Bilderberg

Bilderberg

Queen Beatrix of

The Netherlands at the 2000 Bilderberg conference in Brussels.

Bilderberg was founded by her father, Prince Bernhard.

Since 1954, the world's top political and industrial leaders have met in secret at the annual conference of the Bilderberg group. There are no published minutes of the meetings and only in the last few years has Bilderberg published a list of the delegates. Selected journalists who attend are forbidden to report on it.

Find out about Bilderberg and view some more conference photos at www.bilderberg.org

The Hunt for the Secret Global Meeting is On

AFP's Jim Tucker Begins Quest for Bilderberg

By James P. Tucker Jr., American Free Press

20th February 2006

Original Link>>

American Free Press is busily engaged in the annual ritual of hunting down the Bilderberg Group, which will hope to meet in secret this spring. When the last rock is turned over and their location and meeting times unearthed, AFP readers will be the first in America to know.

Some sources believe Bilderberg will meet near Innsbruck, Austria, as it did in 1988. Others think somewhere in North America, as Bilderberg has a number of times over the years. Adding weight to this theory is that it is North America�s �turn� to host Bilderberg.

Typically, the power elite meets in Europe for three years, then in North America. The last Bilderberg meeting on this side of the pond was in Chantilly, Va., in 2002.

Uncovering the secretive group of international financiers and political leaders is a difficult annual challenge. A year ago, the precise location and date in Germany were finally uncovered by journalist and AFP collaborator Danny Estulin of Spain. AFP Managing Editor Christopher J. Petherick had to call this sleuth in the middle of the night and tell him to �grab his other pair of socks� and head to Dulles Airport in northern Virginia.

In 2000, when yours truly was with the now defunct Spotlight, it was positively determined that Bilderberg would meet in the area of Brussels, Belgium, June 1-3. But the precise location was unclear.

I was standing at the Men�s Bar in the National Press Club, bag packed and waiting for the shuttle bus to Dulles, when the break came. An old friend who was involved in international commerce and who was personally acquainted with many Bilderberg luminaries, had, as usual, been helping in the search.

He called me with the precise location. I then called the news office and the front page of the newspaper was taken apart and put together again to reflect the breaking news.

This old Bilderberg hound is hoping we don�t have to cut it that close this year. But it gets tougher every year and I�m keeping a week�s supply of clean shirts on hand at all times.

INSIDE BILDERBERG

And although I�m not usually such a shameless self-promoter, I would recommend that every AFP reader purchase my book, Jim Tucker�s Bilderberg Diary. In this 280-page book I recount the adventures I have had tracking down Bilderberg and crashing their party every year (almost) for the past 25 years.

I�ve also included dozens of exclusive photos snapped by me and my colleagues of the meetings and which few�if any�other Americans besides the readers of this paper and The Spotlight have ever seen. I think you�ll especially like the photo with me and Maggie Thatcher, who agreed to a private meeting with me after she realized Bilderberg was more than, �tea and crumpet� party. She came out publicly against Bilderberg after that and was the victim of a Bilderberg campaign to have her defeated in herre-election bid as Britain�s prime minster.

Bilderberg doesn�t like it when �their own� expose the group. There�s lots more in the book but I wouldn�t want to ruin all the surprises for you. By the way, the proceeds from the purchase of the book will go to help fund my travel expenses and the other costs AFP incurs bringing you these exclusive Bilderberg reports.

Inside the secretive Bilderberg Group

BBC News website, 29th September 2005

Original Link>>

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.

Bilderberg's head Viscount Davignon plays down the group's role in setting the international agenda.

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."

Lack of publicity

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."

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.

Bill Clinton was featured at a Bilderberg meeting while he was governor of Arkansas.

Bill Clinton was featured at a Bilderberg meeting while he was Governer of Arkansas

"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."

'Common sense'

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.

'Secret Government'

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.