Roughly 130 of the world's most powerful individuals came together to
discuss the pressing issues of today, and to chart a course for the next
year. The main topic of discussion at this year's meeting was the global
attendees includes many of the primary architects of the crisis, as well as
those poised to "solve" it.
Before the meeting began, Bilderberg investigative journalist Daniel Estulin
reported on the main item of the agenda, which was leaked to him by his
sources inside. Though such reports cannot be verified, his sources, along
with those of veteran Bilderberg tracker, Jim Tucker, have proven to be
shockingly accurate in the past. Apparently, the main topic of discussion at
this year's meeting was to address the economic crisis, in terms of
undertaking, "Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world
to decades of stagnation, decline and poverty ... or an intense-but-shorter
depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order,
with less sovereignty but more efficiency." Other items on the agenda
included a plan to "continue to deceive millions of savers and investors who
believe the hype about the supposed up-turn in the economy. They are about
to be set up for massive losses and searing financial pain in the months
Shortly after the meetings began, Bilderberg tracker Jim Tucker reported
that his inside sources revealed that the group has on its agenda, "the plan
for a global department of health, a global treasury and a shortened
depression rather than a longer economic downturn." Tucker reported that
Swedish Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, "Made a
speech advocating turning the World Health Organization into a world
department of health, advocating turning the IMF into a world department of
treasury, both of course under the auspices of the United Nations." Further,
Tucker reported that, "Treasury Secretary Geithner and Carl Bildt touted a
shorter recession not a 10-year recession ... partly because a 10 year
recession would damage Bilderberg industrialists themselves, as much as they
want to have a global department of labor and a global department of
treasury, they still like making money and such a long recession would cost
them big bucks industrially because nobody is buying their toys.....the tilt
is towards keeping it short."[2]
After the meetings finished, Daniel Estulin reported that, "One of
Bilderberg's primary concerns according to Estulin is the danger that their
zeal to reshape the world by engineering chaos in order to implement their
long term agenda could cause the situation to spiral out of control and
eventually lead to a scenario where Bilderberg and the global elite in
general are overwhelmed by events and end up losing their control over the
planet."[3]
On May 21, the Macedonian International News Agency reported that, "A new
Kremlin report on the shadowy Bilderberg Group, who this past week held
their annual meeting in Greece, states that the West's financial, political
and corporate elite emerged from their conclave after coming to an agreement
that in order to continue their drive towards a New World Order dominated by
the Western Powers, the US Dollar has to be 'totally' destroyed." Further,
the same Kremlin report apparently stated that, "most of the West's
wealthiest elite convened at an unprecedented secret meeting in New York
called for and led by" David Rockefeller, "to plot the demise of the US
Dollar."[4]
The meeting being referred to was a secret meeting where, "A dozen of the
richest people in the world met for an unprecedented private gathering at
the invitation of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to talk about giving away
money," held at Rockefeller University, and included notable philanthropists
such as Gates, Buffett, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, George Soros, Eli
stated that, "It wasn't secret," but that, "It was meant to be a gathering
among friends and colleagues. It was something folks have been discussing
for a long time. Bill and Warren hoped to do this occasionally. They sent
out an invite and people came." Chronicle of Philanthropy editor Stacy
Palmer said, "Given how serious these economic times are, I don't think it's
surprising these philanthropists came together," and that, "They don't
typically get together and ask each other for advice." The three hosts of
the meeting were Buffet, Gates and David Rockefeller.[5] [See: Appendix 2:
Bilderberg Connections to the Billionaire's Meeting].
Americas Society, former Chairman and CEO of Chase Manhattan.
At the meeting, "participants steadfastly refused to reveal the content of
the discussion. Some cited an agreement to keep the meeting confidential.
Spokesmen for Mr. Buffett, Mr. Bloomberg, Mr. Gates, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr.
Soros and Ms. Winfrey and others dutifully declined comment, though some
confirmed attendance."[6] Reports indicate that, "They discussed how to
address the global slump and expand their charitable activities in the
downturn."[7]
The UK newspaper The Times reported that these "leading billionaires have
met secretly to consider how their wealth could be used to slow the growth
of the world's population," and that they "discussed joining forces to
overcome political and religious obstacles to change." Interestingly, "The
informal afternoon session was so discreet that some of the billionaires'
aides were told they were at 'security briefings'." Further, "The
billionaires were each given 15 minutes to present their favourite cause.
Over dinner they discussed how they might settle on an 'umbrella cause' that
could harness their interests," and what was decided upon was that, "they
agreed that overpopulation was a priority." Ultimately, "a consensus emerged
that they would back a strategy in which population growth would be tackled
as a potentially disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat,"
and that, "They need to be independent of government agencies, which are
unable to head off the disaster we all see looming." One guest at the
meeting said that, "They wanted to speak rich to rich without worrying
anything they said would end up in the newspapers, painting them as an
alternative world government."[8]
Bilderberg investigative reporter Daniel Estulin reportedly received from
his inside sources a 73-page Bilderberg Group meeting wrap-up for
participants, which revealed that there were some serious disagreements
among the participants. "The hardliners are for dramatic decline and a
severe, short-term depression, but there are those who think that things
have gone too far and that the fallout from the global economic cataclysm
cannot be accurately calculated if Henry Kissinger's model is chosen. Among
them is Richard Holbrooke. What is unknown at this point: if Holbrooke's
point of view is, in fact, Obama's." The consensus view was that the
recession would get worse, and that recovery would be "relatively slow and
protracted," and to look for these terms in the press over the next weeks
and months.
