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Bilderberg 2001 information and discussion forum:
Please share English translations of articles and links here, Thanks!
http://pub44.bravenet.com/forum/show.php?usernum=3765661844&cpv=1
Spotlight post-conference articles
http://www.spotlight.org/06_06_01/Spotlight_Busts_Bilderbergers_/spotlight_busts_bilderbergers_.html
http://www.spotlight.org/06_06_01/Will_Bilderberg_Group_Come_Out/will_bilderberg_group_come_out.html
Commentary in Swedish http://sweden.indymedia.org
BILDERBERG MEETINGS
24 May 2001
The 49th Bilderberg Meeting will be held in Stenungsund, Sweden 24-27th May 2001. Among other subjects the conference will discuss Defence, China/Japan, Russia, Europe, Productivity, Agriculture, Middle East, Globalisation.
Approximately 110 participants from North America and Europe will attend the discussions. The meeting is private in order to encourage frank and open discussion. [and so that commitments made by politicians to businessmen and bankers can remain secret]
Bilderberg takes its name from the hotel in Holland where the first meeting took place in May 1954. That pioneering meeting grew out of the concern expressed by leading citizens on both sides of the Atlantic that Western Europe and North America were not working together as closely as they should on common problems of critical importance. It was felt that regular off-the-record discussions would help create a better understanding of the complex forces and major trends affecting Western nations in the difficult post-war period.
The Cold War has now ended [and we must ask ourselves: was it just an excuse for a massive arms build up?] But in practically all respects there are more, not fewer, common problems - from trade to jobs, from monetary policy to investment, from ecological challenges to the task of promoting of international security. It is hard to think of any major issue in either Europe or North America whose unilateral solution would not have repercussions for the other.
Thus the concept of a European-American forum has not been overtaken by time. The dialogue between these two regions is still - even increasingly - critical.
What is unique about Bilderberg as a forum is the broad cross-section of leading citizens that are assembled for nearly three days of informal and off-the-record discussions 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 remains a clear need to further develop an understanding in which these concerns can be accommodated; the privacy of the meetings, which has no purpose other than to allow participants to speak their minds openly and freely. In short, Bilderberg is a small, flexible, informal and off-the-record international forum in which different viewpoints can be expressed and mutual understanding enhanced.
Bilderberg's only activity is it's annual conference.[you forgot the steering group, which invites speakers and meets more frequently]. At the meetings no resolutions are proposed, no votes taken, and no policy statements issued [at least none that are attributed to Bilderberg]. Since 1954, forty-seven conferences have been held. The names of the participants are made available to the press. Participants are chosen for their experience, their knowledge, and their standing; all participants attend Bilderberg in a private and not an official capacity. There are usually about 120 participants of whom about two-thirds come from Europe and the balance from North America. About one third are from government and politics, and two-thirds from finance, industry, labor, education, communications.
Participants have agreed not to give interviews to the press during the meeting. In contacts with the news media after the conference it is an established rule that no attribution should be made to individual participants of what was discussed during the meeting.
There will be no press conference. A list of participants is appended.
USA. Allaire, Paul A. - Chairman of the board of directors and CEO, Xerox Corporation; member, Council on Foreign Relations
DK. Andersen, Bodil Nyboe - Governor, Central Bank of Denmark
GB. Balls, Ed - Chief Economic Adviser, Spads, HM Treasury
P. Balsemão, Francisco Pinto - Professor of Communication Science, New University of Lisbon; Chairman, Impresa SGPS; Former Prime Minister.
S. Barnevik, Percy - Chairman, Investor AB and ABB (Asea Brown Boveri Ltd.)
N. Bergesen, Jr. Finn - Administrative director, NHO (Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry)
I. Bernabè, Franco - Chairman, Franco Bernabè Group; International Board of the World Economic Forum; Special Representative of the Government of Italy to the Balkan, Board member of Peres Center for Peace (President - Uri Savir).
F. Beytout, Nicolas - Editor-in-Chief, Les Echos
CDN. Black, Conrad M. - Canada, Chairman and C.E.O., Hollinger International, Inc.; Chairman, Telegraph Group Ltd.
F. Bon, Michel - Chairman and CEO of France Télécom
IRL. Bruton, John - Former Prime Minister of Ireland; Vice Chairperson of the EPP and CDI
D. Burda, Hubert - Germany, Publisher, Burda Verlag (magazines) media
NL. Burgmans, Antony - Netherlands, C.E.O, Unilever NV
E. Cebrián, Juan L. - VC, Sogecable, S.A. (TV Broadcasting); CEO PRISA (El Pais)
F. Collomb, Bertrand - Chairman and CEO, Lafarge; Director, Total Fina Elf Group (petroleum & chemicals), Atco; Supervisory Board, Allianz; Board of Directors, Credit Commercial de France
CH. Couchepin, Pascal - Minister of Economic Affairs; Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Public Economy, (Swiss Federal Councillor)
INT. Courtis, Kenneth S. - Vice President for Asia of Goldman Sachs, (Japan) Inc.; International Research Council of the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CSIS) in Washington and Economic Strategy Institute in Washington.[Canadian]
IRL. Cox, Pat - President of the Liberal Democrat Group (ELDR), European Parliament.
USA. Dam, Kenneth S. - Deputy Secretary designate at US Department of the Treasury; member, Council on Foreign Relations (New York)
B. Davignon, Etienne - Chairman, Société Générale de Belgique; Former Vice Chairman of the Commission of the European Communities
GR. David, George A. - Chairman, Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company SA.
USA. Dodd, Christopher J. - Senator, Democratic Party, Connecticut; member, Council on Foreign Relations
USA. Donilon, Thomas E. - Executive Vice President, Law and Policy, FannieMae; member, Council on Foreign Relations
I. Draghi, Mario - President of the Economic and Financial Committee, Council of the EU - Director General, Ministry of the Treasury
USA. Eisenhower, Susan - Tufts University, Asst. Director, Communications and Media Studies; President, the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute
DK. Eldrup, Anders - Permanant Secretary, Ministry of Finance; Danish government representative to SAS (airlines)
TR. Erçel, Gazi - Merkez Bank; former governor Central Bank of Turkey
USA. Feldstein, Martin - Professor of economics at Harvard University; President and CEO, National Bureau of Economic Research.; member, Council on Foreign Relations
INT. Fischler, Franz - E.U. Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission
USA. Glickman, Dan - Former Secretary of Agriculture; Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld L.L.P.
USA. Graham, Donald E. - Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company
I. Gros-Pietro, Gian Maria - Chairman, ENI S.p.A.( Italian energy group)
USA. Hagel, Chuck - Senator, Republican, Nebraska
NL. Halberstadt, Victor - Professor of Public Economics, Leiden University; former Honorary Secretary of Bilderberg Meetings
S. Hedelius, Tom C. - Chairman, Svenska Handelsbanken; Vice Chairman of the Board, Ericsson
FIN. Heinonen, Olli-Pekka - Minister of Transport and Communications
N. Heyerdahl, d.y., Jens P. - Group president and CEO, Orkala ASA
N. Höegh, Westye - Chairman of the Board, Leif Hoegh & Co ASA
NL. Hoeven, Cees H. van der - President, Koninklijke Ahold nv
CDN. Hunkin, John - Chairman and C.E.O., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
B. Huyghebaert, Jan - Chairman, Almanij NV
S. Johansson, Leif - President and C.E.O., AB Volvo
USA. Johnson, James A. - Johnson Capital; Vice-Chairman Perseus, LLC; member, Council on Foreign Relations
USA. Jordan Jr., Vernon E. - Managing Director, Lazard Freres & co LLC [Senior Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Field is a possible misprint]; member, Council on Foreign Relations
USA. Kissinger, Henry A. - Chairman, Kissinger Associates Inc.; Former Secretary of State; member, Council on Foreign Relations
D. Kopper, Hilmar - Chairman of Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank A.G.
USA. Kravis, Henry R. - Founding partner, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.; member, Council on Foreign Relations
USA. Kravis, Marie Josée - Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute Inc.
