Out of the Mists
Out of the Mists
‘Bilderberg’ is the name of a hotel in Oosterbeek near Arnhem in Holland in 1954, a group of politico’s and the wealthiest and most powerful establishment figures from every Western nation gathered for a meeting. That pioneering meeting grew out of the concern expressed by many leading citizens on both sides of the Atlantic that Western Europe and North America were not working together as closely as they should on matters of critical importance.
The group included royalty, executives of multinational corporations, leading statesmen, ex-military top brass and other elite people of influence. This meeting was to be the first of many, usually annual meetings, the people invited to attend changing with the years as different people were and are gaining prominence within their own countries, there are around 100 regulars and the other invitees vary. ‘Bilderberger’ is the name given to each individual who attends.
The Bilderberg meetings, which take place at a different venue every year, go unannounced, their speeches unreported and their decisions unrecorded. Until recently when the main stream media has begun to take note of the meetings.
Just some of the people who have attended meetings are Edward Heath, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Kenneth Clarke, Lord Peter Carrington (Bilderberg Conference Chairman) Peter Mandelson, Bill Clinton, George Robertson., Richard Perle (former U.S. assistant secretary of National Defense and one of the champions of the Strategic Defense Initiative and Euro-missile deployment), Paul Volker (former Federal Reserve chairman). From the Press Conrad Black, Peter Job (Head of Reuters), Andrew Knight (Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and media empire). Andrew Knight (editor of the Economist) and George Will (U.S. conservative columnist and commentator), to name just a few. Apparently Margaret Thatcher attended but, denounced the group for threatening British sovereignty.
CHAIRMAN
“The first [Bilderberg] meeting was convened under the chairmanship of H. R. H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, who served as chairman for twenty-two years. He was succeeded by Lord Home of the Hirsel, former Prime Minister for the United Kingdom, who chaired the meetings for four years.
At the 1980 meeting, Lord Home turned over the chairmanship to Walter Scheel, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1985, Mr Scheel resigned, and was succeeded by Lord Roll of Ipsden, President of S. G. Warburg Group plc. At 1989 meeting, Lord Roll turned over the chairmanship to Lord Carrington,”who still chairs the meetings.
“What is unique about Bilderberg as a forum is, the broad cross-section of leading citizens, in and out of government, that are assembled for nearly three days of informal discussion about topics of current concern, especially in the fields of foreign affairs and the international economy; the strong feeling among participants that, in view of the differing attitudes and experiences of the Western nations, there is a clear need to develop an understanding in which these concerns can be accommodated; and the privacy of these meetings, which has no purpose other than to allow leading citizens to speak their minds openly and freely.
“In short, Bilderberg is a recognised, flexible and informal international leadership forum in which different viewpoints can be expressed and mutual understanding enhanced.”
However not all see it that way, there is the theory accepted by many, obviously Thatcher included, that Bilderberg pulls the strings with which national governments dance. Critics of the Bilderberg say that the secret group:
• perceives itself as being supra-governmental;
• manipulates global finances and establishes rigid and binding monetary rates around the world;
• selects political figures whom the Bilderberg decrees should become rulers, and targets those whom it wants removed from power;
• decides which countries shall wage war on others.
And while hardline right-wingers and libertarians accuse Bilderberg of being a liberal Zionist plot, leftists such as activist Tony Gosling are equally critical.
A former journalist, Mr Gosling runs a campaign against the group from his home in Bristol, UK.
“My main problem is the secrecy. When so many people with so much power get together in one place I think we are owed an explanation of what is going onâ€.
Mr Gosling seizes on a quote from Will Hutton, the British economist and a former Bilderberg delegate, who likened it to the annual WEF gathering where “the consensus established is the backdrop against which policy is made worldwide”.
One BBC report said the ‘Bilderberg’ meetings are “officially described as a private gatherings,” “but with a guest list including the heads of European and American corporations, political leaders and a few intellectuals, it’s one of the most influential organizations on the planet.”
This years meeting was held in Grand Hotel des Iles Borromees Stresa, Italy in early June.
Some observers suggest that President Bush made an appearance at this year’s event, by coincidence, it just so happens that Bush was in Italy over that weekend.
I suppose it is a question why all these influential people gather in one place to exchange views conspiracy theory would point to certain unexplained events that could indicate that things do not happen by mere chance so there must be another explanation.
One of the puzzles of our times is why so many British political leaders have been prepared to go against their national interests and pass power to the EU and override the British Constitution in the way they have. And yet over the last thirty years none of these very clever people have been able to come up with a convincing argument to back up their actions. Two recent examples of inexplicable political behaviour spring to my mind; Why was the previous Tory leader deposed by the party, he was the first Tory leader to be elected by the whole party, and therefore had a clear mandate to be leader, he brought the party from twenty points behind to just in front of Labour in a single year, yet he was got rid of by a cabal of MPs, who then put in his place without an election the present leader, the other incident, why was a twice disgraced politician selected to be an EU Commissioner. I would suggest in normal politics these things would not happen.
For more information on the ‘Bilderberg’ Group just do a google,