Estulin reported, "that some leading European bankers faced with the specter
of their own financial mortality are extremely concerned, calling this high
wire act "unsustainable," and saying that US budget and trade deficits could
result in the demise of the dollar." One Bilderberger said that, "the banks
themselves don't know the answer to when (the bottom will be hit)." Everyone
appeared to agree, "that the level of capital needed for the American banks
may be considerably higher than the US government suggested through their
recent stress tests." Further, "someone from the IMF pointed out that its
own study on historical recessions suggests that the US is only a third of
with resurgence in demand from the US will have a long wait." One attendee
stated that, "Equity losses in 2008 were worse than those of 1929," and
that, "The next phase of the economic decline will also be worse than the
'30s, mostly because the US economy carries about $20 trillion of excess
debt. Until that debt is eliminated, the idea of a healthy boom is a
mirage."[9]
According to Jim Tucker, Bilderberg is working on setting up a summit in
Israel from June 8-11, where "the world's leading regulatory experts" can
"address the current economic situation in one forum." In regards to the
proposals put forward by Carl Bildt to create a world treasury department
and world department of health under the United Nations, the IMF is said to
become the World Treasury, while the World Health Organization is to become
the world department of health. Bildt also reaffirmed using "climate change"
as a key challenge to pursue Bilderberg goals, referring to the economic
crisis as a "once-in-a-generation crisis while global warming is a
once-in-a-millennium challenge." Bildt also advocated expanding NAFTA
through the Western hemisphere to create an American Union, using the EU as
a "model of integration."
The IMF reportedly sent a report to Bilderberg advocating its rise to
becoming the World Treasury Department, and "U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner enthusiastically endorsed the plan for a World Treasury Department,
although he received no assurance that he would become its leader." Geithner
further said, "Our hope is that we can work with Europe on a global
framework, a global infrastructure which has appropriate global oversight."[10]
Following the Bilderberg meeting, there were several interesting
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner "is believed to be leaning heavily
towards giving the Federal Reserve a central role in future regulation," and
"it is understood that the Fed would take on some of the work currently
undertaken by the US Securities and Exchange Commission."[11]
On Wednesday, May 20, Geithner spoke before the Senate Banking Committee, at
which he stated that, "there are important indications that our financial
system is starting to heal." In regards to regulating the financial system,
Geithner stated that, "we must ensure that international rules for financial
regulation are consistent with the high standards we will be implementing in
the United States."[12]
Bloomberg reported that, "The Obama administration may call for stripping
the Securities and Exchange Commission of some of its powers under a
regulatory reorganization," and that, "The proposal, still being drafted, is
likely to give the Federal Reserve more authority to supervise financial
firms deemed too big to fail. The Fed may inherit some SEC functions, with
others going to other agencies." Interestingly, "SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro's
agency has been mostly absent from negotiations within the administration on
the regulatory overhaul, and she has expressed frustration about not being
consulted."
It was reported that "Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was set to discuss
proposals to change financial regulations last night at a dinner with
National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers [who was also present at
Bilderberg], former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker [also at Bilderberg], ex-SEC
Chairman Arthur Levitt and Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard University law
professor who heads the congressional watchdog group for the $700 billion
Troubled Asset Relief Program."[13] The Federal Reserve is a privately owned
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York). This plan would essentially give a
privately owned bank, which has governmental authority, the ability to
guard a General to whom he is directly answerable. Talk about the fox
guarding the hen house. It is literally granting ownership over the
financial regulator to the banks being regulated.
As Market Watch, an online publication of the Wall Street Journal, reported,
"The Federal Reserve, created nearly 100 years ago in the aftermath of a
financial panic, could be transformed into a different agency as the Obama
administration reinvents the way government interacts with the financial
system." Referring to Geithner's Senate appearance, it was reported that,
"Geithner was also grilled on the cozy relationships that exist between the
big banks and the regional Federal Reserve banks. Before Geithner joined the
administration, he was president of the New York Fed, which is a strange
public-private hybrid institution that is actually owned and run by the
banks." In response, "Geithner insisted that the private banks have no say
over the policies of the New York Fed, but he acknowledged that the banks do
have a say in hiring the president, who does make policy. The chairman of
the New York Fed, Stephen Friedman, was forced to resign earlier this month
because of perceived conflicts of interest due to his large holdings in
Goldman Sachs."[14]
The Bilderberg agenda of creating a global treasury has already been started
prior to the Bilderberg meeting, with decisions made during the G20
financial summit in April. Although the G20 seemed to frame it more in
context of being formed into a global central bank, although it is likely
the IMF could fill both roles.
