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Bilderberg 2001 - May 24-27 nr Gothenburg
Sweden
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 Steering Committee Member Clarke To Lead UK Conservative Party?
[Note: Ken Clarke's long-time position as one of the 30 man Bilderberg Steering Committee means he is at the heart of the conference agenda alongside Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller. Clarke is one of only two Brits on the Steering Committee and decides who gets invited from the UK each year.]
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Conspiranoia/message/1891
If Ken Clarke makes it to be Tory leader, all three major UK Parties will be led by men who want Britain to drop the pound for the single European currency.
Bilderberg Group executive committee member, Kenneth Clarke, has won the vote by Conservative Party MPs to decide who will replace William Hague as leader.
Clarke came first in a vote of the 166 Conservative MPs and Iain Duncan Smith was second. They will now face a one member one vote election among the 300,000 Tory party members with the final winner announced on September 12th.
Michael Portillo, the strong favourite at the start of the campaign and winner of the two previous votes, is now out of the race after strangely highlighting the need for a debate over the legalisation of cannabis and
the teaching of homsexuality in schools. I say strangely because these were two proposals guaranteed to turn many Conservative MPs and certainly a vast number of party members against him. If he had set out to destroy his own chances, given the attitudes of large swathes of the right of centre party, he could not have chosen two issues more likely to do it.
The ideal situation for the Illuminati is to have Tony Blair (Labour Party), Kenneth Clarke (Conservative Party), and Charles Kennedy** (Liberal Democrats) as leaders of their parties at the time of the "referendum" on replacing the pound sterling with the single European currency because with all three vehemently in favour of the Euro the pro-argument will dominate the referendum debate.
It will be interesting, therefore, to see how Clarke's last hurdle, Iain Duncan Smith, is treated by the media and the spinners in the leadership campaign that will now ensue. Smith says he is strongly against replacing the pound with the Euro.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Conspiranoia/message/1891
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, [reputedly 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. Virkkunen, 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.
Liberty Lobby has closed its doors and its weekly newspaper, the Spotlight, has published its last edition after a federal bankruptcy judge last week dismissed the group's latest claim for Chapter 11 protection.
The most recent ruling by U.S. bankruptcy Judge S. Martin Teel Jr. puts an end to a complicated eight-year battle between Liberty Lobby founder Willis A. Carto and his former associates at the California-based Institute for Historical Review (IHR).
IHR sued and won a multimillion-dollar judgment on claims that Mr. Carto illegally diverted funds from the institute's Texas parent company, the Legion for the Survival of Freedom. Mr. Carto, a resident of Escondido, Calif., founded the Washington-based Liberty Lobby in 1955. The nonprofit outfit and its publication, the Spotlight, funded by outside donations and subscriptions, claimed to be America's key defender of patriotism and a hub for grass-roots conservative activism. But they also have been criticized as a fertile breeding ground for the views of anti-government extremists, conspiracists and racists.
Yesterday, as about 25 employees gathered personal belongings and wrapped up last-minute business at the Liberty Lobby offices, located at 300 Independence Ave., a spokesman defended Mr. Carto and vowed to fight on. "Nobody is really that sad, but everybody is mad," said spokesman William Francis. "While Liberty Lobby may be dissolved, nobody has given up here. We know that we did nothing wrong as an institution. Everybody has complete faith in Mr. Carto and how he administered the funds."
While offering few specifics, Mr. Francis hinted that a new incarnation of the Spotlight was already in the works. "They may come in and shut us down, but the staff are fully committed to make new efforts to get something going. Over the last several days, we've had hundreds of phone calls to the office, pledges of hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up a new newspaper," he said. "We have a citizens army behind us."
Mark Weber, director of IHR, said the ruling may signal the end of Liberty Lobby, but he predicts Mr. Carto will endure with some other venture. "This is a welcome culmination of an exhausting, costly, bitter legal and public relations dispute," said Mr. Weber, who has been assailed in the pages of the Spotlight as a "rat," "weasel," "toilet bowl," "cockroach" and "devil."
Mr. Francis yesterday reiterated his claims that IHR plans to sell one of the Liberty Lobby's final assets, its subscriber mailing list, to such watchdog organizations as the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, which have been critical of both feuding groups. "It's a lie," Mr. Weber said of those claims.
Liberty Lobby once sued the Wall Street Journal for having called the organization "anti-Semitic." But Judge Robert Bork dismissed the suit in 1984, declaring, "If anti-Semitism has a core, factual meaning, it was demonstrated here." Mr. Carto, a 74-year-old native of Fort Wayne, Ind., has been called "the most influential anti-Semite in the United States." About 90,000 people are paid subscribers to the Spotlight, which in 1981 had an estimated readership of more than 300,000.