INT. Lamy, Pascal - EU, European Trade Commissioner
F. Lévy-Lang, André - Former Chairman, Paribas
USA. Lewis, Bernard - Emeritus Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University; member, Council on Foreign Relations
FIN. Lipponen, Paavo - Prime Minister
CDN. Lord, Bernard - Prime Minister of New Brunswick
CDN. MacMillan, Margaret O. - Editor, International Journal, Canadian Institute of International Affairs
GR. Manos, Stephanos - Member of the Greek Parliament & Former Minister of National Economy; President of the Liberal Party
P. Martins, Guilherme. d'Oliveira. - Minister of Presidency
USA. Mathews, Jessica T. - President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; member, Council on Foreign Relations
NL. Melkert, Ad P.W. - Parliamentary Leader PvdA, (Labour Party)
E. Miguel, Ramon de - Secretary of State for European Affairs
F. Montbrial, Thierry de - Director, French Institute of International Relations
INT. Monti, Mario - European Commissioner for Competition (internal market, financial services, financial integration, customs, taxation)
D. Mosdorf, Siegmar - Secretary of State for Economics and Technology
USA. Moskow, Michael H. - President , Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago; member, Council on Foreign Relations
P. Moura, Vasco Graça - Member, European Parliament; 1st Vice President, Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport
CDN. Monroe-Blum, Heather - Vice-President for Research and International Relations, University of Toronto
F. Nallet, Henri - International Secretary, Socialist Party
ISR. Nashashibi, Mohammed - Former Roving Ambassador of the Arab League; Finance Minister for Palestine Authority; Author
D. Nass, Matthias - Deputy Editor, Die Zeit
NL. Netherlands, Her Majesty the Queen of The - Beatrix, the richest woman in the world
PL. Olechowski, Andrzej - Former presidential candidate; Leader, Civic Platform
FIN. Ollila, Jorma - Chairman of the Board and C.E.O., Nokia Corporation; Member of the board of directors, Ford Motor Company and UPM-Kymmene (large timber/paper company)
NL. Orange, His Royal Highness the Prince of - Willem-Alexander, just married the daughter of an Argentinian fascist.
CH. Ospel, Marcel - President & Group Chief Executive, Union Bank Of Switzerland AG (UBS - total assets $ 1,1 Trillion)
INT. Padoa-Schioppa, Tommaso - Member of the Executive Board, European Central Bank; President of the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies; Member of the G -7 & G -20 Deputies; Chairman of the G -10 Committee on Payments and Settlement Systems
S. Padgrotsky, Leif - Minister of Trade
USA. Pearl, Frank H. - Chairman & C.E.O of Perseus LLC; Founder & Chairman, Rappahannock Investment Company and Counterpoint Press.
CZ. Pehe, Jiri - Director, New York University, Prague; former advisor to President Havel
USA. Perle, Richard N. - Resident Fellow, The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; Chairman and chief executive officer, Hollinger Digital, Inc.; Director, Jerusalem Post; member, Council on Foreign Relations
GB. Pragnell, Michael P. - CEO Syngenta AG; Director, AstraZeneca plc
USA. Prestowitz Jr., Clyde V. - Founder & President, Economic Strategy Institute (areas of expertise: Globalization, Asia, Technology Policy, Business Strategy); former senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment
A. Raidl, Claus J - CEO and Director, Böhler Uddeholm AG (steel)
S. Ramqvist, Lars - Chairman & C.E.O., Ericsson (world's third largest mobile phone manufacture); Board member, Skandia & Volvo
USA. Rattner, Steven - Investment Banker, Director and Managing Principal Quandrangle Group; US Treasury advisory committee on IMF matters; "old hand" at Davos meetings of the World Economic Forum; Chairman of New York Channel 13; member, Council on Foreign Relations
I. Riotta, Gianni - Co-Editor, La Stampa
INT. Robertson, George - Secretary General, NATO
USA. Rockefeller, David - Chairman of the International Advisory Committee, Chase Manhattan Bank; Member JPMorgan International Council; Founder and Honorary Chairman of the Trilateral Commission; member, Council on Foreign Relations
E. Rodriques Inciarte, Matías - Executive Vice Chairman, Banco Santander Central Hispano
GB. Roll, Eric - Senior Adviser, UBS Warburg Ltd,
TR. Sanberk, Özdem - Turkish Ambassador to the U.K.; Director General, Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
A. Scholten, Rudolf, A. - Member of the Board of Executive Directors, Österreichische Kontrollbank AG
D. Schrempp, Jürgen E. - Chairman of the Board of Management, DaimlerChrysler AG
DK. Seidenfaden, Tøger - Editor-in-Chief, Politiken - one of the biggest Danish newspapers
RUS. Shevtsova, Lilia - Carnegie Endowment for International Misery, Visiting Professor, University of California at Berkeley & Cornell University
US/GB. Siedentop, Larry A. - Fellow of Keble College & lecturer on political philosophy at Oxford University; Author of Democracy in Europe
GB. Sieghart, Mary Ann - Editorial writer and assistant editor, Times of London
E. Spain, Her Majesty the Queen of, - Sofia
GB. Taylor, J. Martin - Chairman, WH Smith PLC, International Adviser, Goldman Sachs International
USA. Thornton, John L. - Director, Ford Motor Co.; President and co-CEO, Goldman Sachs & co Inc.; member, Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution
S. Treschcow, Michael - President and C.E.O., Electrolux Group AB
F. Trichet, Jean-Claude - Governor, Banque de France
CH. Vasella, Daniel L. - Chairman & C.E.O., Novartis AG (Pharmaceuticals)
FIN. Virkunen, Janne - Senior Editor-in-Chief, Helsingin Sanomat
S. Wallenberg, Jacob - Chairman of the Board, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken
S. Wallenberg, Marcus - President and C.E.O, Investor AB; Vice Chairman of the Board, Ericsson
CDN. Whyte, Kenneth - Canada, Editor-in-Chief, The National Post
GB. Wolf, Martin - Associated Editor/Economics Commentator, The Financial Times
D. Wolff von Amerongen, Otto - Chairman and C.E.O., Otto Wolff Industrieberatung und Beteiligungen GmbH.
GB. Micklethwait, R John - United Stated Editor, The Economist
GB.Wooldridge, Adrian D - Foreign Corespondent, The Economist
ends.
On the Rapporteurs
The witch doctors: what the management gurus are saying, why it matters and how to make sense of it by Micklethwaite and Wooldridge Mandarin, 1997, ISBN 074932645x, purports to be a critique of management theory, but is in fact an paeon of praise to the business elite, of a sychophancy not usually seen outside of North Korea.
Of the 24 participants listing themselves as 'USA' 16 were members of the Council on Foreign Relations in 1997. It is reasonable to assume some participants who were not in the CFR back in 1997 were by 2001.
Unconfirmed participants from The Spotlight's list:
S. Persson, Göran - Prime Minister
USA, Jack Sheinkman - Chairman of the Board, Amalgamated Bank
INT. Wolfensohn, James D. - President, The World Bank
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - EU enlargement and the bloc's military role, NATO's future and developments in Russia and China will top the agenda when senior Western business leaders, politicians and a sprinkle of royalty meet in Sweden this week.
The Bilderberg group, a semi-secret discussion forum for the Western world's power elite, will hold its annual meeting in the town of Stenungsund on the Swedish west coast on May 24-28, Swedish newspapers reported on Wednesday.
A 900-metre long metal fence has been erected around Hotel Stenungsbaden, the meeting venue, to keep intruders away, regional daily Goteborgs-Posten said, publishing a picture of the fenced-in hotel.
Anti-globalisation demonstrators are expected to protest outside and local police see the event as a useful training exercise ahead of the mid-June European Union summit in the city of Gothenburg 50 km (30 miles) to the south.
The Bilderberg group, named after the hotel where it first met in 1954, was formed early in the Cold War era in reaction to a growing Communist threat. Today, many critics see it as a conspiracy and an agent of a new capitalist world order.
Bilderberg member Jacob Wallenberg, chairman of the board of commercial bank SEB and head of Sweden's influential Wallenberg family whose empire has a finger in most big Swedish industries, played down the group's importance.
"This is one of many meetings all over the world where decision-makers get together," he told the daily Dagens Nyheter, which earlier published the main agenda topics.
Invited as speakers, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were groomed at Bilderberg meetings before rising to fame as U.S. President and British Prime Minister respectively.
EU Commission President Romano Prodi, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and European Central Bank Governor Wim Duisenberg all have a past as Bilderbergers.
"Even though no formal decisions are made...this group, together with many others, has contributed to shaping the kind of capitalism we have today and cemented the world's leading business elites together," Goran Greider, editor-in-chief of Dala-Demokraten, a regional Swedish daily, said in a live studio debate on Sweden's TV4 television.
Bilderberg participants abide by the so-called Chatham House rule, which forbids everyone present from disclosing what anybody else has said.
"The secrecy is regarded as very provocative. Men in power talk towards consensus behind closed doors on timely issues on the political agenda," Ulf Bjereld, a political science professor at Gothenburg University, said.
Bilderberg members include former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, U.S. Senators Christopher Dodd, John Kerry and Chuck Hagel, World Bank chief James Wolfensohn, France's central bank governor Jean-Claude Trichet and former IMF heads Michel Camdessus and Stanley Fischer.
Also listed are the chairmen of car makers Fiat, Giovanni Agnelli, and DaimlerChrysler, Juergen Schrempp, former British finance minister Kenneth Clarke, Dutch Queen Beatrix and Xerox Corp CEO Paul Allaire.
