistant defense secretary, to lend prestige to the company's board.
The directors ``have made important contributions'' to the company in the past two years, Chief Executive Gordon Paris said in the statement. He didn't immediately respond to a voice-mail request for comment.
Hollinger International shares, which have fallen 43 percent this year, rose 10 cents to $8.99 today in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
The company's nominating and governance committee, chaired by Kissinger, has been working with the search firm Spencer Stuart to identify candidates to replace the directors who are leaving, the company said.
Kissinger decided to leave the company two years ago, his lawyer Paul Saunders said today in a telephone interview. He agreed to stay to help ``through a difficult time'' at the request of Hollinger and former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Richard Breeden, who led an investigation into transactions at Hollinger, Saunders said.
Kissinger was later unable to quit as Hollinger canceled its annual meetings because financial statements weren't up to date, Saunders said.
``This was a culmination of a decision made a long time ago,'' Saunders said. He said Kissinger wasn't available for an interview and said Kissinger plans to focus on his own business.
Thompson, the former Illinois governor, and Perle didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment. Burt was out of the office and didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Meitar and Colson couldn't be reached for comment.
Hollinger International's board ousted Black as chief executive in November 2003, sued him and stripped him of the chairman title the following January. Hollinger International sued Black to recover more than $425 million that it accused him and his associates of stealing to finance lavish lifestyles.
Black was also sued by his holding company, Hollinger Inc., and by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was charged Nov. 17 with mail fraud and wire fraud in an 11-count indictment.
Black is scheduled to appear in a Chicago court tomorrow to answer to the charges.
Cardinal Capital Management LLC, which has 3.3 million Hollinger International shares, sued the company's directors, alleging they disregarded the looting.
American Home Assurance Co. and Chubb Corp. agreed in May to pay $50 million on behalf of the directors to settle the Delaware suit. The settlement was approved by a Canadian court and must also be approved by a Delaware court.
Black was excluded from the settlement and has appealed the ruling.
``We're eagerly looking forward to see the new slate of proposed directors for Hollinger International,'' Robert Kirkpatrick, managing director of Cardinal, said in a telephone interview.
To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Schneider in Toronto at jschneider5@bloomberg.net.
Nov 19 - Sean Aylmer with Reuters, Bloomberg
http://afr.com/articles/2005/11/18/1132016978348.html
Conrad Black, the one-time media baron and former owner of John Fairfax, is facing up to 40 years in jail after being charged with eight counts of mail and wire fraud in the United States.
Lord Black, a member of the British House of Lords, was accused of siphoning money from his former newspaper empire, Hollinger International, and its holding company, Hollinger Inc.
If convicted, Lord Black, who renounced his Canadian citizenship so he could be elected to the House of Lords in 2000, could face up to five years in prison and a $US250,000 ($340,000) fine for each count against him. That would total 40years and $US2 million.
The charges come after prosecutors struck a plea deal with David Radler, a one-time lieutenant to Lord Black. Radler will spend 29 months in prison and pay a $US250,000 fine after pleading guilty to one count of mail fraud.
Three other Hollinger executives, John Boultbee, Peter Atkinson and Mark Kipnis, were also charged.
Lord Black's insolvent holding company, Ravelston Corp, was also named as a defendant.The indictments describe two schemes allegedly carried out by the defendants.
The first involved the diversion of $US51.8 million from Hollinger International's $US2.1 billion sale of assets to CanWest Global Communications in 2000. The second alleged that Lord Black abused corporate perks provided by Hollinger International, including $US40,000 to pay for his wife's surprise birthday party in December 2000.
Lord Black allegedly also had Hollinger pay for his use of its corporate jet for a personal holiday to Bora Bora in French Polynesia, prosecutors said in a statement.
"Insiders at Hollinger - all the way to the top of the corporate ladder - whose job it was to safeguard the shareholders, made it their job to steal and conceal," said US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office brought the charges.
Hollinger, which owned newspapers in the UK, Israel and North America, began to unravel in late 2003 after an internal investigation uncovered $US32million in unauthorised payments to Lord Black.
Lord Black and Radler resigned, and the new management team sold flagship publications including London's The Daily Telegraph and The Jerusalem Post.
In a separate civil case, the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused Lord Black, Radler and Hollinger Inc of having "cheated and defrauded" Hollinger International shareholders.
Part of the broader challenge for prosecutors, legal experts said, was that unlike in most of the big corporate scandals, at Hollinger the board approved most of the transactions that resulted in $US400million of alleged questionable payments to executives and other companies they controlled.
The indictment continues the run of high-profile criminal cases against former chief executives of large companies, including WorldCom's Bernard Ebbers and Enron's Kenneth Lay.
By E&P Staff
Published: November 17, 2005 1:05 PM ET
CHICAGO Last month, former newspaper mogul Conrad Black was taken by surprise by FBI agents who showed up at the closing for the sale of his deluxe Manhattan co-op, and seized the $8.9 million in proceeds. Tuesday, Black pulled a legal ambush of his lawyers and had his former friend, Peter C. Newman, served with a C$2.1 million (U.S.$1.78 million) libel suit as he arrived at the 100th anniversary part of the Canadian newsweekly Maclean's in Toronto.
Black and his wife Barbara Amiel Black also attended the party, celebrating the magazine where Newman is a contributing editor.
Black filed his lawsuit in Ontario Superior Court claiming he was libeled in Newman's 2004 autobiography, "There Be Dragons: Telling Tales of People, Passion and Power."
