The Bilderberg group, an
elite coterie of Western thinkers and power-brokers, has been accused of fixing
the fate of the world behind closed doors. Not a word of what is said at Bilderberg
meetings can be breathed outside. Meetings often feature future political
leaders shortly before they become household names. Bill Clinton went in 1991
while still governor of Arkansas, Tony Blair was there two years later while
still an opposition MP. Private networks like Bilderberg have helped to oil
the wheels of global politics and globalisation for the past half a century."
--
BBC News (from two Bilderberg articles on BBC website dated 9/29/05 and 6/3/04 - links
provided below)
Dear friends,
As one who
has served as a language
interpreter for Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and leaders of
several other nations, I once scoffed at the notion that global politics
was largely shaped by secret societies of the global elite. I had participated
in a number of secret meetings myself and had seen no signs of influence by
any secret societies. This all changed in July 2001 when a close friend sent
me an eye-opening video
which in two hours managed to convince me that the world was not what I had
once thought. Since that fateful day four years ago, I have devoted myself
full time to learning about the hidden forces that shape our world and to
inspiring others to join in working for a brighter
future.
The below
excerpts from two BBC News articles reveal that there are secret societies
of a global elite of which very few are aware. I invite you to inform yourself
by reading these articles about the Bilderberg group, and then to explore
the resources listed below the articles both to learn more about secret societies
and for ideas on what you can do about it. This information may at first
be disturbing, yet I invite you to see this as a powerful opportunity for
all of us to bring these secret societies into public awareness and to work
together for the good of all who share our world.
With best wishes,
Fred Burks for the WantToKnow.info Team
Former language interpreter
for Presidents Bush and Clinton
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4290944.stm
- BBC News, September 29, 2005
Inside
the secretive Bilderberg Group
How much
influence do private networks of the rich and powerful have on government
policies and international relations? One group, the Bilderberg, has often
attracted speculation that it forms a shadowy global government.
The chairman
of the secretive - he prefers the word private - Bilderberg Group is 73-year-old
Viscount Etienne Davignon, corporate director and former European Commissioner.
In his office, on a private floor above the Brussels office of the Suez conglomerate
lined with political cartoons of himself, he told me what he thought of allegations
that Bilderberg is a global conspiracy secretly ruling the world. "It
is unavoidable and it doesn't matter," he says. "There will always
be people who believe in conspiracies but things happen in a much more incoherent
fashion."
Lack of
publicity
In an extremely rare interview, he played down the importance of Bilderberg
in setting the international agenda. "What can come out of our meetings
is that it is wrong not to try to deal with a problem. But a real consensus,
an action plan containing points 1, 2 and 3? The answer is no. People are
much too sensible to believe they can do that."
Every year
since 1954, a small network of rich and powerful people have held a discussion
meeting about the state of the trans-Atlantic alliance and the problems facing
Europe and the US. Organised by a steering committee of two people from each
of about 18 countries, the Bilderberg Group (named after the Dutch hotel in
which it held its first meeting) brings together about 120 leading business
people and politicians.
At this
year's meeting in Germany, the audience included the heads of the World Bank
and European Central Bank, Chairmen or Chief Executives from Nokia, BP, Unilever,
DaimlerChrysler and Pepsi - among other multi-national corporations, editors
from five major newspapers, members of parliament, ministers, European commissioners,
the crown prince of Belgium and the queen of the Netherlands.
"I don't
think (we are) a global ruling class because I don't think a global ruling
class exists. I simply think it's people who have influence interested to
speak to other people who have influence," Viscount Davignon says. "Bilderberg
does not try to reach conclusions - it does not try to say 'what we should
do'. Everyone goes away with their own feeling and that allows the debate
to be completely open, quite frank - and to see what the differences are.
"Business influences society and politics influences society - that's
purely common sense. It's not that business contests the right of democratically-elected
leaders to lead".
For Bilderberg's
critics the fact that there is almost no publicity about the annual meetings
is proof that they are up to no good. Jim Tucker, editor of a right-wing newspaper,
the American Free Press
for example, alleges they organise wars and elect and depose political leaders.
He describes the group as simply 'evil'. So where does the truth lie?
Professor
Kees van der Pijl of Sussex University in Britain says such private networks
of corporate and political leaders play an informal but crucial role in the
modern world. "There need to be places where these people can think about
the main challenges ahead, co-ordinate where policies should be going, and
find out where there could be a consensus."
'Common
sense'
Will Hutton,
an economic analyst and former newspaper editor who attended a Bilderberg
meeting in 1997, says people take part in these networks in order to influence
the way the world works, to create what he calls "the international common
sense" about policy. "On every issue that might influence your business
you will hear at first-hand the people who are actually making those decisions
and you will play a part in helping them to make those decisions and formulating
the common sense," he says.
And that
"common sense" is one which supports the interests of Bilderberg's
main participants - in particular free trade. Viscount Davignon says that
at the annual meetings, "automatically around the table you have internationalists"
- people who support the work of the World Trade Organisation, trans-Atlantic
co-operation and European integration.
Bilderberg
meetings often feature future political leaders shortly before they become
household names. Bill Clinton went in 1991 while still governor of Arkansas,
Tony Blair was there two years later while still an opposition MP. All the
recent presidents of the European Commission attended Bilderberg meetings
before they were appointed.
'Secret
Government'
This has led
to accusations that the group pushes its favoured politicians into high office.
But Viscount Davignon says his steering committee are simply excellent talent
spotters. The steering committee "does its best assessment of who are
the bright new boys or girls in the beginning phase of their career who would
like to get known. It's not a total accident, but it's not a forecast and
if they go places it's not because of Bilderberg, it's because of themselves,"
Viscount Davignon says.