A group of senior Western business leaders and politicians, meeting in semi-secrecy as the Bilderberg group, said on Saturday that they were committed to supporting a vigorous NATO alliance. "The whole point of Bilderberg is to foster closer relations between Western Europe, the United States and Canada," the group's secretary general, Martin Taylor, told Reuters in a rare interview. "We want to stress the importance of the Atlantic alliance, which has provided the guarantee of world peace for 50 years. We want to maintain the vigour of the Atlantic alliance," he said.
The May 24-28 annual meeting of the the Bilderberg group, a shadowy discussion forum for the Western world's power elite, was held at a hotel in Stenungsund on the Swedish west coast sealed off from the public and the media by 900 metres of fencing patrolled by private guards and police. A one-page statement obtained by Reuters said participants would discuss defence, productivity, agriculture and globalisation as well as Europe, Russia, China, Japan and the Middle East. "The Cold War has now ended. But in practically all respects there are more, not fewer, common problems - from trade to jobs, from monetary policy to investment, from ecological challenges to the task of promoting international security," the statement said.
SHADOW WORLD GOVERNMENT?
The Bilderberg group has met almost every year since 1954 and has been accused by left-and right-wing critics of being an unaccountable shadowworld government exerting its influence over invited politicians. Taylor denied that the group sought to buy influence, saying it aimed to educate and enlighten people. Asked to elaborate on how the group sought to educate participants, he said: "To hear the views of other people. People here have very different points of view. If they come here and hear a new idea, that's a good thing. Bilderberg seeks no influence at all."
The Swedish branch of the anti-globalisation Attac movement had warned of protests but only a handful of demonstrators turned out. Police said there was no trouble. With the exception of the secretary-general, Bilderberg participants are obliged to remain silent on what goes on at meetings. "Martin Taylor gives the interviews on behalf of Bilderberg," Jacob Wallenberg, the Bilderberg steering committee's Swedish member who is Chairman of commercial bank SEB and head of the powerful Wallenberg dynasty, said in a telephone message.
Mario Monti, the European Union Competition Commissioner who attended this year's meeting, said he was unable to give an interview. The statement said the meetings entailed no proposed resolutions, no voting and no policy agreements. "The clandestine (Bilderberg) meetings do not make policy, yet directly inform the thinking of world leaders," a message on an Internet website associated with the European Parliament's Green Party group, said. "The global power elite decides our future at the shadowy Bilderberg summit each year," another critical website said.
Organisers said participants included NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen of Finland, Swiss Economics Affairs Minister Pascal Couchepin, U.S. Senators Christopher Dodd and Chuck Hagel, European Central Bank Executive Board Member Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa and a host of corporate leaders.
Global power-brokers have a penchant for siting their get-togethers in inaccessible places. Either the fastness of an Alpine valley (Davos) or an island - the choice this year of the secretive Bilderberg group. They have copied the tactics of the Japanese, who managed to host a G8 summit last summer without any protestors by putting it on a remote island, Okinawa, surrounded by shark infested seas.
Since Seattle 1999, Washington and Prague 2000, the calendar of global get-togethers has attracted lively anti-globalisation demonstrations. Davos this year had unusually tight security to try and keep protestors well away. leading to allegations of unnecessary heavy-handedness by the Swiss police.
This weekend, it is the turn of Bilderberg, perhaps the most secretive (or as the organisers would prefer to claim, discrete) club for the global elite. It holds its weekend on Stenungsund, an island off the Swedish west coast.
Named after the hotel which hosted the first meeting in 1954 - the group was created by Denis (now Lord) Healey, Joseph Retinger, David Rockefeller and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (a former SS officer) - the group aimed to develop understanding between Europe and the US at the height of the Cold War by bringing together financiers, industrialists, politicians and opinion formers; the press have never been allowed access and all discussions are under Chatham House rules (no quoting).
Not surprisingly, such ground rules, while attracting publicity-shy financiers, have also fuelled the fantasies of conspiracy theorists. The truth is probably more mundane: powerful people like meeting each other, but they argue that they need privacy if there is to be serious, honest discussions: the G8 summits are a graphic example of how all the meaningful exchanges are kept well away from the pre-prepared final communiques drawn up by civil servants.
That said, there's a new and extremely important question facing the organisers of this international meeting. There is a growing perception that globalisation is a process which is being managed for the benefit of a small proportion of the planet's residents and at terrible cost to many more.
Furthermore, those managing the process, in particular the huge corporations which dwarf the power of many national governments, are largely unaccountable.
There is a perception of illegitimacy about unaccountable corporate power and governments elected on low turnout: sooner or later global power-brokers will have to recognise this crisis of legitimacy, and engage with protestors rather than run away from them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4196193,00.html
Consultants KPMG have found the health service a happy hunting ground, boosting their already considerable global profits by advising on 50 contracts that give the private sector a stake in the NHS.
Norwich Union sells private medical insurance and owns the privatised fund providing loans to family doctors for surgeries or, increasingly, to property developers and healthcare corporations which lease premises to GPs.
Serco makes money out of some 400 public contracts ranging from prisons, councils and hospitals to Manchester's trams, London's docklands light railway and the Atomic Weapons Establishment.
British Telecom, itself privatised by Margaret Thatcher in her pomp, offers consultancy services in broad areas such as information technology as well as telephones.
All four firms have a direct financial interest in the next Labour government opening up key public services, including health and education, to the private sector.
When a thinktank set up a commission into the role of private firms in our public services over the next 20 years, which companies footed the £200,000 bill? Surprise, surprise: KPMG; Serco; Norwich Union; BT.
For good measure the Institute for Public Policy Research appointed Martin Taylor to chair its commission on what are now termed public-private partnerships.
Mr Taylor, chairman of WH Smith, is still probably better known for a four-year stint during the 1990s at Barclays Bank when he was dubbed an "axeman" as hundreds of branches shut and thousands of jobs went with them.
A member [no mere 'member', Taylor is the Secretary General] of the secretive Bilderberg clique of corporate and political power brokers, it would have been a surprise if he had not recommended private solutions to public problems.
Mrs Thatcher used thinktanks such as the Adam Smith Institute and Institute of Economic Affairs to brilliant effect, encouraging them to pave the ground for ideas such as privatisation.
The technique was simple. Rightwingers would set up a commission, produce a report and argue that an industry or service would be better off in the private sector.
Ministers would welcome the contribution to the debate and later use it to justify the wholesale privatisation of industry and services.
The IPPR, set up in 1988 to help Neil Kinnock ditch his leftwing past, while proclaiming its independence appears keen to be an outrider for Tony Blair as he embraces privatisation.
Matthew Taylor, the institute's Blairite director, boasts of Olympian detachment from Downing Street and the world of big business with a fervour matched only by his enthusiasm for self-publicity.
A former assistant general secretary of the Labour party, as director of policy at the last election he helped draft the pledge card he later admitted distorted the new government's programme even, he maintained, if it was hailed as a brilliant marketing tool.
Peter Mandelson's arm-twisting of IPPR trustees to secure this third wayer the director's job at the institute almost backfired but the Millbank apparatchik landed the post three years ago.
These days he protests too much about his own independence from Downing Street, the public assertions sitting uncomfortably with a private confession this week that he had recently been offered a job in the No 10 policy unit.
Taylor (no relation to axe man Martin) claimed he spent three-quarters of his time passing round the begging bowl, yet he panicked when asked by the Guardian about the propriety of taking cash from companies to fund research proposals from which they stand to benefit. Conceding there was "a lot of circumstantial evidence" of a potential conflict of interest, Taylor denied the charge and said a couple of trade unionists (though Jack Dromey of the T&G did not see it through) gave it a wider base.
Worried his project was about to unravel, Taylor also briefed a friendly face in the media to get his retaliation yesterday in first. Firms putting up the funds, he protested, played no part in the drafting of the report and have not seen an advance copy. Such a claim may surprise KPMG partner Chris Nicholson, who actually sat on the commission.
Norwich Union's healthcare division declares it is "not going to pretend" it wouldn't gain from greater private involvement in the NHS. BT and Serco are actively seeking new business and the latter, hoping to buy 750 inland revenue and customs offices, says it has "a natural interest in the subject of PPP's and how they might be used to transform the public service".
However, asked if KPMG would benefit from the greater private sector involvement proposed by the commission, public relations man Tim Roberts says: "I'm not answering that one". They sponsored research into various subjects "because we have an interest in them".
Prof Allyson Pollock and research officer Stewart Player of University College, London, will shortly publish a paper on the IPPR's commission. "Portrayed as non-ideological," said Player, "the commission is in fact emblematic of the interests and values shaping the direction of state provision, evident in both the membership of its various working parties and in its sponsorship."
