It was particularly difficult this year to find out when and where the annual conclave
of world powerbrokers, the Bilderberg Group, would take place. Finally, it appears certain
that the highly secret meeting of western political-military elites will take place from
June 5 – 8 in Chantilly, Virginia, near Washington, in a luxury hotel immersed in
nature, the Westfield’s Marriott.
What is Bilderberg? The Bilderberg group, which convened for the first time in
1954 in Holland, is considered the most powerful decision-making organization in the
world. Semi-secret (without even a website), the group consists of elite political,
financial, managerial, military, and media leaders from North America and Western Europe.
In contrast with the Trilateral Commission, which was created out of the Bilderberg Group
specifically to work with emerging Asian nations (Japan in the Seventies, China and India
today), the Bilderberg Group is a genuine “shadow government” of the West that,
some critics say, decides the fate of the world to suit the interests of the restricted
oligarchy it represents.
On the Table. Two years ago, a press release sent out on the date of the
opening session in 2006 (held in Ottawa, Canada), explained that the annual meeting would
discuss the War on Terrorism, the situation in Iran and the Middle East, Oil, Russia,
US-EU relations, and relations between the West and Asia, as well as Immigration. It is to
be supposed that this year’s meeting will include discussion of current international
emergencies, such as Afghanistan, the high cost of oil, and the world economic crisis.
Concerning oil: after the Ottawa meeting, indiscreet leaks reported that a decision had
been announced by oil producers to raise the cost of oil to over $100 a barrel over the
course of two years.
The most recent list of Bilderberg members dates from the 2006 meeting, and includes
high Bush administration officials, Henry Kissinger, the directors of the Federal Reserve
Bank, Credit Suisse, Rothschild Europe (Vice President Franco Bernabč), representatives
of Shell, BP, and ENI (Paolo Scaroni), Coca Cola, Phillips, Unilever, Time Warner, AOL,
Tyssen-Krupp, and Fiat (Vice President John Elkann). Also present were representatives
from Nato, the United Nations, the World Bank, the European Union, and economists
(including Giulio Tremonti and Mario Monti) and many Western leaders (Italy’s
representative was Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa). See below other Italian participants at past
Bilderberg meetings.
Why all the privacy?
Considering the grave importance to the public of the
subjects discussed and the people present at the meetings, it would be logical – if
for no other reason that to discourage paranoid theories – not to keep the
meetings so private (or secret, if you prefer), and not to hold them behind closed doors
in super-secure locations surrounded by armed guards, far from the prying eyes of
journalists and the curious. If they have nothing to hide, why are they hiding?