Following the G20 meeting at the beginning of April, 2009, it was reported
that, "The world is a step closer to a global currency, backed by a global
central bank, running monetary policy for all humanity," as the Communiqué
released by the G20 leaders stated that, "We have agreed to support a
general SDR allocation which will inject $250bn (£170bn) into the world
economy and increase global liquidity," and that, "SDRs are Special Drawing
Rights, a synthetic paper currency issued by the International Monetary Fund
that has lain dormant for half a century." Essentially, "they are putting a
de facto world currency into play. It is outside the control of any
sovereign body."[15] [See Appendix 2: Creating a Central Bank of the World]
Following the Bilderberg meeting, "President Obama has asked Congress to
authorize $100 billion in loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to
help create a $500 billion global bailout fund," which would give the IMF
the essential prerogative of a global treasury, providing bailouts for
countries in need around the world. Further, "the bill would allow the IMF
to borrow up to $100 billion from the U.S. and increase the U.S. fiscal
contribution to the IMF by $8 billion." Elaborating on the program, it was
reported that, "World leaders began on the global bailout initiative, called
the New Arrangement for Borrowing (NAB), at the G-20 summit in early April.
The president agreed at that time to make the additional funds available."
Obama wrote that, "Treasury Secretary Geithner concluded that the size of
the NAB is woefully inadequate to deal with the type of severe economic and
financial crisis we are experiencing, and I agree with him."[16]
With the G20 decision to increase the usage of IMF Special Drawing Rights
(SDRs), forming a de facto world currency, it was recently reported that,
"Sub-Saharan Africa will receive around $10 billion from the IMF in Special
Drawing Rights (SDRs) to help its economies weather the global financial
crisis," and that, "As part of a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the world
economic downturn agreed at April's G20 summit, the IMF will issue $250
billion worth of SDRs, which can be used to boost foreign currency
reserves."[17]
Recent reports have also indicated that the IMF's role in issuing SDRs goes
hand in hand with the Bilderberg discussion on the potential collapse of the
US dollar, and, "Transforming the dollar standard into an SDR-based system
was reported that, "There are two ways in which the dollar's role in the
international monetary system can be reduced. One possibility is a gradual,
market-determined erosion of the dollar as a reserve currency in favor of
the euro. But, while the euro's international role - especially its use in
financial markets - has increased since its inception, it is hard to
envisage it overtaking the dollar as the dominant reserve currency in the
foreseeable future." However, "With the dollar's hegemony unlikely to be
seriously undermined by market forces, at least in the short and
medium-term, the only way to bring about a major reduction in its role as a
reserve currency is by international agreement." This is where the SDRs come
into play, as "One way to make the SDR the major reserve currency relatively
soon would be to create and allocate a massive amount of new SDRs to the IMF's
members."[18] This is, interestingly, exactly what is happening with Africa
and the IMF now.
Former IMF Managing Director Jacques de Larosière recently stated that the
current financial crisis, "given its scope, presents a unique opening to
improve institutions, and there is already a danger that the chance might be
missed if the different actors cannot agree to changes by the time economic
growth resumes." He is now an adviser with BNP Paribas, a corporation highly
represented at Bilderberg meetings, and he was head of the Treasury of
France when Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was President of France, who is a
regular of the Bilderberg Group.[19]
The British paper, the Guardian, was the only major mainstream news
publication to provide ongoing coverage of the Bilderberg meeting over the
weekend. His first columns were satirical and slightly mocking, referring to
it as, "A long weekend at a luxury hotel, where the world's elite get to
shake hands, clink glasses, fine-tune their global agenda and squabble over
who gets the best sun loungers. I'm guessing that Henry Kissinger brings his
own, has it helicoptered in and guarded 24/7 by a CIA special ops team."[20]
However, as the weekend dragged on, his reporting took a change of tone. He
reported on the Saturday that, "I know that I'm being followed. I know
because I've just been chatting to the plainclothes policemen I caught
following me," and he was arrested twice in the first day of the meetings
for attempting to take photographs as the limousines entered the hotel.[21]
He later reported that he wasn't sure what they were discussing inside the
hotel, but that he has "a sense of something rotten in the state of Greece,"
and he further stated, "Three days and I've been turned into a suspect, a
troublemaker, unwanted, ill at ease, tired and a bit afraid." He then went
on to write that, "Bilderberg is all about control. It's about "what shall
we do next?" We run lots of stuff already, how about we run some more? How
about we make it easier to run stuff? More efficient. Efficiency is good. It
would be so much easier with a single bank, a single currency, a single
market, a single government. How about a single army? That would be pretty
cool. We wouldn't have any wars then. This prawn cocktail is GOOD. How about
a single way of thinking? How about a controlled internet?," and then, "How
about not."