The weekly's "favorite political targets included the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, Henry Kissinger, the Council on Foreign Relations and the 'Zionist entity' in Palestine," according to author Dennis King.
Mr. Carto played a key role in co-founding IHR in 1978. The Anti-Defamation League has called IHR "the world's single most important outlet for Holocaust-denial propaganda" Mr. Carto was ousted by IHR's board of directors in September 1993 after the staff complained, among other things, of Mr. Carto's interference in editorial decisions for the Journal of Historical Review, an IHR publication.
http://www.spotlight.org/06_06_01/Spotlight_Busts_Bilderbergers_/spotlight_busts_bilderbergers_.html
STENUNGSUND, Sweden-Bilderberg took dramatic action to keep its program for a world government from possible collapse while planning some kind of intervention in the Middle East.
While Bilderberg has always held its secret sessions behind heavy security and armed guards, this year a SWAT team joined in patrolling the grounds of the Quality Hotel Stenungsbaden.
SPOTLIGHT reporter Christopher Bollyn was seized on private property by Swedish police, driven six miles into the wilderness and dumped. A European reporter was held for several hours.
Tensions among Bilderberg and its armada of police, private security and personal bodyguards was high because of extensive coverage by Swedish media generated by The SPOTLIGHT's early advisories.
This reporter spent hours being interviewed by newspapers, magazines and broadcasters throughout Bilderberg's sessions.
Local coverage was persistent, day by day. The large number of reporters collaborated to keep the gates guarded virtually 24 hours a day. Bilderberg refused, even under the pressure of hostile coverage by major newspapers, to yield up its list of participants and the agenda.
However, participants were identified by sight.
Sources inside Bilderberg and people who move in Bilderberg circles back in D.C. provided more names and information on what transpired behind the guarded gates. From inside the resort, a source was finally able to provide The SPOTLIGHT with a hand-copied list of names and the agenda - at great personal risk.
Notably absent was Carl Bildt, United Nations envoy to the Balkans and host country Sweden's former prime minister. A long-time Bilderberg luminary, Bildt was attending a meeting of the Aspen Society -an arm of Bilderberg-in Brussels.
Notably present was Mohammed Nash a shibi, finance minister in Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority. He was identified by Roland Rossier of l'Hebdo magazine, who is doing an in-depth story of Liberty Lobby and The SPOTLIGHT's pursuit of Bilderberg over the years. Nashashibi's presence signals some intervention in the Middle East.
Bilderberg is fearful that the European Union might be coming apart when a few years ago it had expected Britain to be a full partner and embrace the euro by now. A new leader in Italy who plans dramatic tax cuts that would confound the euro troubles them.
Further depressing Bilderberg is fear that "right-wing nationalists" in the United States will, with help from such countries as Brazil, block President Bush's Free Trade Area of the Americas from emerging as scheduled in 2005.
The secret group is determined that the Western Hemisphere become a single economic and political entity like the Euro pean Union, where member-states have already surrendered most of their national sovereignty.
In a panic, Bilderberg ordered Europhiles in Britain's Conservative Party to bring participation in the common currency to the top of the list of priorities as soon as the expected Labor Party victory in the June 7 elections is official. It is already being privately discussed with Labor Party leaders.
The orders were transmitted by Kenneth Clarke, a Conservative member of Parliament and former chancellor of the exchequer. Clarke is dedicated to Bilderberg's campaign for a world government. It was what one called "Maggie's revenge" that prompted the Bilderberg panic.
While Bilderberg was hiding here, Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister, was speaking to a Conservative Party rally:
"The greatest issue in this election, indeed the greatest issue before our country, is whether Britain is to remain a free, independent nation state or whether we are to be dissolved into a federal Europe. There are no half-measures, no third ways and no second chances."
The Conservative Party and its candidate for prime minister, William Hague, had made a deal with the Labour Party to keep the issue of joining the common currency out of the campaign debate. The Conservatives would publicly rule out the euro only for the duration of the next Parliament.
This was fine for the Labor Party and Europhiles in the Conservative Party who are committed to a federal Europe because two-thirds of the British people are opposed to giving up the pound or surrendering more sovereignty to the EU. The internationalists wanted more time to condition the British mind to accept the superstate and euro.
Lady Thatcher's outspoken opposition, in spite of her own party's admonition, forced Bilderberg to issue orders for Conservative and Labor Party leaders to bring the euro to the top of the priority list immediately after the election. They didn't want to press the issue this early in the face of popular opposition but felt their hand was forced.
Bilderberg referred to Lady Thatcher's intervention as "Maggie's revenge" because it had manipulated her downfall as prime minister because she opposed surrendering sovereignty to the EU and joining the common currency. Lady Thatcher later confirmed this in a personal conversation with a SPOTLIGHT reporter.