Mr Blair declared at the launch of Labour's manifesto there must be "no ideological barriers" in public services, making the case for an extended private role, though he spoilt the ideology-free argument by subsequently ruling out a public stake in the biggest privatisation disaster of all, the railways.
It will come as no surprise at the "invite only" launch on June 25 when the IPPR commission funded by the private sector calls for an enhanced role for the private sector in those public services.
kevin.maguire@guardian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4196193,00.html
so that's okay - they won't be talking about anything the press or public might be interseted in!
Henry Kissinger, ordförande
Giovanni Agnelli
Paul Allaire
Percy Barnevik
Conrad Black
Michel Camdessus
Peter Carrington
Kenneth Clarke
Bertrand Collomb
Christoffer Dodd
Stanley Fischer
Katherine Graham
Chuck Hagel
Vernon Jordan
John Kerry
Peter Mandleson
Leif Pagrotsky
Karl Otto Pöhl
Jürgen Schrempp
Jean-Claude Trichet
James Wolfensohn
The hotel - is situated on an island outside Stenungsund on the Swedish westcoast. This is where the members of the Bilderberg-group is going to be meeting from the 24. to 28. of May. In the spacious Bohus-salongs with a view over Hakefjord some of North America´s and Europe´s most influential persons will discuss big politics and business. The meeting is “private”, so nobody needs to worry about being quoted in media.
Investor is host of the meeting and has hired the entire hotel. The Swedish secret police, SÄPO, is responsible for the Swedish participants - and responsible for surveillance of the perimeters of the hotel and beyond. Prominent foreign participants have protection of their own respective state security services. These have contacted Säpo and required permission to carry arms. A person like Henry Kissinger still has protection of the US Secert Service. Drawings over the layout of the hotel has been classified and the staff of the hotel has been instructed not to discuss the meeting with media.
The delegations - each country sends a delegation of, usually, 3 persons:
1 prominent industry- or business-leader.
1 politician of high ranking (minister, primeminister, senator).
1 intellectual (an academic or chief editor, for instance).
Sweden often has had more than three participants, and this year probably will have an extra surplus - being that the meeting is held in Sweden. The United States has most participants because of it´s size. Individual participants are seated in alphabetical order, not delegation by delegation.
Citing direct quotes is forbidden according to this rule, which was created in 1927 by the Royal British Foreign Policy-Institute, whose seat is in the Chatham House. Nobody is allowed to tell who said what. The purpose for this rule is supposed to be, that every participant should be able to speak freely, without any risk of being criticised by their employer, by parlament - or by media.
Six “panels”, with three members in each, leads the conversations. Each panel lasts for the duration of approximately two hours. After an introductionary speech of about ten minutes, the rest of participants choose - when they want to enter into the conversation - whether they want to speak for one, three or five minutes - by raising one, three or five fingers. One-minute-speakers get to speak first.
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NB. The above two items came with a graphic illustration of the seating arrangements in the plenary - surrounded by 21 photos of certain named participants (maybe you could get lucky and find this on the homepage of the newspaper: www.dn.se - or by getting a copy of the actual newspaper. PH).
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This year´s meeting in Stenungsund will be the fourth time that the Bilderberg-group gathers in Sweden.
- The first time was in 1962 at Saltsjöbaden. At that time there were 8 Swedes participating, headed by Stateminister Tage Erlander, industry-tycoon Marcus Wallenberg and the national labour union leader Arne Geier. The press was astonished by the near total secrecy - and DN´s editorial described it as ludicrous.
- In 1973 was the next occasion and again it was staged at the Wallenberger´s Grand Hotel in Saltsjöbaden. Now Stateminister Olof Palme was attending together with Financeminister Gunnar Sträng and Foreign Minister Krister Wickman. And, of course, Marcus Wallenberg.
- In 1984 the meeting again was held at Saltsjöbaden - and this time Wallenberg had been replaced by the boss of Saab-Scania, Sten Gustafsson. Palme was there again, and previous Army Chief in Command, Stig Synnergren, Peter Wallenberg from the SE-Bank and Hans Werthén from Electrolux. Representatives from “The Economist”, Le Monde and New York Times were included at that time. Palme explained to DN about the Bilderberg-meetings that “they are of great informational value and that is why I have participated from time to time since 1965”.
The Bilderberg-group publishes an “information”-folder: The latest is dated January 2001. General Secretary and Chairman is Martin Taylor from Goldman Sachs. In the Steering Committee´s Secretariat of 30 persons, Jacob Wallenberg (SEB) is the only Swede. The membership register includes 110 names. Four of them are Swedish: Percy Barnevik (Investor), Sten Gustafsson (Saab-Scania), Björn Lundvall (Ericsson) and Marcus Wallenberg (Investor). Most strikingly is the fact, that all Swedes - with permanent positions in Bilderberg - belong to the Wallenberg-empire.
The Soviet Union, Communist infiltration, NATO, Nuclear Power, the German unification, the Satelite- states - these have all been standing topics of discussion. Economic-, military- and police-coordination against the Soviet Union seems to have been the main theme. In 1969 one topic was the instability of the West, which logically must have concerned the 68-revolts. After the fall of the Iron-curtain, the topics have shifted to such as “threats against Globalisation” and the unrest in the Balkans. In 1995 they were asking whether the “IT-society is creating a new set of political behaviour ?”. In 1997 they were worrying about “whether continual economic growth may threathen social solidarity in the West ?”. And last year it was questioned whether rightist-extremism might pose a threat?
“The secret highpriests of capitalism and globalisation”, their critics claim. “Nonsense”, says Minister of Trade, Leif Pagrotsky, who is going to participate - “the meetings serve a purpose to reduce prejudices and misunderstandings”.
The Bilderberg-group is often depicted as some sort of free-masons, where the powerful of the world, in secrecy, are drawing up the guidelines for how capital may rule, without interference from either people or public scrutiny.
It sounds tantalising, but the picture becomes quite different when you speak with persons who´ve participated frequently in the meetings.
On the Internet and in the newspaper files, even in the big international ones, there is very little to be found about the Bilderberg-group. What you´ll find is mostly the “run-of-the mill conspiracies” - not any accounts of what actually takes place at the meetings.
The group was formed in 1954, on initiative of the Netherlands - and was named after the first conference- hotel, Bilderberg. It had a lot to do with trying to strengthen the ties between USA and Europe in the face of the threat from the Soviet Union and communism. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands served as the front figure.
Carl Bildt, who has participated in six meetings, says: “There are several conferences of this sort of type, where people are gathered for a concentrated discussion on subjects of acute importance. Most of the time they are carried out under what is called Chatham House rules, which means that you may use the information given - but you must never tell who have told what. This is normal.
Bilderberg is an old and merited group. There are others which are somewhat more dynamic. Discussions may be on a variety of subjects. Last year I remember a real battle over the sanctions against Austria. I am not going to be participating this year. I have to be at the Aspen-conference instead, which has a similar purpose, in the north of Italy and at the same time”, says Carl Bildt. Prophessor Anders Åslund, peace-researcher at the Carnegie Fund in Washington and previous economic advisor for the Russian government, says: “Bilderberg is a private network of influential persons from Western Europe and North America. Approximately 110 people are participating each year. The idea is to have a discussion of the world´s big economic and political issues.
Every country has a coordinator, who is permitted to invite participants. In Sweden it has been from the beginning Marcus Wallenberg (senior) and later on, Sten Gustafsson from Saab - and now it is Percy Barnevik. Normally, small countries are allowed to have three participants, but Sweden usually has a few more. Carl Bild is admitted on an “international quota”. A typical delegation is comprised of one person from industry - a businessman or a chief of a bank - one prominent politician, preferably a primeminister, a finance- or foreignminister, and some intellectual, who usually is an academic or some chief editor.
Swedish politicians don´t seem particularly interested in international issues - Björn Rosengren was present once in Portugal, and Leif Pagrotsky is one of the few who is genuinely interested. There are usually six panels on different subjects which are staged in two-hour sessions. All meetings are held in a pleni-auditorium, the participants are sitting in alphabetical order - and also the panels are put together according to the principal: industry, politics, analysts. I find it to be valuable meetings with a strong disciplin. The introductionary speaker usually confines himself to a ten minutes speech - and after that you may raise one, three or five fingers signifying as many minutes. One-minute speakers get the floor first. This is no conspiracy - it is stimulating and one learns a lot. They are very prominent participants, often strong personalities and in the duration of the meetings one will usually get the chance to speak with half of them.
Jurgen Schrempp (Daimler-Chrysler) is usually there plus Conrad Black (The Telegraph, Canada) and Bertrand Collomb (Lafarge), the chiefs of the German and French National Banks, Giovanni Agnelli (Fiat) and the bosses of IMF, the World Bank - and the World Trade Organisation, WTO.