He makes a very astute point, countering the often postulated argument that
Bilderberg is simply a forum where people can speak freely, writing: "I am
so unbelievably backteeth sick of power being flexed by the few. I've had it
flexed in my face for three days, and it's up my nose like a wasp. I don't
care whether the Bilderberg Group is planning to save the world or shove it
in a blender and drink the juice, I don't think politics should be done like
this," and the author, Charlie Skelton, eloquently stated, "If they were
trying to cure cancer they could do it with the lights on." He further
explained that, "Bilderberg is about positions of control. I get within half
a mile of it, and suddenly I'm one of the controlled. I'm followed, watched,
"power" that was up the road."[22]
On Sunday, May 17, Skelton reported that when he asked the police chief why
he was being followed, the chief responded asking, "Why you here?" to which
Skelton said he was there to cover the Bilderberg conference, after which
the chief stated, "Well, that is the reason! That is why! We are finished!"[23]
Do reporters get followed around and stalked by police officers when they
cover the World Economic Forum? No. So why does it happen with Bilderberg if
all it is, is a conference to discuss ideas freely?
On the Monday following the conference, Skelton wrote that, "It isn't just
me who's been hauled into police custody for daring to hang around half a
mile from the hotel gates. The few journalists who've made the trip to
Vouliagmeni this year have all been harassed and harried and felt the
business end of a Greek walkie-talkie. Many have been arrested. Bernie, from
the American Free Press, and Gerhard the documentarian (sounds like a
Dungeons and Dragons character) chartered a boat from a nearby marina to try
to get photos from the sea. They were stopped three miles from the resort.
By the Greek navy." As Skelton said himself, "My dispatches on the 2009
conference, if they mean anything at all, represent nothing more acutely
than the absence of thorough mainstream reporting."[24]
Skelton's final report on Bilderberg from May 19, showed how far he had gone
in his several days of reporting on the meeting. From writing jokingly about
the meeting, to discovering that he was followed by the Greek State Security
force. Skelton mused, "So who is the paranoid one? Me, hiding in stairwells,
watching the pavement behind me in shop windows, staying in the open for
safety? Or Bilderberg, with its two F-16s, circling helicopters, machine
guns, navy commandos and policy of repeatedly detaining and harassing a
handful of journalists? Who's the nutter? Me or Baron Mandelson? Me or Paul
Volker, the head of Obama's economic advisory board? Me or the president of
Coca-Cola?"
Skelton stated that, "Publicity is pure salt to the giant slug of
Bilderberg. So I suggest next year we turn up with a few more tubs. If the
mainstream press refuses to give proper coverage to this massive annual
event, then interested citizens will have to: a people's media."
Amazingly, Skelton made the pronouncement that what he learned after the
Bilderberg conference, was that, "we must fight, fight, fight, now - right
now, this second, with every cubic inch of our souls - to stop identity
cards," as, "It's all about the power to ask, the obligation to show, the
justification of one's existence, the power of the asker over the
subservience of the asked." He stated that he "learned this from the random
searches, detentions, angry security goon proddings and thumped police desks
without number that I've had to suffer on account of Bilderberg: I have
spent the week living in a nightmare possible future and many different
terrible pasts. I have had the very tiniest glimpse into a world of spot
checks and unchecked security powers. And it has left me shaken. It has left
me, literally, bruised." Pointedly, he explains that, "The identity card
turns you from a free citizen into a suspect."[25]
Royalty
Among the members of the Bilderberg Group are various European monarchs. At
this years meeting, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was present, who
happens to be the largest single shareholder in Royal Dutch Shell, one of
the world's largest corporations. She was joined by one of her three sons,
Prince Constantijn, who also attended the meeting. Prince Constantijn has
worked with the Dutch European Commissioner for the EU, as well as having
been a strategic policy consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton in London, a
major strategy and technology consulting firm with expertise in Economic and
Business Analysis, Intelligence and Operations Analysis and Information
Technology, among many others. Prince Constantijn has also been a policy
researcher for RAND Corporation in Europe. RAND was initially founded as a
the US Armed Forces, however, it now works with governments, foundations,
international organizations and commercial organizations.[26] Also present
among European Royalty was Prince Philippe of Belgium, and Queen Sofia of
Spain.
As usual, the list of attendees was also replete with names representing the
largest banks in the world. Among them, David Rockefeller, former CEO and
Chairman of Chase Manhattan, now JP Morgan Chase, of which he was, until
recently, Chairman of the International Advisory Board; and still sits as
Honourary Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, Chairman of the
Board of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, Honourary
Chairman of the Trilateral Commission, which he founded alongside Zbigniew
Brzezinski; also a founding member of the Bilderberg Group, prominent
philanthropist and is the current patriarch of one of the world's richest
and most powerful banking dynasties.