According to a story in Thursday's National Post by reporter Theresa Tedesco, the suit alleges the book "falsely and maliciously" says Black engaged "in a wide range of criminal acts spanning many years, including mail and wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering."
The story quoted Black's lawyer as saying the suit had been filed so long after the book's publication in part because of the difficulty locating Newman. He could not be reached by E&P for comment.
Much of the offending chapter -- titled, "Black Magic: How Conrad Black became a Weapon of Mass Self-Destruction" -- concerns Black's well-known legal problems.
The chapter also includes what the National Post referred to as "salacious details" of the Blacks' sexual behavior. Newman is a former family friend who hired Barbara Amiel as a columnist in the 1970s. The lawsuit describes Newman as acting in a manner that was "vindictive, high-handed, contemptuous and demonstrated reckless and deliberate disregard and even enthusiasm for the damage that might be done to the good name of" Black, the newspaper reported.
Just got sent this info of the 1971 conference
1971 BILDERBERGER SECRET GATHERING AT WOODSTOCK INN, VERMONT (U.S.A.)
http://bilderberggroup.tripod.com/id17.html
CANADIAN NAMES TAKEN FROM THE GUEST LIST REPORTED IN THE WASHINGTON OBSERVER NEWSLETTER, FROM INDEPENDENT REPORTS OF AN UNDERCOVER JOURNALIST, PUBLISHED MAY 15th, JULY 1st and AUGUST 1st, 1971.
List of Canadian Bilderbergers in attendance:
1971 secret Bilderberg Meeting in Vermont
Washington Observer Newsletter 1971 in PDF format
Mel Hurtig wrote, in THE BETRAYAL OF CANADA:
"Since Brian Mulroney became Prime Minister, Big Business has had effective control of the political and economic agenda, and hence the social and cultural agenda as well. Paul Desmarais provided much of the money for Pierre Trudeau's campaign, Brian Mulroney's campaign, and Jean Chretien's campaign."
http://bilderberggroup.tripod.com/id17.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4290944.stm
How much influence do private networks of the rich and powerful have on government policies and international relations? One group, the Bilderberg, has often attracted speculation that it forms a shadowy global government. As part of the BBC's Who Runs Your World? series, Bill Hayton tries to find out more.
The chairman of the secretive - he prefers the word private - Bilderberg Group is 73-year-old Viscount Etienne Davignon, corporate director and former European Commissioner.
In his office, on a private floor above the Brussels office of the Suez conglomerate lined with political cartoons of himself, he told me what he thought of allegations that Bilderberg is a global conspiracy secretly ruling the world.
"It is unavoidable and it doesn't matter," he says. "There will always be people who believe in conspiracies but things happen in a much more incoherent fashion."
In an extremely rare interview, he played down the importance of Bilderberg in setting the international agenda. "What can come out of our meetings is that it is wrong not to try to deal with a problem. But a real consensus, an action plan containing points 1, 2 and 3? The answer is no. People are much too sensible to believe they can do that."
There need to be places where these people can think about the main challenges ahead, co-ordinate where policies should be going, and find out where there could be a consensus - Professor Kees van der Pijl [....but they absolutely must NOT be secret. - TG]
Every year since 1954, a small network of rich and powerful people have held a discussion meeting about the state of the trans-Atlantic alliance and the problems facing Europe and the US.
Organised by a steering committee of two people from each of about 18 countries, the Bilderberg Group (named after the Dutch hotel in which it held its first meeting) brings together about 120 leading business people and politicians.
At this year's meeting in Germany, the audience included the heads of the World Bank and European Central Bank, Chairmen or Chief Executives from Nokia, BP, Unilever, DaimlerChrysler and Pepsi - among other multi-national corporations, editors from five major newspapers, members of parliament, ministers, European commissioners, the crown prince of Belgium and the queen of the Netherlands.
"I don't think (we are) a global ruling class because I don't think a global ruling class exists. I simply think it's people who have influence interested to speak to other people who have influence," Viscount Davignon says.
"Bilderberg does not try to reach conclusions - it does not try to say 'what we should do'. Everyone goes away with their own feeling and that allows the debate to be completely open, quite frank - and to see what the differences are.
"Business influences society and politics influences society - that's purely common sense. It's not that business contests the right of democratically-elected leaders to lead".
For Bilderberg's critics the fact that there is almost no publicity about the annual meetings is proof that they are up to no good. Jim Tucker, editor of a right-wing newspaper, the American Free Press for example, alleges they organise wars and elect and depose political leaders. He describes the group as simply 'evil'. So where does the truth lie?
Professor Kees van der Pijl of Sussex University in Britain says such private networks of corporate and political leaders play an informal but crucial role in the modern world.
"There need to be places where these people can think about the main challenges ahead, co-ordinate where policies should be going, and find out where there could be a consensus."
Will Hutton, an economic analyst and former newspaper editor who attended a Bilderberg meeting in 1997, says people take part in these networks in order to influence the way the world works, to create what he calls "the international common sense" about policy.
Business influences society and politics influences society - that's purely common sense
"On every issue that might influence your business you will hear at first-hand the people who are actually making those decisions and you will play a part in helping them to make those decisions and formulating the common sense," he says.