I usually end up sitting next to Bernard Arnault from the french luxury-firm LVMH and Paul Allaire (Xerox), because of the alphabetical order. Vernon Jordan is usually always there (Lazard Brothers) - and either the owner of Washington Post, Katherine Graham - or her son. There are usually three senators from the USA - like John Kerry (democrat), Chuck Hagel (republican) and Christopher Dodd (democrat). Kenneth Clarke (previous British conservative Minister of Finance) is often there. There are few representatives from labour unions, at most a couple from USA. But social democrats are usually well represented through european politicians, such as Peter Mendelsohn. Henry Kissinger or Peter Carrington is usually chairman. Percy Barnevik normally brings along Marcus or Jacob Wallenberg - one year it was Tom Hedelius and a minister and an intellectual, like myself. But this year I am not attending.
The normal agenda covers Russia, Japan, China, big economic questions like the cooperation east-west and the Balkans”, ends mr Åslund.
The Swedish Minister for this year is Leif Pagrotsky, who also attended last year. He explains: “Industry often has an odd perception of those of us who are working in politics. Even in such a small country as Sweden - we are living in seperate worlds. When we are invited, I think we should participate and not remain standing on the sideline claiming that this is just too conservative... Last year, I didn´t see many social democrats in the assembly, but it is good that persons like myself, from a small european party on the left, get to meet senators from the USA - and vice versa”, says the Minister of Trade.
“When I have travelled the anglo-saxon business-world, I have often been met by a belief, that a Swedish socialdemocratic minister is some kind of half-communist, who hasn´t got any grasp on economy. It is very useful to be able to air out prejudices and misconseptions. The fact, that the meetings are secret, or rather, private - in the way that one doesn´t disclose what other people have said, is actually quite normal - this is the same way of things within the EU and OECD, too.
What is not really good, is all the strange conceptions about the Bilderberg-group that abound. Between the EU and the USA there have been a lot of suspicion and struggle. That is why it is important that representatives from both sides are given the opportunity to understand the reasoning of the other side. Last year year´s meeting was concerned with the expansion of the EU, the situation in Eastern Europe and the situation in the USA, before the presidential elections. What it will be this year, I don´t know”, says Minister of Trade, Leif Pagrotsky.
Henry Kissinger was invited for the meeting in Saltsjöbaden in 1973. That was one year after Olof Palme´s scourching attack on the bombings of the United States´ in Vietnam, which he compared to the nazi atrocities during the Second World War. Foreign Minister Krister Wickman let the emmessary of the USA know, that Kissinger´s visit was not appropriate and only would make matters worse - as both Palme and Wickman were going to participate in the meeting. And they would not be able to only “talk about the weather”... Kissinger became furious and ordered the State Department, Foreign Ministry of the USA, to give Wickman a genuine scolding. The State Department leaked it to the press, that the Swedish government had informed Kissinger, that he was not welcome. Now it became the Bilderberger´s turn to react. Prince Bernhard became so angry at the Swedish government, that he threatened to move the entire meeting. This, in turn, got Marcus Wallenberg´s attention - so he rushed up to Olof Palme, who straightaway telephoned prince Bernhard, and sent Sverker Åström on an errand to the American Embassy to assure them, that the whole matter, naturally, was a misunderstanding. The Swedish government hadn´t said that Kissinger wasn´t wellcome, of course not... Palme claimed the same thing in front of the press.
But that it definitely was so - and that Palme was not telling the truth - is proven by documents, which DN´s Kurt Mälarstedt has located in Washington.
Peter Bratt.......................
(NB. The above item was accompanied with a photocopy of part of the document - sub-titled: “Furious Kissinger. Letter from the archives of the American Statedepartment sent from Henry Kissinger to Ernst Beuget in the Bilderberger-group´s council. PH).
The previous spokesman of the Greens (Miljöpartiet), Birger Schlaug, is one of the critics of the Bilderberg-group:
- Their motivation is, that the elite shall be able to act in secrecy. It is not because they are evil, but because they believe in what they are doing. International capital wants to remove all obstacles to globalisation - and all obstacles to the right of capital to act freely without constrictions such as regard for the environment, social responsibility or human rights. Demands from local democracies are such obstacles.
- The Bilderberg-group is striving after a consensus, a mutual understanding, in their view of the role of capital. Both Liberals (Moderates) and Social-democrats have subjected themselves to this view, or share it - however you choose to see it.
- What I´m reacting to, is that the participants deny that the meetings have such great significanse, when in fact they have amassed such an unheard of and uncontrolled power.”
The Secrets of Sweden, history etc: http://www.learn-travel.com/sweden/
My contact at Sveriges Radio says the Swedish Secret Service have confirmed the Bilderberg meeting will be taking place on the hotel/island at Stenungsund near Gothenburg on 24-27th May this year. We will only know for sure when the security services turn up to sweep the hotel and the black Mercedes cars with the characteristic 'B' on the front windscreen begin to arrive.
This conference venue is likely to become a no-go zone within Sweden as foreign marksmen seal the entire island off from scrutiny of press and public.
Could it be that in this Bilderberg fortress the agenda, and even main decisions for the EU summit in Gothenburg three weeks later (14-17 June) will be decided? There will be a counter-summit conference taking place in Gothenburg over the same June dates where I hope this will be discussed as an unacceptable possibility.
Happily the Swedish mainstream press and broadcasing have taken an interest in the forthcoming Bilderberg conference (see below). If anyone can translate these articles to English please send them to me for publication on bilderberg.org. Swedish TV say they will run a piece on the conference next Tuesday (22nd).
Bilderberg bloodhound Jim Tucker is the most reliable contact for those, particularly journalists wishing to visit/photograph or otherwise cover the conference. (Having met Jim last year in Brussels I can testify he is not, as Bilderberg propaganda would have us believe, a right-wing nutcase. If you get told this I always like to expose the source of such disinformation so please send it to me).
Jim will be arriving on Tuesday, May 22 and staying at the Hotel Eggers-Best Western in Gothenburg. Their phone number is +46 31 806 070. Prices at Jim's hotel are $130 per night for a single room or $80 per night per person for a twin.
If this is too expensive for you there are plenty of cheaper places to stay in Gothenburg or you may wish to stay closer to Stenungsund.
Vandrahem Slottsskogen, Vegagatan 21, 413 63 Göteborg, tel. +46 31 426
520
Vandrahem Stigbergsliden 10, 414 63 Göteborg, tel. +46 31 241 620
Vandrahem Steningssund, pl 6109, 444 91 Stenungsund, tel. +46 30 382 120
The Gothenburg tourist office are there to help you on +46 31 293 000
On the 13th May the large swedish newspaper "Dagens Nyheter" had a full page article with a lot of facts and background on the meeting which is confirmed to be 24 - 28 of May.
1: The meeting is taking place on an island off the coast of Stenungsund - the island is called Stenungsön and is connected to the mainland by road 160. No doubt the road will be closed to regular traffic.
2: The Wallenberg-group´s powerful company "Investor" is the host and is responsible for security at Hotel "Stenungsbaden".
3: Prominent foreign participants are protected by their own countries´ security services and have requested permission from the Swedish secret police "Säpo" to carry arms in Sweden. Drawings of the layout of the hotel have been classified and the staff of the hotel have been forbidden to discuss the meeting with media.
4: Carl Bildt will not (according to his own statement) be attending this year - since he is needed to participate at the Aspen-conference in the north of Italy (a similar meeting at the same time).
notes:
Carl Bildt's record of disaster in Swedish politics:
http://www.nnn.se/n-model/foreign/warrior.htm
Cradle-to-Grave Discontent:
http://www.nnn.se/n-model/price/price.htm
5: The swedish government representative who´ll participate this year is Minister of Trade, Leif Pagrotsky (who just recently was greeted in the university city of Lund with a pie in his face).
6: It is not certain yet - but was mentioned last night on the news in tv that even mr Putin (besides Mr Bush) may show up at the EU-summit in Göteborg.
btw.
Bilderberg's Dutch phone number (possibly office too) has changed. Bilderberg
secretariat's new telephone number in Holland is +31-71-528 0521 (thanks
to anon. Swedish journalist)
On the agenda at Bilderberg: The future of the Net?
It is strongly suggested that the Bilderberg Group is meeting this year in Sweden. Last year they changed their minds rather late, and ended up on the street near Bruxelles, right in front of us, so I guess they won't want to do that again. We can assume then that, either we are getting a 'bum-steer', or this is correct. It sounds plausible enough, given their interest (read 'role') in EU matters, that they would meet in Gothenburg, just before the Summit. They have a tendency to do this with G7/8 as well. A larger than usual delegation the last two years also tends to support this.