Also present was Josef Ackermann, a Swiss banker who is CEO of Deutsche
Bank, also a non-executive director of Royal Dutch Shell; Deputy Chairman of
Siemens AG, Europe's largest engineering corporation; he is also a member of
the International Advisory Council of Zurich Financial Services Group;
Chairman of the Board of the Institute International of Finance, the world's
only global association of financial institutions; and Vice Chairman of the
Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum.[27]
Roger Altman was also present at the Bilderberg meeting, an investment
banker, private equity investor and former Deputy Treasury Secretary in the
Clinton Administration. Other bankers at this years meeting include Ana
Patricia Botin, Chairman of the Spanish bank, Banco Español de Crédito,
formerly having worked with JP Morgan; Frederic Oudea, CEO and newly
appointed Chairman of the Board of French bank Societe Generale; Tommaso
Padoa-Schioppa, an Italian banker and economist, formerly Italy's Minister
of Economy and Finance; Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman of Investor AB; Marcus
Wallenberg, CEO of Investor AB; and George David, CEO of United Technologies
Corporation, who also sits on the board of Citigroup, member of the Business
Council, the Business Roundtable, and is Vice Chairman of the Peterson
Institute for International Economics. [For more on the Peterson Institute,
see: Appendix 1]
Canadian bankers include W. Edmund Clark, President and CEO of TD Bank
Financial Group, also a member of the board of directors of the C.D. Howe
Institute, a prominent Canadian think tank; Frank McKenna, Deputy Chairman
of TD Bank Financial Group, former Canadian Ambassador to the United States,
former Premier of New Brunswick; and Indira Samarasekera, President of the
University of Alberta, who is also on the board of Scotiabank, one of Canada's
largest banks.
Of course, among the notable members of the Bilderberg Group, are the world's
major central bankers. Among this years members are the Governor of the
National Bank of Greece, Governor of the Bank of Italy, President of the
European Investment Bank, James Wolfensohn, former President of the World
Bank, and Nout Wellink, on the board of the Bank for International
Settlements (BIS).[28] Jean-Claude Trichet, the President of the European
Central Bank was also present.[29] There is no indication that the Governor
of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke was present, which would be an odd turn
of events, considering that the Federal Reserve Governor is always present
at Bilderberg meetings, alongside the President of the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York, William C. Dudley. I have contacted the New York Fed inquiring
if Dudley visited Greece or went to any meetings in Greece between May
14-17, or if another senior representative from the New York Fed went in his
stead. I have yet to get a response.
The Obama administration was heavily represented at this year's Bilderberg
meeting. Among the attendees were Keith B. Alexander, a Lieutenant General
spying agency of the United States; Timothy Geithner, US Treasury Secretary
and former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Richard
Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and
Pakistan; General James Jones, United States National Security Advisor;
Henry Kissinger, Obama's special envoy to Russia, longtime Bilderberg member
and former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor; Dennis Ross,
special advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton; David Patraeus, Commander of CENTCOM, (U.S. Central
Command, in the Middle East), Lawrence Summers, Director of the White
House's National Economic Council, former Treasury Secretary in the Clinton
administration, former President of Harvard University, former Chief
Economist of the World Bank; Paul Volcker, former Governor of the Federal
Reserve System and Chair of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board; Robert
Zoellick, former Chairman of Goldman Sachs and current President of the
World Bank;[30] and Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg.[31]
Among many others present at the meeting are Viscount Étienne Davignon,
former Vice President of the European Commission, and Honourary Chairman of
the Bilderberg Group; Francisco Pinto Balsemão, former Prime Minister of
Portugal; Franco Bernabè, CEO of Telecom Italia and Vice Chairman of
Rothschild Europe; Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden; Kenneth
Clarke, Shadow Business Secretary in the UK; Richard Dearlove, former head
of Britain's Secret Intelligence Services (MI6); Donald Graham, CEO of the
Washington Post Company; Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, Secretary-General of NATO;
John Kerr, member of the British House of Lords and Deputy Chairman of Royal
Dutch Shell; Jessica Matthews, President of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace; Richard Perle of the American Enterprise Institute;
Romano Prodi, former Italian Prime Minister; J. Robert S. Prichard, CEO of
Torstar Corporation and President Emeritus of the University of Toronto;
Tariffs and Trade (GATT), first Director General of the World Trade
Organization (WTO), and is currently Chairman of British Petroleum (BP) and
Goldman Sachs International as well as being a board member of the Royal
Bank of Scotland, Chairman of the Trilateral Commission, Vice Chairman of
Peter Thiel, on the board of directors of Facebook; Jeroen van der Veer, CEO
of Royal Dutch Shell; Martin Wolf, Associate Editor and Chief Economics
Commentator of the Financial Times newspaper; and Fareed Zakaria, US
journalist and board member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[32] There
were also some reports that this years meeting would include Google CEO Eric
Schmidt, as well as Wall Street Journal Editor Paul Gigot,[33] both of whom
attended last year's meeting.[34]
Clearly, it was the prerogative of this year's Bilderberg meeting to exploit
the global financial crisis as much as possible to reach goals they have
been striving toward for many years. These include the creation of a Global
Treasury Department, likely in conjunction with or embodied in the same
institution as a Global Central Bank, both of which seem to be in the
process of being incorporated into the IMF.