But its critics
say Bilderberg's selection process gives an extra boost to aspiring politicians
whose views are friendly to big business. None of this, however, is easy to
prove - or disprove. Observers like Will Hutton argue that such private networks
have both good and bad sides. They are unaccountable to voters but, at the
same time, they do keep the international system functioning. And there are
limits to their power - a point which Bilderberg chairman was keen to stress,
"When people say this is a secret government of the world, I say that
if we were a secret government of the world we should be bloody ashamed of
ourselves."
Informal
and private networks like Bilderberg have helped to oil the wheels of global
politics and globalisation for the past half a century. In the eyes of critics
they have undermined democracy, but their supporters believe they are crucial
to modern democracy's success. And so long as business and politics remain
mutually dependent, they will continue to thrive.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3773019.stm
- BBC News, June 3, 2004
Bilderberg: The ultimate conspiracy theory
The Bilderberg
group, an elite coterie of Western thinkers and power-brokers, has been accused
of fixing the fate of the world behind closed doors. As the organisation marks
its 50th anniversary, rumours are more rife than ever.
Given its
reputation as perhaps the most powerful organisation in the world, the Bilderberg
group doesn't go a bundle on its switchboard operations. Telephone inquiries
are met with an impersonal female voice...reciting back the number and inviting
callers to "leave a message after the tone". Anyone who accidentally
dialled the number would probably think they had stumbled on just another
residential answer machine. But behind this ultra-modest façade lies
one of the most controversial and hotly-debated alliances of our times.
On Thursday
the Bilderberg group marks its 50th anniversary with the start of its yearly
meeting. For four days some of the West's chief political movers, business
leaders, bankers, industrialists and strategic thinkers will hunker down in
a five-star hotel in northern Italy to talk about global issues.
What sets
Bilderberg apart from other high-powered get-togethers, such as the annual
World Economic Forum (WEF), is its mystique. Not a word of what is said at
Bilderberg meetings can be breathed outside. No reporters are invited in and
while confidential minutes of meetings are taken, names are not noted.
The shadowy
aura extends further - the anonymous answerphone message, for example; the
fact that conference venues are kept secret. The group, which includes luminaries
such as Henry Kissinger and former UK chancellor Kenneth Clarke, does not
even have a website. In the void created by such aloofness, an extraordinary
conspiracy theory has grown up around the group that alleges the fate of the
world is largely decided by Bilderberg.
In Yugoslavia,
leading Serbs have blamed Bilderberg for triggering the war which led to the
downfall of Slobodan Milosevic. The Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh,
the London nail-bomber David Copeland and Osama Bin Laden are all said to
have bought into the theory that Bilderberg pulls the strings with which national
governments dance. And while hardline right-wingers and libertarians accuse
Bilderberg of being a liberal Zionist plot, leftists such as activist Tony
Gosling are equally critical. A former journalist, Mr Gosling runs a
campaign against the group from his home in Bristol, UK.
"My main
problem is the secrecy. When so many people with so much power get together
in one place I think we are owed an explanation of what is going on. Mr Gosling
seizes on a quote from Will Hutton, the British economist and a former Bilderberg
delegate, who likened it to the annual WEF gathering where "the consensus
established is the backdrop against which policy is made worldwide".
"One
of the first places I heard about the determination of US forces to attack
Iraq was from leaks that came out of the 2002 Bilderberg meeting," says
Mr Gosling.
Comments and Resources for More Information
Why is this
meeting of top leaders of our world kept so secret? Why is there no website?
Why, until a few years ago, was there virtually no reporting on
the influential Bilderberg Group at all in the major
media? (Note that the alternative
media has had some good articles and a Google search can be highly informative) If the Bilderbergers truly are supporting
the interests of all of us, why the need for so much secrecy? I invite you
to ask the hard questions and decide for yourself if you are interested in
helping to build a better world.
Reliable information
on secret societies such as the Bilderberg group is often most difficult to
find. I am most thankful to BBC News for publishing the two revealing articles
above. More excellent media articles came out for the 2006 Bilderberg in Ontario (see http://www.WantToKnow.info/060623bilderbergersgroup) CBS News thankfully also has a great article on the powerful Skull
and Bones secret society, of which George W. Bush, his father, and John
Kerry were all members. To read summaries of numerous key, yet little-known articles on secret societies in the major media (links to originals provided), click here. And the History Channel has made two excellent
documentaries exposing secret societies at www.WantToKnow.info/resources#secret.
In my four
years of research, I have been privileged to become part of a wonderful network
of courageous people from around the globe who are working to provide reliable,
verifiable information on what is happening behind the scenes for all who
want to know. I invite you to explore our highly informative website http://www.WantToKnow.info
which specializes in fact-filled news
articles and summaries
of little-known, yet major cover-ups which impact our lives and our world.
All information is taken from the most reliable sources available and can
be verified with a little research.
Remember that
this information can be quite overwhelming if you are new to this. Take your
time, and consider interspersing your reading with some of the inspirational
pieces on our website which help to inspire and empower us to build
a brighter future for us all.
You can help
to make a difference right now by sending this message to your friends and
colleagues. By using email and the Internet to spread this knowledge around
the globe, you can play a vital role in building the critical mass necessary
to bring about positive, empowering changes in our lives and in our world.
The more we share this information with others, the more chance there is of
transforming our world into a safer, healthier place to live.
Take care
and have a great day,
Fred Burks for the WantToKnow.info Team