And that "common sense" is one which supports the interests of Bilderberg's main participants - in particular free trade. Viscount Davignon says that at the annual meetings, "automatically around the table you have internationalists" - people who support the work of the World Trade Organisation, trans-Atlantic co-operation and European integration.
Bilderberg meetings often feature future political leaders shortly before they become household names. Bill Clinton went in 1991 while still governor of Arkansas, Tony Blair was there two years later while still an opposition MP. All the recent presidents of the European Commission attended Bilderberg meetings before they were appointed.
This has led to accusations that the group pushes its favoured politicians into high office. But Viscount Davignon says his steering committee are simply excellent talent spotters. The steering committee "does its best assessment of who are the bright new boys or girls in the beginning phase of their career who would like to get known."
"It's not a total accident, but it's not a forecast and if they go places it's not because of Bilderberg, it's because of themselves," Viscount Davignon says.
But its critics say Bilderberg's selection process gives an extra boost to aspiring politicians whose views are friendly to big business. None of this, however, is easy to prove - or disprove.
Observers like Will Hutton argue that such private networks have both good and bad sides. They are unaccountable to voters but, at the same time, they do keep the international system functioning. And there are limits to their power - a point which Bilderberg chairman was keen to stress, "When people say this is a secret government of the world I say that if we were a secret government of the world we should be bloody ashamed of ourselves."
Informal and private networks like Bilderberg have helped to oil the wheels of global politics and globalisation for the past half a century. In the eyes of critics they have undermined democracy, but their supporters believe they are crucial to modern democracy's success. And so long as business and politics remain mutually dependent, they will continue to thrive.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/4290944.stm
By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 23rd August 2005
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/08/23/burnt-out/
If someone told you that the Conservatives would form the next government, then asked you who you would like to see as their leader, what answer would you give? I suspect that most Guardian readers would choose Kenneth Clarke. Opposed to the invasion of Iraq, sympathetic to the European Union, liberal, avuncular, Clarke is the obvious antidote to the swivel-eyed ideologues who have run the party for much of the past 30 years. You were doubtless glad to hear that he will declare his candidacy over the next few weeks and that, if he joins forces with David Cameron, he could win.
There's just one small problem. To see him as a credible candidate, you must forget what he has been doing for the past seven years. Since 1998, he has been deputy chairman of British American Tobacco (BAT).(1) It seems to me that this renders him unfit for public office.
Let us begin by examining BAT's contribution to public health. Smoking, according to the World Health Organisation, "is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide half the people that smoke today - that is about 650 million people - will eventually be killed by tobacco."(2) BAT sells one sixth of the world's cigarettes.(3) Were responsibility to be divided according to market share, we could accuse it of causing the deaths of 100 million people.
In the rich nations this is a declining problem. In the United States, smokers have fallen to 22% of the adult population - the lowest rate since the second world war.(4) In Australia, according to a study published last month, smoking, on current trends, will be extinct by 2030.(5) So BAT's growth relies on poorer nations: Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Nigeria.(6) Last year its profits rose by 20%.(7)
There are two obstacles to its further expansion in developing countries. The first is the international attempt, led by the World Health Organisation, to help those countries resist the pressure to deregulate tobacco sales. In 2002, the Guardian revealed that BAT had been paying a middleman up to £250,000 a year to lobby countries to reject international attempts to put stronger health warnings on cigarette packs, reduce the levels of tar and nicotine in cigarettes and increase tobacco taxes.(8) On Sunday, the Observer revealed that Kenneth Clarke attended a meeting in Geneva in 1999, at which BAT discussed with its competitors how they might resist the advertising bans proposed in a draft international treaty.(9)
The second is the attempt by national governments to discourage smoking, in particular by imposing taxes on cigarettes. Over the past five years, BAT documents have been uncovered which appear to implicate the company in smuggling.
At first it looked as if BAT's involvement was indirect. The papers discovered in the company's archives by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists suggested that it supplied cigarettes to wholesalers in the expectation that they would find their way onto the black market.(10) In some countries, they indicate, it knowingly advertised the smuggled brands.(11) But in 2001 the journalists discovered a series of letters which suggested that BAT subsidiaries were organising smuggling operations. One set of papers shows that cigarettes were dispatched to BAT's agents on the Caribbean island of Aruba, then shipped by BAT's exclusive distributors to the South American mainland, then smuggled by middlemen into Venezuela and Colombia.(12) Until 1997, proceeds from this operation appear to have been collected by a BAT branch based in Surrey.(13) After that they were channelled into a subsidiary based in Geneva. By 1998, the year in which Clarke joined the company, the documents suggest that 8 billion BAT cigarettes a year were leaving Aruba, harvesting an annual $200m for the Geneva operation.(14)