Naturally, Bilderberg meetings serve the interests of the people and
organizations that are represented there. Due to the large amount of
representatives from the Obama administration that were present, US policies
revolving around the financial crisis are likely to have emerged from and
serve the interests of the Bilderberg Group. Given the heavy representation
of Obama's foreign policy establishment at the Bilderberg meeting, it seemed
surprising to not have received any more information regarding US foreign
policy from this year's meeting, perhaps having to do with Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
However, the US recently decided to fire the general who oversaw the Afghan
who recently commanded the military's secretive special operations forces in
Iraq."[35] From 2003 to 2008, McChrystal "led the Pentagon's Joint Special
Operations Command (JSOC), which oversees the military's most sensitive
forces, including the Army's Delta Force," and who Pulitzer-Prize winning
investigative journalist Seymour Hersh singled out as the head of VP Cheney's
"executive assassination wing."[36]
So, given these recent changes, as well as the high degree of representation
Obama's foreign policy establishment held at Bildebrerg this year, there
were likely to have been some decisions or at least discussion of the
escalation of the Afghan war and expansion into Pakistan. However, it is not
surprising that the main item on the agenda was the global financial crisis.
Without a doubt, the next year will be an interesting one, and the elite are
surely hoping to make it a productive one.
Peter G. Peterson, one of the guests in attendance at the secret
billionaires meeting, was the former United States Secretary of Commerce in
the Nixon administration, Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb
Inc., from 1977 to 1984, he co-founded the prominent private equity and
investment management firm, the Blackstone Group, of which he is currently
Senior Chairman, and in 1985, he became Chairman of the Council on Foreign
Relations, taking over when David Rockefeller stepped down from that
position. He founded the Peterson Institute for International Economics and
was Chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 2000-2004. The
Peterson Institute for International Economics is a major world economic
think tank, which seeks to "inform and shape public debate," from which,
"Institute studies have helped provide the intellectual foundation for many
of the major international financial initiatives of the past two decades:
reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adoption of international
banking standards, exchange rate systems in the G-7 and emerging-market
economies, policies toward the dollar, the euro, and other important
currencies, and responses to debt and currency crises (including the current
crisis of 2008-09)." It has also "made important contributions to key trade
policy decisions" such as the development of the World Trade Organization,
NAFTA, APEC, and East Asian regionalism.[37]
It has a prominent list of names on its board of directors. Peter G.
Peterson is Chairman of the board; George David, Chairman of United
Technologies is Vice Chairman, as well as being a board member of Citigroup,
and was a guest at this year's Bilderberg meeting; Chen Yuan, Governor of
the China Development Bank and former Deputy Governor of the People's Bank
of China (China's central bank); Jessica Einhorn, Dean of Washington's Paul
H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns
Hopkins University, former Visiting Fellow of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), former Managing Director of the World Bank, and currently on the
board of Time Warner and the Council on Foreign Relations; Stanley Fischer,
Governor of the Central Bank of Israel, former Vice President at the World
Bank, former Managing Director at the IMF, former Vice Chairman of
Citigroup, and has also been a regular participant in Bilderberg meetings;
Carla A. Hills, former US Trade Representative, and was the prime negotiator
of NAFTA, she sits on the International Advisory Boards of American
International Group, the Coca-Cola Company, Gilead Sciences, J.P. Morgan
Chase, member of the Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission,
Co-Chair of the Council on Foreign Relations, and played a key part in the
CFR document, "Building a North American Community," which seeks to remodel
North America following along the lines of the European Union, and she has
also been a prominent Bilderberg member; David Rockefeller also sits on the
Peterson Institute's board, as well as Lynn Forester de Rothschild;
Bilderberg meeting; Paul A. Volcker, former Governor of the Federal Reserve
System, regular participant of Bilderberg meetings, and current Chair of
Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
Honourary Directors of the Peterson Institute include Bilderbergers Alan
Greenspan, former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, a prime architect of the current crisis; Frank E. Loy, former Under
Secretary of State for Global Affairs, and is on the boards of Environmental
Defense, the Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Resources for the Future,
and Population Services International; George P. Shultz, former US Secretary
of State in the Reagan administration, President and Director of Bechtel
Group and former Secretary of the Treasury.[38]
Jeffrey Garten, Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade in the
Clinton administration, former Dean of the Yale School of Management,
previously served on the White House Council on International Economic
Policy under the Nixon administration and on the policy planning staffs of
Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Cyrus Vance of the Ford and Carter
administrations. He also was a managing director of Lehman Brothers and the
Blackstone Group, is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. As
early as 1998, Garten wrote an article for the New York Times in which he
advocated the creation of a global central bank.[39]
Amid the current financial crisis, Garten wrote an article for the Financial
Times in which he advocated for "the establishment of a Global Monetary
Authority to oversee markets that have become borderless," acting as a
global central bank.[40] In late October, Garten wrote an article for
Newsweek in which he said that world "leaders should begin laying the
groundwork for establishing a global central bank."[41]
Three days after the publication of Garten's Newsweek article, it was
reported that, "The International Monetary Fund may soon lack the money to
bail out an ever growing list of countries crumbling across Eastern Europe,
Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia, raising concerns that it will have
to tap taxpayers in Western countries for a capital infusion or resort to
the nuclear option of printing its own money." Further, "The nuclear option
is to print money by issuing Special Drawing Rights, in effect acting as if
it were the world's central bank."[42]
For a detailed look at the moves to create a global central bank, regional
currencies, a global reserve currency and a world governing body, see:
Andrew G. Marshall, The Financial New World Order: Towards a Global Currency
Endnotes
[1] CFP, Annual Elite Conclave, 58th Bilderberg Meeting to be held in
Greece, May 14-17. Canadian Free Press: May 5, 2009:
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/10854
[2] Paul Joseph Watson, Bilderberg Wants Global Department Of Health, Global
Treasury. Prison Planet: May 16, 2009:
http://www.infowars.com/bilderberg-wants-global-department-of-health-global-treasury/
/charlie-skelton-bilderberg
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Annual Bilderberg meeting 14-17 May / Lisbon Treaty / Ireland's Peter Sutherland / London 'Guardian' coverage ... Article forwarded for your information
The Bilderberg Plan for 2009: Remaking the Global Political Economy
By Andrew G. Marshall
(Andrew G. Marshall is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is currently studying Political Economy and History at Simon Fraser University. )
(References to the Lisbon Treaty and Peter Sutherland are emphasised in bold below)
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13738
26 May 2009
From May 14-17 the global elites met in secret in Greece for the yearly
Bilderberg conference, amid scattered and limited global media attention.
