Conspiracy theorists of the world unite

The great and the good are about to descend on Rottach-Egern, a small city 40 miles from Munich, for the annual gathering of the Bilderberg group, a secretive organisation that gets conspiracy theorists drooling. Part of the fun seems to be the ritual of finding out where the event takes place.

About 120 of the world's movers and shakers will gather to discuss the meaning of "freedom", a favourite subject of the US president, George Bush. In fact, there is speculation that Bush will join the cream of the world's elite, as he will be in Europe from tomorrow for visits to Latvia, the Netherlands and Russia.

According to the Financial Times, also attending this year's event will be Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state, Natan Sharansky, the author of Bush's favourite book on democracy, and Bernard Kouchner, the founder of the charity Medecins sans Frontières and former UN envoy to Kosovo.

Because the Bilderberg group - the name comes from the hotel in Holland it first met in 1954 - meets behind closed doors, its meetings' activities are the subject of fevered speculation. Conspiracy theorists, whether from the left or right, share one article of faith about the Bilderberg group: it

is part of a worldwide conspiracy that runs the world.

For the less conspiratorially-minded, the Bilderberg group seems nothing more than a glorified Davos meeting, that other exercise in punditry on the ski slopes. But because Davos is crawling with reporters, the conspiracy theorists do not get as worked up about it as Bilderberg. (Guardian, 5.05.2005) http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2005/may/05/conspiracytheo