When the first smuggling allegations were published, in early 2000, Clarke responded that "British American Tobacco is a good corporate citizen which maintains high ethical standards. We reject allegations that we have "condoned tax evasion and exploited smuggling"."(15) But he went on to admit that "businesses such as ours who are engaged in international trade are faced with a dilemma. ... we act, completely within the law, on the basis that our brands will be available alongside those of our competitors in the smuggled as well as the legitimate market."(16)
He told the House of Commons health committee that BAT "is a company of integrity. It is an extremely good corporate citizen." Claims that it was organising smuggling, he stated, were "quite unfounded We do not, and we would not, and we would stop any of our employees doing it."(17) He later admitted that he did not "have any detailed knowledge of the day to day activities" of the Geneva office.(18) He remains vulnerable to the charge that he misled the Commons.(19)
BAT's relationships with its suppliers bear certain resemblances to its relationships with its consumers. Christian Aid has published two reports detailing the company's treatment of tobacco farmers in Brazil and Kenya.(20) The farmers are tied to contracts obliging them to buy their chemicals, seed and equipment from BAT's subsidiaries. The company also determines the price it gives them for the tobacco they produce, and is widely accused of paying far less than the market rate. The result is that many farmers end up owing the company more money than they receive. Partly because of this, some are obliged to employ their children in the fields. Many of the farmers contracted to the company, lacking proper protective clothing, suffer from pesticide-related diseases. A fax from BAT Kenya's regional director reveals that a Kenyan law forbidding farmers to grow tobacco for more than one company (and therefore to seek higher prices) "was actually drafted by us."(21) In Brazil, Christian Aid reveals, BAT's subsidiary was claiming, on the tobacco growers' behalf, the government credit intended for small farmers.(22)
Such behaviour, Christian Aid alleges, is whitewashed by BAT's corporate social responsibility programme. The man in charge of it is Kenneth Clarke. He was the director who helped to broker the deal with Nottingham University establishing a centre for corporate social responsibility, sponsored by the company.(23) BAT was one of the last British-based multinationals to leave Burma: it did so, in 2003, only after a sustained public campaign and a direct request from the British government. It remains one of the largest foreign investors in Uzbekistan.(24)
These are the activities which, for the past seven years, Kenneth Clarke, wittingly or otherwise, has assisted. We should remember that he has previously held the posts of health secretary - responsible for reducing the impacts of smoking; home secretary - responsible for upholding the law; and Chancellor of the Exchequer - responsible for ensuring that Customs and Excise is not cheated of its revenues.
I am not suggesting that Clarke has knowingly engaged in illegal activities, or has done anything to offend current criminal law. But it seems to me that in a fair world - a world in which human life was valued by our legislators - he would not now be contemplating the leadership of Her Majesty's Opposition. He would be behind bars.
16May05 - Impatient
with democracy, UK Bilderberg ambassador changes the rules for Tory leadership
bid
Choosing the next leader of the UK Tory party was not on the official list of agenda items for this year's Bilderberg meeting in Munich. But the day the meeting closed the leadership of the Tory party was announced to be up for grabs. After several disastrous leaders, Kenneth Clarke, like a Knight of the Brazen Serpent in shining armour, has announced he is running for the Tory party leadership again.
It doesn't seem to matter that the Tory party is anti-Europe, Clarke is determined to become leader and go against their wishes. This time Ken stands a better chance than his last two failures of taking the plumb job precisely because of the hopelessness of predecessors William Hague, Ian Duncan-Smith and Michael Howard. After this mediocre shower Ken will be seen by many as a safer pair of hands. There's also the presence now of the UK Independence party which has conveniently drawn off, into harmless never-never land, many of the Tory party's anti-European activists, social manipulation on a grand scale. Hungry for the top job 64 year old Ken has been plotting behind the scenes and biding his time, maybe it's all about to pay off.
'Sensible changes' are being mooted to the process by which the Tory leader is chosen, sidelining the grass-roots membership and allowing MP's greater influence to decide who the leader should be. This seems also designed perfectly to favour Clarke since the MP's are much more Euro-friendly than the members. These changes have all the hallmarks of Clarke, they amount toa dismissal of ordinary people in favour of powerful corporate interests. Rather than lose again in a democratic contest Clarke seems determined to rig the ballot to ensure he gets in.
Kenneth Clarke is certainly a formidable player. In his first day as Secretary of State for Health under Margaret Thatcher he inaugurated his cabinet responsibility for the health of the nation with a visit to one of Britain's top motor racing circuits and posed for the cameras in a John Player Special sponsored Formula One car. No press appeared to notice that British American Tobacco director Ken was endorsing, in one 'photo-opportunity', the two biggest preventable causes of death in the UK, car accidents and lung cancer.
Many across the political spectrum are aware of the totalitarian nature of the E.U. which is run by discredited and rejected polititians. Many see it as a fulfilling Adolf Hitler's dream, a United States of Europe with even less democracy that the USA. A victory for this unelected U.K. ambassador to Bilderberg's 'Invisible Government Club' will be seen as a P.R. success by the E.U., but Ken Clarke may draw the British nation into a corporate controlled plutocracy which would be an unmitigated disaster for democracy in the continent and for the people of Britain.