financial crisis, which is no surprise, considering the list of conference
The Agenda: The Restructuring of the Global Political Economy
ahead," and "There will be a final push for the enactment of the
Lisbon Treaty, pending on Irish voting YES on the treaty in
September or October,"[1] which would give the European Union
massive powers over its member nations, essentially making it
a supranational regional government, with each country
relegated to more of a provincial status.
The Secret Meeting of Billionaires
Broad, Oprah Winfrey, David Rockefeller Sr. and Ted Turner. One attendee
Bilderberg founding member David Rockefeller, Honorary Chairman of the
Council on Foreign Relations, Honorary Chairman and Founder of the
Trilateral Commission, Chairman of the Council of the Americas and the
The Leaked Report
the way through this current one; therefore economies expecting to recover
Bilderberg's Plan in Action? Reorganizing the Federal Reserve
announcements made by key participants, specifically in regards to
reorganizing the Federal Reserve. On May 21, it was reported that US
central bank, owned by its shareholders, consisting of the major banks that
make up each regional Fed bank (the largest of which is JP Morgan Chase and
regulate the banks that own it. It's the equivalent of getting a Colonel to
The IMF as a Global Treasury
would be a major break with a policy that has lasted more than 60 years." It
The Guardian Covers Bilderberg
logged, detained, detained again. I'd been put in that position by the
Who was there?
global policy think tank that was formed to offer research and analysis to
Private Bankers
Central Bankers
The Obama Administration at Bilderberg
of U.S. Army and Director of the National Security Agency, the massive
Other Notable Names
Peter Sutherland, former Director General of the General Agreement on
the European Roundtable of Industrialists, and longtime Bilderberg member;
Conclusion
war, being replaced with "Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a former Green Beret
APPENDIX 1: Bilderberg Connections to the Billionaire's Meeting
Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank, who is at every
APPENDIX 2: Creating a World Central Bank
_____
and World Government: Global Research, April 6, 2009
______
[3] Paul Joseph Watson, Bilderberg Fears Losing Control In Chaos-Plagued World. Prison Planet: May 18, 2009:http://www.prisonplanet.com/bilderberg-fears-losing-control-in-chaos-plagued-world.html
[4] Sorcha Faal, Bilderberg Group orders destruction of US Dollar? MINA: May21, 2009:http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/6807/53/[5] Kristi Heim, What reallyhappened at the billionaires' private confab.The Seattle Times: May 20 2009:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thebusinessofgiving/2009244202_what_really_happened_at_the_bi.html
[5] Kristi Heim, What really happened at the billionaires' private confab.The Seattle Times: May 20,2009:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thebusinessofgiving/2009244202_what_really_happened_at_the_bi.html
[6] A. G. Sulzberger, The Rich Get Š Together(Shhh, It Was a Secret). The New York Times: May 20,2009:http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/the-rich-get-together-shhh-it-was-a-secret/
[7] Chosun, American Billionaires Gather to Discuss Slump.The Chosun Ilbo:May 22,2009:http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/05/22/2009052200772.html
[8] John Harlow, Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation. TheSundayTimes: May 24, 2009:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6350303.ece
[9] Press Release, Investigative Author, Daniel Estulin Exposes Bilderberg Group Plans. PRWeb: May 22,2009:http://www.prweb.com/releases/Bilderberg_Group_Meeting/Daniel_Estulin/prweb2453144.htm
[10] James P. Tucker Jr., BILDERBERG AGENDA EXPOSED. American Free Press:June 1,2009:http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bilderberg_2009_179.ht
[11] James Quinn, Tim Geithner to reform US financial regulation. TheTelegraph: May 21, 2009:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5359527/Tim-Geithner-to-reform-US-financial-regulation.html
[12] Greg Menges, U. S.Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner speech before the Senate Banking Committee. Examiner: May 20,2009:http://www.examiner.com/x-8184-Boston-Investing-Examiner~y2009m5d20-U-S-Secretary-of-the-Treasury-Timothy-F-Geithner-speech-before-the-Senate-Banking-Committee
[13] Robert Schmidt and Jesse Westbrook, U.S. May Strip SEC of Powers in Regulatory Overhaul. Bloomberg: May 20:2009:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a18ctNv3FDc
[14] Rex Nutting, Fed could be completely retooled, Geithner says. Market Watch:May 20, 2009:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-could-be-completely-retooled-geithner-say
[15] Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The G20 moves the world a step closer to a global currency. The Telegraph: April 3, 2009 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/5096524/The-G20-moves-the-world-a-step-closer-to-a-global-currency.html