It is quite interesting that Sweden is the choice. We saw (and photographed) a few Swedes at last years: Barnevik (Steering Committee), Bildt, Pagrotsky, Leif Johansson, Lars-Eric Petersson and Jacob Wallenberg.
See: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/grattan_healy/Bilderberg.html
and: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/grattan_healy/Bild-Sweden.html
Also, Bildt would have met Esther Dyson at last year's meeting. That seems innocent enough, until you notice that he is suddenly chairing a major panel for ICANN, the internet Domain Names organisation, which she was President of until recently. I imagine Bildt will take over from Barnevik as Steering Committee member, and is a rising star in the elite. He is now well placed to influence the development of the internet, that delinquent medium the elite would love to control (as they control all other media). And IT is a growing aspect of these summits!
Just a small bit of elite politics I thought might interest you.
The location is apparently:
QUALITY HOTEL
Tel: + 46 303 726800
c. 50 km north of Gothenburg route E6
Given the growing interest, it is possible that a bigger welcome committee will turn out this year. Tempted to go along myself - never been to Sweden!
Hej Då,
Grattan
from entetu@tpu.fi
I made a little research at Quality Hotel Stenungsbaden's online room reservation machine which can be found at
http://www.netbook.se/pub/index?hotel_id=2192&hotel_chain_id=541
I tried to book a room for one for one night stay. May 22nd there were all kinds of rooms free. From May 23rd until May 26th there were no free rooms. For Sunday 27th I could have made a reservation for any kind of room I wanted. It has been announced in www.bilderberg.org/2001.htm that the dates of the meeting are 24th to 28th.
In the light of my examination it is more propable that the dates of the Bilderberg 2001 meeting are from Wednesday May 23rd to Saturday May 26th.
nb. they might want to have the place swept for bugs, journalists etc. on the 23rd?
I will arrive Tuesday, May 22 and check into the Hotel Eggers-Best Western in Gothenburg. Their phone number is 46-31-806070
Cordially,
Jim Tucker
The purpose of even one individual travelling to the 2001 Bilderberg conference in Sweden should be clear. To alert national and international press to the secret presence of so many internationally 'important' figures and to persuade them, as we did in Brussels, to inform the wider European public. The trouble is, though Bilderberg say they issue a 'press release' this is sent to one or two Bilderberg friendly press (owned by a committed Bilderberg participant such as Andrew Knight from News International) that aren't likely to report anything after the event has finished. Press Releases are supposed to be sent out before the event as any journalist will tell you.
This object is what this website is all about. But it needs people on the ground too to inform the press, particularly satirical magazines, that this high-powered secretive meeting is going on, and that a campaign for press access to the meeting exists.
The Bilderbergers try to prevent the press covering the conference with a
pernicious lie: that their conference is only criticised by right-wing
anti-Jewish conspiracy theorists. Please point out that:
At the Bilderberg conference 2000 in Brussels a confused young English man called Damien turned up with a grotesque 'Animal Rights' banner. He made a half-hearted attempt to link Bilderberg with this almost totally unrelated issue. People like him conveniently play into the hands of the conference organisers by obscuring the message of what Bilderberg is really about to any press that DO cover the conference. How exacerbating!
Bilderberg is about moving forward, with the help of the press barons, the corporate vision of a United States of Europe. That means a single currency, no borders, the same laws and, ultimately one unelected government with an unelected president, the European Commission, for the whole of Europe.
and please telephone me, Tony Gosling, at Bristolpages, +44 117 924 7738, during work hours, if you would like a reassuring chat or have information you want sending out on my Power Elite Public Information Service email list.
Previously reliable source, Jim Tucker from Spotlight has just announced this year's probable Bilderberg meeting date and venue and is calling for people to come and witness the event.
The Quality Hotel in Stenungsbaden [near Stenungsund], is 50 km north of Göteborg [Gothenburg - Eng.], Sweden, close to Landvetter airport is thought to be the venue.
BY FERRY
Ferries run to Göteborg from Newcastle-upon-Tyne(GB), Amsterdam(NL),
Harwich(GB) and Kiel(D)
BY AIR
direct flights to Gothenburg from:: Aarhus, Amsterdam, Basel, Belgrade, Billund,
Brussels, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Helsingborg,
London-Heathrow, London-Gatwick, Malta, Manchester, Munich, Oslo, Paris-Charles
de Gaulle, Prague, Sandefjord, Skopje, Teheran, Vienna and Zurich.
Göteborg-Landvetter Airport is situated close to the 40 trunk road between Gothenburg (25 km) and Borås (40 km). The nearest village is Härryda. A motorway connects Gothenburg with the airport. Check out Jon Ronson's new book: 'Them' through http://www.jonronson.com
don't forget last year they gave us the run-around.
Tony
Compare the European Commission website http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/index_en.htm
3.9.99, revised 2.3.2000
The 'global elite' have performed yet another coup. They have so far had many of their people elected to high office - Bill Clinton, Lionel Jospin, Tony Blair, as well as Jacques Santer, Wim Duisenberg (now head of the European Central Bank), and many others.
Chair of the Commission Romano Prodi was a Steering Committee Member of the Bilderberg Group in the 80s - I have a copy of their booklet from 1982, which incidentally also shows that Wim Duisenberg was the then Treasurer. What is noticeable that Prodi has limited the declarations of his Commissioners to 10 years, something not done in the previous Commission, and so has allowed himself not to declare this former highly sensitive role.
Since the head man is a member of the elite, it should be no surprise that he has nominated 7 other elite members (and incidentally 4 others suspected of involvement in fraud!). These 7 are:
Bilderberg claims to have no formal membership as such, but has a list of 120 or so invitees which changes from year to year, reflecting a sort of changing membership. It has a core group, reflected in the Steering Committee.
Either way, in the spirit of openness, and also the written answers from Commissioners like Liikanen (http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg2/hearings/pdf/com/answer/liikanen/en/default.pdf), proposing the declaration of all political roles (in answer to a Green question), I would have thought these rather important roles should be mentioned. (see the Commissioners declarations at http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/interests/index_en.htm)
IT WAS at around 4pm that sunny spring day that a succession of local taxis and old cars began rolling up at the plush golfing resort near Estoril.
David Rockefeller, net worth $ 2.5billion, chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, sat huddled in the back of a local cab.
The Caesar Park gatekeeper bowed and lifted the gate, and the taxi disappeared up the drive.
Then Umberto Agnelli of Italian car giants Fiat drew up. Bill Clinton's close friend Vernon Jordan, World Bank president James Wolfensohn, American UN representative Richard Holbrooke and media magnate Conrad Black followed.
And Henry Kissinger - the American envoy with the thick European accent who sanctioned the secret bombing of Cambodia and later won the Nobel Peace Prize.
"I'll tell you one thing I bet you didn't know about Kissinger," said my companion, Washington reporter "Big" Jim Tucker. "His accent is as American as mine.
"Creep up on him at a bar, as I once did, and whisper that you know exactly what he's up to, and he'll splutter and shout at you in an accent as American as Mom's apple pie.""
The taxis kept coming. They carried industrialists, European Commissioners, bankers.
Then an old bus cruised up. Inside, staring out of the window, was Peter Mandelson. When we told Jim we'd spotted him, he asked: "Who's Peter Mandelson?"
But Jim does know most of them. He has been trying for 30 years to uncover the truth about the Bilderberg Group. It's been a cat-and-mouse crusade.
"Those sick luminaries are always on the move,"" he said. "They never come together in the same place twice, to evade detection. They meet once a year, for a long weekend in May or June.""
THEY have been ruling the world in secret since 1954, Jim said. The Gulf war and Margaret Thatcher's resignation were both orchestrated by Bilderberg, he told us.
And I later learnt that a fiery speech by former British Foreign Secretary David Owen at a group meeting helped give the British cause a crucial boost during the Falklands war.
"Margaret Thatcher is one of the good guys," said Jim. "Bilderberg ordered her to dismantle British sovereignty, but she said No way, so they had her sacked.""
Big Jim once found himself at a drinks party with Thatcher and sidled up to her. "How does it feel to have been denounced by those Bilderberg boys, ma'am?" he growled. She whispered that she considered it a "great tribute to be denounced by Bilderberg".
Prince Charles and Bill Clinton have been to sessions."They"are small fry," said Jim. "The rulers of the world are the ones who do the inviting. The steering committee."
I later contacted dozens of Bilderberg members. Nobody returned my calls or even wrote back to decline my request.
I did speak to David Rockefeller's press secretary. He told me Mr Rockefeller was thoroughly fed up with being called a 12ft lizard, a secret ruler of the world, and so on.
I asked him why he thought no Bilderberg member had returned my calls or answered my letters.
"Well,"" he shrugged, "I suppose it's because they might want to be invited back."