Tony Gosling
BILDERBERG MEETINGS
Rottach-Egern, Germany
5-8 May 2005
On the 2005 agenda: Iran, Iraq, The Middle East, Non-Proliferation, Asia, Economic Problems, Russia, European-American relations.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
B, Davignon, Etienne, Vice Chairman, Suez-Tractebel
GB, Taylor, J. Martin, International Advisor, Goldman Sachs International
NL, Aartsen, Jozias J. van, Parliamentary Leader, Liberal Party (VVD)
PNA, Abu-Amr, Ziad, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council; President of the Palestinian Council on Foreign Relations; Professor of Political Science, Birzeit University
D, Ackermann, Josef, Chairman, Group Executive Committee. Deutsche Bank AG
INT, Almunia Amann, Joaquin, Commissioner, European Commission
GR, Alogoskoufis, George, Minister of Economy and Finance
TR, Babacan, Ali, Minister of Economic Affairs
P, Balsemão, Francisco Pinto, Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA, S.G.P.S.; Former Prime Minister
INT, Barroso. José M. Durão, President, European Commission
S, Belfrage, Erik, Senior Vice President, SEB
I, Bernabè, Franco, Vice Chairman, Rothschild Europe
F, Beytout, Nicolas, Editor-in-Chief, Le Figaro
A, Bronner, Oscar, Publisher and Editor, Der Standard
GB, Browne, John, Group Chief Executive, BP plc
D, Burda, Hubert, Chairman of the Board of Management, Hubert Burda Media
IRL, Byrne, David, WHO Special Envoy on Global Cornmunicable Diseases; Former Commissioner, European Commission
F, Camus, Philippe, CEO, EADS
F, Castries, Henri de Chairman of the Board, AXA
E, Cebrián. Juan Luis, CEO, PRISA
USA, Collins, Timothy C., Senior Managing Director and CEO, Ripplewood Holdings, LLC
F, Collomb, Bertrand, Chairman, Lafarge
CH, Couchepin, Pascal, Head, Department of Home Affairs
GR, David, George A., Chairman, Coca-Cola H.B.C. S.A.
F, Delpech, Thérèse, Director for Strategic Affairs, Atomic Energy Commission
GR, Diamantopoulou, Anna, Member of Parliament
NL, Docters van Leeuwen, Arthur W.H., Chairman of the Executive Board, Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets
USA, Donilon, Thomas E., Partner, O’Melveny & Myers
D, Döpfner, Mathias, CEO, Axel Springer AG
DK, Eldrup, Anders, President, DONG A/S
I, Elkann, John, Vice Chairman, Fiat S.p.A.
USA, Feldstein, Martin S, President and CEO, National Bureau of Economic Research
USA, Ford, Jr., William C., Chairman and CEO, Ford Motor Company
USA, Geithner, Timothy F., President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
TR, Gencer, Imregul, Member of the Board, Global Investment Holding
ISR, Gilady, Eival, Strategic Advisor to Prime Minister Sharon
IRL, Gleeson, Dermot, Chairman, AIB Group
USA, Graham, Donald E., Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company
N, Grydeland, Bjørn T., Ambassador to the EU
P, Guterres, António, Former Prime Minister; President, Socialist International
USA, Haass, Richard N., President, Council on Foreign Relations
NL, Halberstadt, Victor, Professor of Economics, Leiden University
B, Hansen, Jean-Pierre, CEO, Suez-Tractebel S.A.
A, Haselsteiner, Hans Peter, CEO, Bauholding Strabag SE (Societas Europea)
DK, Hedegaard, Connie, Minister for the Environment
USA, Holbrooke, Richard C., Vice Chairman, Perseus
INT, Hoop Scheffer, Jaap G. de Secretary General, NATO
USA, Hubbard, Allan B., Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council
B, Huyghebaert, Jan, Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group
USA, Johnson, James A., Vice Chairman, Perseus LLC
INT, Jones, James L., Supreme Allied Commander Euope, SHAPE
USA, Jordan, Jr.,Vernon E., Senior Managing Director, Lazard Frères & Co. LLC
USA, Keane, John M., President, GSI, LLC; General, US Army, Retired
GB, Kerr, John, Director, Shell, Rio Tinto, Scottish Americal Investment Trust
USA, Kissinger, Henry A., Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.
D, Kleinfeld, Klaus, President and CEO, Siemens AG
TR, Koç, Mustafa V., Chairman, Koç Holding A.S.
D, Kopper, Hilmar, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, DaimlerChrysler AG
F, Kouchner, Bernard, Director, "Santé et développement", CNAM
USA, Kravis, Henry R., Founding Partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
USA, Kravis, Marie-Josée, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Inc.
INT, Kroes, Neelie, Commissioner, European Commission
CH, Kudelski, André, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Kudelski Group
F, Lamy, Pascal, President, Notre Europe; Former Commissioner, European Commission
USA, Ledeen, Michael A., American Enterprise Institute
FIN, Liikanen, Erkki, Govemor and Chairman of the Board, Bank of Finland
N, Lundestad, Geir, Director, Norwegian Nobel Institute; Secretary, Norwegian Nobel Committee
USA, Luti, William J., Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs
DK, Lykketoft, Mogens, Chairman, Social Democratic Party
CDN, Manji, Irshad, Author/Founder of "Project Ijtihad”
USA, Mathews, Jessica T., President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
CDN, Mau, Bruce, Bruce Mau Design
CDN, McKenna, Frank, Ambasssador to the US
USA, Medish, Mark C., Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
USA, Mehlman, Kenneth B., Chairman, Republican National Committee
D, Merkel, Angela, Chairman, CDU; Chairman CDU/CSU-Fraction
SVK, Miklos, Ivan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
F, Montbrial, Thierry de, President, French Institute of International Relations (IFRI)
INT, Monti, Mario, President, Bocconi University; Former Commissioner for Competition, European Commission
CDN, Munroe-Blum, Heather, Principal and Vice Chancellor, McGill University
N, Myklebust, Egil, Chairman of the Board of Directors, SAS
D, Nass, Matthias, Deputy Editor, Die Zeit
RUS, Nemirovskaya, Elena, Founder and Director, Moscow School of Political Studies
NL, Netherlands, H.M. tihe Queen of The
PL, Olechowski, Andrzej, Leader Civic Platform
FIN, Ollila, Jorma, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Nokia Corporation
INT, Padoa-Schioppa, Tommaso, Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank
E, Palacio, Loyola de, President, Council on Foreign Relations, Partido Popular
GR, Papandreou, George A., President, Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK)
USA, Pearl, Frank H., Chairman and CEO, Perseus, LLC
USA, Pearlstine, Norman, Editor-in-Chief, Time Inc.