[16] Marie Magleby, Obama Wants U.S. to Loan $100 Billion to Global Bailout Fund. CNS News: May 20,2009:http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=48329
[17] Joe Bavier, Sub-Saharan Africa to receive $10 bln in SDRs-IMF. Reuters:May 25,2009: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLP336909
[18] Onno Wijnholds, The Dollar's Last Days? International Business Times, May 18, 2009: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20090518/dollar-rsquolast-days.htm
[19] MATTHEW SALTMARSH, Former I.M.F. Chief Sees Opportunity in Crisis. The NewYork Times: May 22, 2009:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/business/global/23spot.html?ref=global
[20] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: in pursuit of the world's most powerful cabal. The Guardian: May 13, 2009:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/13/in-search-of-bilderberg
[21] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: They're watching and following me, I tell you. The Guardian: May 15,2009:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/15/bilderberg-charlie-skelton-dispatch
[22] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: I'm ready to lose control, but they're not. The Guardian: May 15, 2009:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/15/bilderberg-charlie-skelton-dispatch1
[23] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: 'You are not allowed to take pictures of policemen!' The Guardian: May 17,2009:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/17
[24] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: Fear my pen. The Guardian: May18,2009:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/18/bilderberg-charlie-skelton-dispatch
[25] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: Let's salt the slug in 2010.The Guardian: May 19,2009:http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/may/19/bilderberg-skelton-greece[26] Dutch Royal House, Work and official duties. Prince Constantijn: http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/english/content.jsp?objectid=18215
[26] Dutch Royal House, Work and official duties. Prince Constantijn: http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/english/content.jsp?objectid=18215
[27] DeutscheBank, Management Board. Our Company: http://www.db.com/en/content/company/management_board.htm
[28] InfoWars, Bilderberg 2009 Attendee List (revised). May 18,2009:http://www.infowars.com/bilderberg-2009-attendee-list/
[29] Demetris Nellas, Greek nationalists protest Bilderberg Club meeting.AP: May 14,2009:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jep_nbEq1srzJHFQ8fRGNQO3P38QD987H32009
[30] InfoWars, Bilderberg 2009 Attendee List (revised). May18, 2009:http://www.infowars.com/bild
erberg-2009-attendee-list/
[31] MRT, Top US official arrives in Greece. Macedonian Radio and Television: May 15, 2009:http://www.mrt.com.mk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6112&Itemid=2
[32] InfoWars, Bilderberg 2009 Attendee List (revised). May 18, 2009:http://www.infowars.com/bilderberg-2009-attendee-list/
[33] WND, Google joins Bilderberg cabal. World Net Daily: May 17,2009:http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=98469
[34] Adam Abrams, Are the people who 'really run the world' meeting this weekend? Haaretz: May 14, 2009:http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1085589.html
[35]YOCHI J. DREAZEN and PETER SPIEGEL, U.S. Fires Afghan War Chief. The Wall Street Journal: May 12,2009:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124206036635107351.html
[36] M.J.Stephey, Stan McChrystal: The New U.S. Commander in Afghanistan.TimeMagazine: May 12,2009:http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1897542,00.html
[37] PIIE, About the Institute. Peterson Institute forInternational Econmics http://www.petersoninstitute.org/institute/aboutiie.cfm
[38] PIIE, Board of Directors. Peterson Institute for International Economics http://www.petersoninstitute.org/institute/board.cfm#52
[39] Jeffrey E. Garten, Needed: A Fed for the World. The New York Times: September 23,1998:http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/23/opinion/needed-a-fed-for-the-world.html
[40] Jeffrey Garten, Global authority can fill financial vacuum.The Financial Times: September 25,2008:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7caf543e-8b13-11dd-b634-0000779fd18c,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F7caf543e-8b13-11dd-b634-0000779fd18c.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwilliamnotes.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F09%2F30%2Fgarten-on-a-global-monetary-authority%2F
[41] Jeffrey Garten, We Need a Bank Of the World. Newsweek: October 25,2009:http://www.newsweek.com/id/165772
[42] Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, IMF may need to "print money" as crisis spreads. Telegraph: October 28 2009:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3269669/IMF-may-need-to-print-money-as-crisis-spreads.html
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