I persevered. Being followed around by a man in dark glasses was tame in comparison to the indignities suffered by some who had travelled this road before me. In June 1998, a Scottish reporter tracked Bilderberg to the Turnberry Hotel in Ayrshire and, when he started asking questions, he was handcuffed by police and thrown in jail.
I CONTINUED to write to Bilderbergers but, for months, there was no breakthrough. Then, one Tuesday morning, the phone rang.
It was the instantly-recognisable voice of a founder member. For 30 years, he had been one of their inner circle, a Bilderberg agenda setter, a head-hunter - a secret ruler of the world himself, if you believed the stories. It was Lord Healey.
"How can I help you?" he said. "Well," I said, "would you tell me what happens inside Bilderberg meetings?"" "OK," he said, cheerfully. There was a silence.
"Why?"" I said. "Nobody else will.""
"Because you asked me," he said. Then he added: "I'm an old fart. Come on over.""
Once Healey had agreed to talk to me, other Bilderberg members became amenable, too, provided they could stay anonymous. Thus I was able to piece together the backstage mechanics of this most secret society.
A tiny, shoe-string central office in Holland decides each year which country will host the next meeting.
Each country has two steering committee members. British ones have included Healey, ex-Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington, Andrew Knight, ex-editor of The Economist, and Martin Taylor, ex-chief executive of Barclays. They say each country dreads its turn coming around, for it has to raise the money to book an entire five-star hotel for four days (plus meals, transport and vast security - every packet of peas is opened and scrutinised).
They call up Bilderberg-friendly global corporations - Xerox, Heinz, Fiat, Barclays, Nokia - which donate the money. Nobody can buy their way into a meeting, though many corporations have tried.
Then they decide whom to invite. The notion of a "Bilderberg person" hasn't changed since the group was created by Denis Healey, a little-known Polish immigrant named Joseph Retinger, David Rockefeller and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.
"First off," a steering committee member told me, "the invited guests must sing for their supper. They can't just sit there like church mice. They are there to speak.
"I remember when I invited Margaret Thatcher, back in "75. She wasn't worldly.
"Well, she sat there for the first two days and didn't say a thing. People started grumbling. A senator came up to me on the Friday night.
"He said: 'This lady you invited, she hasn't said a word. You really ought to say something to her.'
"So I had a quiet word with her at dinner. She was embarrassed. Well, she obviously thought about it overnight, because the next day she suddenly stood up and launched into a three-minute Thatcher special.
"I can't remember the topic, but the room was stunned.
"Here's something for your conspiracy theorists. As a result of that speech, David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger and the other Americans fell in love with her.
"They brought her over to America, took her around in limousines, and introduced her to everyone."
Guests are not allowed to bring partners. There are two morning and two afternoon sessions, but on the Saturday they are in the evening so that the Bilderbergers can play golf.
The seating plan is in alphabetical order. It is reversed each year.
WHILE furiously denying that they secretly rule the world, my Bilderbergers did admit that international affairs had, from time to time, been influenced by these sessions.
During the Falklands war, the British Government's request for international sanctions against Argentina fell on stony ground.
But David Owen stood up at a Bilderberg meeting and gave the most fiery speech in favour of imposing them. The speech changed a lot of minds. Sanctions were imposed."
Lord Healey told me: "To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair.
"Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on for ever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."
"Bilderberg is a way of bringing together politicians, industrialists, financiers and journalists. Politics should involve people who aren't politicians.
"We make a point of getting along younger politicians who are obviously rising, to bring them together with financiers and industrialists who offer them wise words. It increases the chance of having a sensible global policy."
"Does going help your career?" I asked. "Oh yes," he said. He added: "Your new understanding of the world will certainly help your career.""
"Which sounds like a conspiracy," I said.
"Crap!" said Lord Healey. ""Idiocy! Crap! I've never heard such crap! That isn't a conspiracy! That is the world. It is the way things are done. And quite rightly so.
"But I will tell you this. If extremists and leaders of militant groups believe that Bilderberg is out to do them down, they're right. We are. We are against Islamic fundamentalism, for instance, because it's against democracy."
"Isn't Bilderberg's secrecy against democracy, too?" I asked. "We aren't secret," he snapped. "We're private.
"Nobody is going to speak freely if they're going to be quoted by ambitious and prurient journalists like you who think it'll help your career to attack something that you have no knowledge of.""
I noticed a collection of photo albums on his mantelpiece. Healey has always been a keen amateur photographer, so I asked him if he'd ever taken any pictures inside Bilderberg.
"Oh yes," he said. "Lots and lots of photographs." I eyed the albums. "Could I have a look at them?" I asked.
Lord Healey looked down at his lap. He thought about my request. He looked up again.
"No," he said. "F*** off.""
Extracted from Them: Adventures With Extremists by Jon Ronson, published by Picador, rrp pounds 16, on April 6. Jon Ronson 2001. see http://www.jonronson.com
Tony's Pages http://www.bilderberg.org/2000.htm
Grattan's pages
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/grattan_healy/Bilderberg.html
Dear friends,
My colleague Laurence, who deals with Info Society questions in our Committee at the European Parliament (ITRE), spoke to me earlier about ICANN, which I decided to take a peek at this evening. I was aware that Esther Dyson was involved in such things, as I came across her when she attended last year's Bilderberg meeting here in Bruxelles. In fact she was the founding Chairperson of ICANN, and has just retired from that role. On their page I noticed that Carl Bildt has been wheeled in to do a key study (see below)!
http://www.icann.org/announcements/icann-pr26jan01.htm
How curious, as we filmed him entering the very same Bilderberg meeting!!
I did wonder why Esther was present. It seems possible that the elite figure they need to get a hand on this delinquent medium, since they pretty much own every other one. And it offers them a possible route to influence over what is already a growing economic force, and may become a global political structure. So watch out!!
Note that Bildt helped set up a media company in Bosnia, and I had some not so flattering reports about that adventure!
Ciao, Grattan
Date: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 18:37:41 +0000
To: dmichel@atlargestudy.org
From: Tony Gosling <tony@gaia.org>
Subject: ICANN
Dear Denise,
Bildt cannot chair a credible committee - you must ask yourself do you want credibility or not?
His stock in trade these days is forging an imaginary consensus to favour international bankers and big business.
Your only hope is if the internet community at-large do not find out about his covert activities.
I am not suprised your forum is not working. Your study would not stand up to even a whiff of public scrutiny or discussion.
Tony
At Mon, 19 Mar 2001 10:02:30 -0800, you wrote:
>I'm implying that Carl Bildt is the Chair and will lead the ALSC's effort
to
>forge a consensus and submit a report to ICANN's Board on At-Large
>participation in ICANN. If you have a view on At-Large and want to help
>shape the ALSC's work, please frequent our website (www.atlargestudy.org)
(a
>public forum will be added soon).
>
>Thanks.
>
>Denise Michel
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <tony@gaia.org>
>To: <dmichel@atlargestudy.org>
>Cc: <comments@atlargestudy.org>; <michel@icann.org>;
>Sent: Monday, March 19, 2001 9:44 AM
>Subject: Bildt must not chair ICANN study
>
>
>> Dear Denise,
>>
>> Can you be implying that Bildt's close involvement with Bilderberg
is
>> not a substantive issue? The reason I am circulating this
information
>> is because Bildt's very close involvement with Bilderberg makes
him
>> totally unsuitable for the job.
>>
>> It is usual for the Chair of such a study to be seen to be
impartial.
>> Bildt is a clandestine representative of the power elite.
>>
>> I think I can fairly say thee is no-one on the panel that
represents
>> the interests of free speech and ordinary people
>>
>> see
http://www.atlargestudy.org/members.shtml
>>
>> thanks
>>
>> Tony
>>
>>
>>
>> At Mon, 19 Mar 2001 07:56:55 -0800, you wrote:
>> >Thanks for your note. If you have substantive comments about
the At
>> Large
>> >issue or believe that the ALSC membership is missing a
particular
>> skillset,
>> >please send your views to comments@atlargestudy.org
>> >
>> >Thanks.
>> >
>> >
>> >Denise Michel
>> >dmichel@atlargestudy.org
26 January 2001 (Marina del Rey, CA, USA) - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced today that it was commencing a comprehensive study of the structure of its At Large membership. The study will be conducted by an At Large Membership Study Committee that will make recommendations to ICANN's Board of Directors on how individuals can effectively participate in ICANN's policy development, deliberations and actions for technical coordination of the Internet.
Mr. Carl Bildt, the former Prime Minister of Sweden and noted United Nations envoy, will serve as Chair of the nine member Study Committee. An international statesman and information technology advisor, Bildt's current duties include Special Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations to the Balkans, Member of Parliament of Sweden, and Advisor and Board Member of several Internet and technology-related corporations.