FIN, Pentikäinen, Mikael, President, Sanoma Corporation
USA, Perle, Richard N., Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
D, Pflüger, Friedbert, Member of Parliament, CDU/CSU Fraktion
B, Philippe, H.R.H. Prince
CDN, Prichard, J. Robert S., President. Torstar Media Group and CEO, Torstar Corporation
IN'T, Rato y Figaredo, Rodrigo de, Managing Director, IMF
CDN, Reisman, Heather, President and CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc.
USA, Rockefeller, David, Member, JP Morgan International Council
USA, Rodin, Judith, President, The Rockefeller Foundation
E, Rodriguez Inciarte, Matias, Executive Vice Chairman, Grupo Santander
USA, Ross, Dennis B., Director, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
F, Roy, Olivier, Senior Researcher, CNRS
P, Sarmento, Nuno Morais, Former Minister of State and of Presidency; Member of Parliament
I, Scaroni, Paolo, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Enel S.p.A.
D, Schily, Otto, Minister of the Interior
A, Scholten, Rudolf, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG
D, Schrempp , Jürgen E., Chairman of the Board of Management, DaimlerChrysler AG
D, Schulz, Ekkehard D., Chairman of the Executive Board, ThyssenKrupp AG
E, Sebastián Gascón, Miguel, Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister
ISR, Sharansky, Natan, Former Minister for Jerusalem & Diaspora Affairs
I, Siniscalco, Domenico, Minister for Economy and Finance
GB, Skidelsky, Robert, Professor of Political Economy, Warwick University
E, Spain, H.M. the Queen of
IRL, Sutherland, Peter D., Chairman, Goldman Sachs International; Chairman, BP p.l.c.
PL, Szwajcowski, Jacek, CEO, Polska Grupa Farmaceutyczna
FIN, Tiilikainen, Teija H., Director, University of Helsinki, Network for European Studies
NL, Tilmant, Michel, Chairman, ING N.V.
INT, Trichet, Jean-Claude, Governor, European Central Bank
TR, Ülsever, Cüneyt, Columnist, Hürriyet
CH, Vasella, Daniel L., Chairman and CEO, Novartis AG
NL, Veer, Jeroen van der, Chairman Committee of.Managing Directors, Royal Dutch Shell Group
USA, Vinocur, John, Senior Correspondent, International Herald Tribune
S, Wallenberg, Jacob, Chairman of the Board, Investor AB; Vice-Chairman, SEB
USA, Warner, Mark R., Governor of Virginia
GB, Weinberg, Peter, CEO, Goldman Sachs International
D, Wissmann, Matthias, Member of Parliament, CDU/CSU Fraktion
GB, Wolf, Martin H., Asscociate Editor and Economics Commentator, The Financial Times
INT/USA, Wolfensohn, James D., President, The World Bank
USA, Wolfowitz, Paul, President designate, The World Bank
USA, Zakaria, Fareed, Editor, Newsweek International
D, Zumwinkel, Klaus, Chairman of the Board of Management, Deutsche Post AG
GB, Micklethwait, R., John, United States Editor, The Economist
GB, Wooldridge, Adrian D., Foreign Correspondent, The Economist
Please forward to newsdesks and anyone interested in globalisation or international covert power.
Hi all,
Well done Jim Tucker and Marek for getting the correct location. This year's Bilderberg Meeting is now taking place in:
Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Überfahrt Tegernsee
http://www.hotel.de/HotelLink.asp?hotelagentnr=836372&lng=EN&hs_persons=1&h_hmid=52291
Ueberfahrtstr. 10
83700
ROTTACH-EGERN
GERMANY
Tel :(+49)8022/6690
Fax :(+49)8022/6691000
E-mail : h5414@accor.com
Hotel manager: Mr Chris MUTH
Head chef: Mr Peter SKOLIK
Contact Marion Strobel on +49 (0)8022 669 2613 for the conference and for press releases with participant lists which she can fax to you.
Contacy Tony Gosling on +44 (0)117 944 6219 mob +44 (0)7786 952037 for the Bilderberg accountability campaign (www.bilderberg.org)
Interesting that the Financial Times published a pre-prepared article about the conference
http://www.bilderberg.org/2005.htm#Power
the day after I released the predicted date and location of this year's meeting.
Daniel Dombey made no mention in his FT article of record breaking and award winning 'Lombard' columnist C. Gordon Tether who was sacked from the Financial Times for criticising Bilderberg.
see http://www.bilderberg.org/bilder.htm#banned
Instead the article was one-sidedly uncritical, designed to discourage coverage of arguably the most important annual power elite gathering in the world. Dombey interviewed only chiefs of the Bilderberg meeting, who say the meeting is private, ignoring its global influence and many critics around the world.
The confirmed conjunction with the UK elections is clearly significant. This years meeting is likely to be considering how to persue an attack on Iran in the light of the UK election result.