"The Board's approval of the Study Committee and Carl Bildt's selection as Chair is a demonstration of ICANN's commitment to finding an effective way for the perspectives of individuals in every country to be heard and given due consideration," said Vint Cerf, Chairman of the ICANN Board of Directors. "We are extremely fortunate to have someone with Carl Bildt's international consensus building experience to lead this critical effort."
The Committee, which is chartered to seek input from all interested parties and to work toward a broad consensus on ICANN's At Large membership, will use multiple mechanisms for input, including public forums, mailing lists, and a public website. The Committee will encourage the participation of organizations and individuals worldwide, including the development of independent studies and analyses from across the global Internet's constituencies.
"ICANN's actions affect the whole world's Internet users, and I look forward to the challenging task of forging a consensus on the best method for representing this ever-growing constituency," said Bildt. "This will be an international cooperative effort, and I am counting on the participation of a diversity of Internet stakeholders that have an interest in ICANN to help us deliver a workable solution."
The Board invited Charles Costello and Pindar Wong to serve as the Committee's Vice-Chairs. Costello is director of the Carter Center's Democracy Program, and served as an outside monitor for ICANN's At Large elections held last year. Wong served as an ICANN Director and Vice Chairman of the Board during 1999-2000. He also is an active Internet policy leader in the Asia Pacific Region, and Chairman of VeriFi (Hong Kong) Ltd., an Internet infrastructure consultancy. The remaining members of the committee will be announced at a later date.
ICANN also announced the appointment of Denise Michel as the Committee's Executive Director. Ms. Michel has extensive experience in both private and public sector technology policy development, having served previously on the staff of the U.S. National Science Foundation, the American Electronics Association and the U.S. Department of Commerce. From 1993-95, she was Sr. Technology Advisor to the Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Ronald Brown.
Following public comment, the Board also adopted a charter for the study to ensure a consistent base of expectations on the scope and details of the study committee's work. ICANN has posted the charter on its website at http://www.icann.org/committees/at-large-study/charter-22jan01.htm
Contact
Denise Michel
+1 310 823 9358
michel@icann.org
http://www.observer.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,442481,00.html
Poor Tony. With the election of George W Bush, the Prime Minister is like a poodle left behind when his owners have moved house. The poodle could try to make it on his own in the woods, but accustomed to domestication, the sorry cur realises his only hope for a bowl of Kibbles is to lick the slippers of the new masters of the House.
This week, the PM meets with the new resident of the White House, and will do his best to show he can fetch and carry. Certainly, his riding in the back of Bush's bomber to Baghdad earned him a biscuit. Unfortunately for Blair, George Bush can see right through Clinton's former pet PM. And he doesn't like what he sees.
Bush may be thick as a T-bone on a barbecue, but those he pays to think for him have told the president that Blair unsubtly supported the candidacy of Al Gore and worse, actually believes in the Clinton-Gore Third Way, which Bushites snub as a muddy trench to nowhere.
What can Tony do to win a warm place on the rug near Bush's feet? To the rescue has come an obedience trainer to explain all the PM must do: Dr Irwin Stelzer. For those of you foolish enough to believe that Stelzer, bespectacled professor and Sunday Times columnist, is just some freelance scribbler, let me set you straight. Dr Stelzer is the most powerful lobbyist in Britain bar none. He is Rupert Murdoch's policy adviser, but no lowly retainer on the payroll. A multi-millionaire without Murdoch's help, Stelzer has become a sculptor of the thoughts and conduit of the wishes of the planet's most powerful men. 'Lobbyist' describes only one of Stelzer's functions and certainly does not do justice to his authority. To my knowledge, Stelzer is the only policy adviser who can walk into the Prime Minister's office at will. But now he won't bother.
Stelzer has determined to deliver a nasty little dressing-down to the PM in public and nail George Bush's wish list to Blair's forehead with a rusty tack.
Rather than speak to his friend Tony directly, Stelzer chose the forum of the Times to deliver the word from Bush's team. In his column on 4 January Stelzer wrote, 'Tony Blair has lost two big bets and the British people will have to pay up.'
Here are particulars on the invoice, which Stelzer makes clear were communicated to him by the new Washington powers. First, 'America will need to upgrade radar equipment at RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire' for the new Star Wars missile system. (Note the phrasing, 'America will need...' Forget the buddy-buddy 'we' need.) But missiles aren't money. The bill will be paid by Bush's plans for control of the UK economy. First, says Stelzer, out of the window must go EU health restrictions on the importation of American beef. (I can't help but note that the US was the first nation to ban British beef, years before Europe acted, and continues to do so.) Bush, rhinestone cowboy though he is, has more on his mind than cattle. The president's team, says Stelzer, are 'unhappy' with Europe's resistance to signing up to the World Trade Organisation's General Agreement on Trade in Services (Gats). As Blair's goal from this day forward must be Bush's happiness, let me provide a helpful guide to the Gats. Corporate America's wish list, and therefore that of the president, includes adding a 'necessity' test to Article Six of Gats. If Bush prevails, what that means is that Europe may not impose laws and regulations on businesses unless they are 'least trade-restrictive'. Britain may have to put itself in a position similar to that of Mexico under the Nafta treaty. For example, the Nafta board ordered Mexico to pay millions of dollars to an American company for delaying the building of the firm's toxic waste processing plant, although Mexico concluded the plant could pollute ground water.
The Bushies also want to extend the WTO's 'National Treatment' provisions to ensure that all public services are opened to bidding by US privateers. Want to keep the NHS public? Well, forget it, Jack! (I should note that Peter Mandelson, always a step ahead, is already Stelzerised and Gats-ready. During Mandy's year between portfolios in 1999, he travelled to all the power points on the planet, from Aspen to Bilderberg and, notably, to the Hudson Institute in Washington DC. At ultra-right Hudson, founded by the living model for Dr Strangelove, Herman Kahn, Stelzer trains world leaders in the details of deregulating, decapitating and selling off public services.)
And Mr Blair need no longer worry about all those little holes in the ozone. Stelzer reports that>
cretary, 'is very sceptical about the global warming scare'. Therefore, says Stelzer, Blair's job is to lay down the law to Europe and tell them to get off their 'anti-market, anti-permit-trading position'.
The White House demands that Europe back off its opposition to any restrictions on the trade in these credits for filth. The US wants to buy pollution rights from Russia and thereby relieve American industry from any need to cut ozone-depleting carbon dioxide emissions under the Kyoto Treaty.
Remember when John Prescott got caught up last year in a bitch-fight with France's environment minister? It was all about these crud credits. But now, it's away with Prescott's clownish attempts to bridge the gap between America's demands and Europe's. Rather, warns Stelzer, 'Britain is going to have to choose'. And Britain had better choose the American Way because, as Stelzer says: 'America has a new captain with an aversion to Third Way bilge.' Stelzer's former comrade at the American Enterprise Institute, Larry Lindsey, now heads Bush's council of economic advisers.
Stelzer reports that Lindsey laid down the law to one of Gordon Brown's minions that the Bush team would slice Britain right out of the trade talks power loop unless Blair agreed to join in the American push to smash EU trade controls, including the restrictions on US films and television.
Last month, Stelzer took the message against regulation of media to the Commons Culture Committee where, on behalf of News Corp, he warned the Government against maintaining restrictions on cross-media ownership.
The communications White Paper wove and waffled on the issue. Murdoch's operation wanted to make certain that government understood there would be a 'cost' for any attempt to restrict someone owning say, both a satellite broadcasting company and a terrestrial television station.
It would not be worth the Prime Minister's time to attempt to distinguish between which element of these warnings reflects Murdoch's interests, Stelzer's market philosophy or Bush's demands. Besides, Blair is already adapting to the new order. The Financial Times reports, deadpan, that the Government 'has accepted the view that media markets have changed significantly since [the communications] legislation was devised' and that, 'there was an argument for no regulation [of ownership] because of the proliferation of new services'. Good boy, Tony, here's a biscuit! Should Blair choose to whimper a few objections to President Bush on trade, Gats or media control, Stelzer reminds him that US Treasury Secretary O'Neill has a weak dollar pointed straight at Europe's head - and he's not afraid to pull the trigger. O'Neill favours cushioning a US recession by expanding American exports at Europe's expense.
So there were quite a few policy tricks for the Prime Minister to learn before his brief minutes with the new Leader of the Free World. In a pinch, Blair can always return to the routine that he regularly practised with Bill Clinton - roll over and play dead.
Gregory Palast's column "Inside Corporate America" appears fortnightly in the Observer's Business section. Nominated Business Writer of the Year (UK Press Association - 2000), Investigative Story of the Year (Industrial. Society - 1999), Financial Times David Thomas Prize (1998).