14:50 BST - Bristol - Tony Gosling
Tegernsee: Dorint Sofitel
Tony Gosling
Yes, it's Bilderberg time again. But this is the first year there has been no watertight evidence from Jim Tucker at American Free Press as to where and when the conference is taking place. This year a tiny team of one unpaid but dedicated researcher, Marek, has had to go on a vague source from a French journalist Bruno and a lot of educated guesswork and deduction. Therefore, this may be a victory for the Bilderberg as only guesswork and a prayer will steer the European media to where the 'innocent private party' are hiding this May.
It is media coverage that this party most dislike so you are not invited. Though they try to use 'security fears' to keep press silence, you will find the same frosty reception whether or not you arrive with your full press credentials or not. Polite but cold. Yes, even the most tame press breach their security because they want absolutely no reporting of this event. Not only must the discussions inside remain secret but the very fact that they are there must be secret. Every year is a David and Goliath battle to get any mass media to realise that this is the most important annual gathering of the most powerful people in the Western world. It is here that strategies are decided to keep the USA's failed economy afloat by grabbing more assets, by force, to back it up. Its where Europe recieves its orders, with a polite smile, from across the Atlantic.
This year, after having seen several DVD's of video evidence, I finally realised for certain that 9/11 was set up by US NeoCon gangsters. Jimmy Walter (www.reopen911.org), Eric Hufschmid (www.erichufschmid.net), Dave VonKleist (www.thepowerhour.com) and Canadian Daniel Hopsickers's (www.madcowprod.com) are the best I have seen. These North American DVD makers have shone the light on the most disgusting liars in their midst so that the world might see. But will the world look the other way?
In the UK Simon Aronowitz (www.911truthradio.com) has produced a radio loop of riveting 9/11 interviews lasting several hours. We can't rely on the BBC or any mainstream media to show us, the jury, this evidence, so we have to seek it out for ourselves. I particularly recommend Jimmy Walters' FREE DVD available from www.reopen911.org it explains, amongst other gob-smackers, why the twin towers must have been brought down by pre-set explosives.
The NeoCon's have lit the blue touch-paper to the next World War. As we begin to close in on Dick Cheney's central role in planning and perpetrating 9/11 he and his diabolical partners will be pushed, like cornered animals, to ever greater atrocities. Next time it may well be a Nuclear, Chemical or Biological attack, blamed on whoever they want to blame, such is the slavish compliance of the mainstream press.
The mainstream media's editors bear a great responsibility for perpetrating the lie that is Moslem terrorism. If the US army tell them a bomb attack outside a mosque was a 'suicide bomber' they unthinkingly repeat it to the world. If eyewitnesses on the ground saw a US helicopter fire a missile into the crowd it is still a suicide bomber because access has been denied to 'unembedded journalists' and the free press in Iraq has been shut down at gunpoint.
The mainstream Western editors refuse to represent the overwhelming evidence that 9/11 was an inside job, they unquestioningly trot out the lies told by the military as if they were fact. They do not come even close to a balance of proof for either side of the idealogical divide in this postmodern war where goodies are baddies and baddies are goodies and innocent men, women and children die by their hundreds of thousands in the ensuing confusion. One side, you see, has all the financial clout to push their line and they listen in on every media channel and hammer owners and editors when the channel steps out of line. In all but the most robust media the best way to lose your job as a journalist is to question that line. Like CNN editor Eason Jordan, sacked in February this year for daring to admit that US troops had deliberately targetted unembedded journalists.
Which side of this line of belief, pro or anti war on terror, is not just dividing the employed from the unemployed, it is dividing the world. Plunging us, quite possibly, into a global civil war between the independent minded and mostly impoverished sceptics, and those tied in to capitalism who uncritically toe the official line, not wishing to believe that the rich and powerful could hold the rest of humanity in such contempt. Their belief in the war on terror conveniently alienating them from society's victims. By launching his War on Terror George W. and his NeoCon family could well have launched humanity on an irevoccable, earth-shattering slide to Armageddon. The ultimate battle which really will end all wars, fortold by, amongst others, Daniel, Ezekiel, Jesus Christ and the apostle John.
To read the words http://www.bilderberg.org/trib.htm
To see in pictures http://www.bilderberg.org/bible.jpg
Millions in the West sense that something is horribly wrong with this War on Terror but few articulate it as well as 2004 BAFTA award winning documentary maker Adam Curtis. His three part BBC2 series 'The Power of Nightmares' illustrated brilliantly that rather that sell us dreams of a bright future, western politicians have found it expedient to sell us nightmares, because it brings them much more power in the form of executive arrests, internment without trial and massive spending on surveillance and security. All these totalitarian control freaks have to do is lie professionally and they may succeed in lead us to a police state with their nightmare stories. Exactly what we thought we had fought off after Hitler. The attacks on Moslems closely parallel the attacks on Jews in World War II. But however much wax and pesticides you spray on, their lies have a shorter and shorter shelf-life, their sell-by date has come.
You can be sure the Bilderbergers will be watching the UK elections closely, will probably be taking place during this year's conference. And millions around the world will be watching, hoping and praying. Particularly here in England we are worried that postal voting fraud will be the way New Labour tries to cheat its way back to power. There has been a vote fraud scandal here in Birmingham with New Labour candidates forging postal ballots and the Liberal Democrat party having to force the police to persue criminal charges. Judge Richard Mawey last month called the current law on postal voting 'an open invitation to fraud', that would 'disgrace a banana republic'. You can guess the lawless New Labour pary clones will merrily take up the invite to fraud on polling day.
The integrity of the election is being called into question as in North Wales, Lancashire and Shropshire, Bexley and elsewhere yawning gaps in the postal voting process are revealed. The Labour party have blandly promised to deal with postal voting fraud 'after the election'.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4493147.stm
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,5180237-115819,00.html
Every switched on person in Britain is praying that the Liberal Democrats will come up between Labour and Conservative to make sure there's no overall control in Westminster come the end of next week and this year's Munich (maybe) Bilderberg meeting. The moment Britain has decided, they will be scheming - and doing their damnedest to stitch up the military and economic agenda for the G8 and other media shows for the next year.
Every time he says "Look...", you wince, knowing he's going to lie again! Let's hope the good people of old Blighty and her maternal secret ballot can deliver the world some quality goods this week. If she does, righteous people across the world can party as the vile visage of Tony Blair disappears with his torso into a firey red hole in the ground and this odious, sold-out, Neo-Labour lets out a terminal groan. I just felt the world get lighter! So let's drink, and pray, to that.
[Jim seems certain but I am not so sure of this year's venue - dates certainly appear correct as this is the only time Queen Bea is free - Tony Gosling]
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bilderberg_found_.html
By James P. Tucker Jr.
ROTTACH-EGERN, Germany—European Bilderberg hunters have found the hiding place of this secretive cabal at a posh resort in this charming little city 40 miles from Munich. Their annual meeting is May 5-8.
Bilderberg is gathering at the Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Ueberfahrt, a five-star conference and business hotel with 188 luxury rooms. It is on a lake and near a golf course—typical Bilderberg requirements. High officials of the U.S. government and possibly a few congressional leaders will participate in three days of secret meetings to plan global policy. Heads of state and other high officials from Europe and Britain will participate, along with world financiers.
David Rockefeller and his valet, Henry Kissinger, are longtime Bilderberg regulars. Donald Graham, publisher of The Washington Post, and associate editor Jimmy Lee Hoagland regularly attend, upon their promise to report nothing.
The New York Times, LA Times and all major networks—ABC, CBS and NBC—have participated. All participants are sworn to secrecy. Bilderberg denies its existence, and all the resorts at which they hold their meetings require their employees to lie and deny they are present.
Three times the Dorint told AFP they were fully booked—but that Bilderberg was not there. All but Bilderberg participants and their staffs, wives or, in some cases, someone else’s wife, will be required to leave. The hotel staff will be warned to reveal nothing of what they see and hear.
Armed guards will patrol not only the main entrance but the perimeters.
Exposing Bilderberg meetings has provided advance warning—months ahead of the mainstream media—of U.S. wars, tax increases, and the downfall of Margaret Thatcher as prime minister of Britain, among other exclusives.
Sunday, May 1
Leave Washington-Dulles 5:40 p.m. United Airlines Flight 902.
Monday, May 2
Arrive at Franz Straus terminal 2 at 8 a.m.
Check into the Walters Hof in Rottach Egern (phone: 011-49 (0) 80 222 770).
Monday, May 9
Leave Munich on Lufthansa Flight 9280 at 11:55 a.m.
Arrive Washington-Dulles at 3:10 p.m.
Not Copyrighted. Readers can reprint and are free to redistribute - as long as full credit is given to American Free Press - 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 100 Washington, D.C. 20003
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bilderberg_found_.html
The most important and most secret conference in the world is to be held in a few days. Every year there is some reliable information on where the conference is to be... but not this time.
As every year, you might say. Yes, as every year. But as I explained in a previous article this one is so important the wall of secrecy must be solid.
Some of the points I predicted are already beginning to materialize. I was speaking about the willingness to revalue the Chinese yuan, imagine what the G7 spoke about to China last week? I was also speaking about the Taïwan straight and risk of nuclearization of Japan. What have you seen? Ms. Rice in Japan making this country an ally of the US administration about Taïwan, and demonstrations in China followed by the flat excuses of Mr prime minister of Japan for the “excesses” of Japanese occupation of Asia during WWII.
No papers in the whole world, even if they know where the Bilderberg meeting is to be held will tell you where, or mention. This is a secret for the elite, kept from the people. If he breaks the promise the journalist breaks his nice relations with his employer. They utter the magic word 'security' and almost every journalist with a professional interest turns around and leaves the stage, to find a new assignment. They just say you: “don't worry, this is not important, just a private symposium of people wanting to speak together without people able to tell anyone what they think and said”. They forget to tell you they control the levers of NATO the finance and industry of the Western world.
A private meeting? This is untrue. First the meeting is always englobing people well known and/or ultra-powerful, the trustees of humanity. All attendants are mixed with power or power intents, or the disemmination of ideas. Power and money. Plutocracy, not democracy. Secondly, as I showed you, all what is said is engaging European and American peoples. This is a transatlantic meeting about Europe and NATO. Evidence is easily found in the presence of CIA agency covering it. This is a perfect corridor to transmit orders from criminal elements in Washington to the European feudalism.(including the Blair’s government)
Third point, this is explaining the European press’s ignorance and maybe cowardice.
Now, to come to next conference, Bilderberg 2005, to be held in Munich, I believe this one to be held from may 5 to may 8, 2005. Why ?
First of all: a lot of these conferences are held when the “Commander in Chief” is around. It's a little 'in-joke' for the 'secret gang' that nobody knows he's there. Maybe the world's press would be a little more interested if really ALL the powerful were in the same place so it must be left