The effects of Lady Thatcher's strong, unscripted speech took a comical turn. Tony Blair, Labor's prime minister, felt com pelled to argue that it is "patriotic " to "share sovereignty" with the EU and "patriotic" to give up the pound, a symbol of sovereignty, in favor of the euro.
Conservative candidate Hague had been hammering the Labor Party over its support of EU plans to "harmonize" taxes among the EU states. The Tory leader said the EU planned to "harmonize" taxes such as VAT, (value-added tax) and broaden it to include books, transport and clothing. "More and more of the rights and powers of the British people are being signed away," Hague said at campaign rallies.
Labor and Liberal Party functionaries rushed out to denounce Hague's "scare mongering" and deny there is a plan to harmonize taxes. EU officials also issued denials.
Hague produced a "leaked document" from the EU that The Guardian of Europe described as "a document on tax priorities which did, as the Tories alleged, envisage harmonization of some taxes, including those governing transferable pensions and environmental taxes."
Bilderberg is fearful that Italy will rip another seam in the EU because of the election of Silvio Berlusconi and his conservative coalition in early May.
The Bilderberg-controlled Washington Post called him "the biggest challenge yet to the young euro currency" on May 18. Post Publisher Donald Graham, like all his predecessors since 1954, attended the Bilderberg meeting here.
Berlusconi, though a multi-millionaire, is far removed from Bilderberg and its agenda. He has pledged dramatic tax cuts which, Bilderberg participants said, un dermine the euro. He was also denounced by Bilderberg for "anti-immigration views."
Bilderberg urged members from Italy to search for ways to prevent Berlusconi from becoming head of government. Unfortunately, the process is slow. Italy's new parliament did not convene until May 30. The new government must have a vote of confidence in both houses before it is sworn in, probably around mid-June.
Italians assigned to try to trip Ber lusconi are: Giovanni and Umberto Agnelli, father and son owners of Fiat; Franco Bernabe the nation's representative on Balkan reconstruction; Paolo Fresco, chairman of Fiat and Giulio Tremorti, of the Chamber of Deputies finance commission.
Bilderberg was already concerned that "provincial nationalism" on the part of Americans would ultimately block the emergence of the "American Union" when the stunning news arrived that the defection of Sen. James Jeffords (Vt.) from the Republican Party would put Democrats in control of the Senate.
"Now we have to worry about those [Pat] Buchanan [expletive deleted] ganging up with the labor unions to stop the FTAA in a Democratic Senate," said one.
On the formal agenda, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and newspaper tycoon Conrad Black led a 90-minute discussion on "the New U.S. Administration" at 8:30 on Saturday, May 26.
President Bush was given high marks for promoting the FTAA, but all speakers expressed disappointment that he rejected the Kyoto Treaty, one of the building blocks of Bilderberg's world government campaign. They also expressed confidence that Bush could be pressed into backing some kind of "global warming" pact that would enhance UN control of the world.
Richard Perle, assistant secretary of defense, then led a discussion called "Euro pean Security Defense Identity and Transatlantic Security." Perle attended Bilderberg meetings on behalf of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. There was debate, but no consensus on President Bush's plan for a missile shield.
Bilderberg participants then boarded the cruise ship Erik-which had a big "B" painted on a smokestack-for lunch and non-agenda deal-making.
In the afternoon, Henry Kissinger presided over a discussion of "The Rise of China: Its Impact on Asia and the World." Kissinger, through his international consulting firm, Kissinger Associates, has extensive financial interests in Red China.
It was universally agreed that the United States must "remain engaged" in China and "not be distracted" by such incidents as crashing American planes in international air space. The importance of "opening Chinese markets" and smoothing its path into the World Trade Organization was stressed.
It is important, Bilderberg stressed, especially for the benefit of Dodd and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), that Congress erect "no barriers" to China's entry into the WTO because of "petty reactions to some incidents."
Both Dodd, 57, and Hagel, 55, are participating for the third time. They are regarded by Bilderberg colleagues as potential presidents. They are from opposite parties and Bilderberg likes to own both horses in a two-horse race.
Former President Bill Clinton was an obscure governor of Arkansas when he attended Bilderberg for the first time in 1991 at Baden-Baden, Germany.
The closing session on Sunday, May 27, addressed the subject: "What Should Governments Do About Food Quality?" It was led by Franz Fischler, who represents Austria in the European Union. The conclusion was predictable: a UN bureaucracy must be established to make certain the global population has a healthy diet.
"Bilderberg is really dazed," said an inside source. "They thought by now the EU would be a full super-state with nation-states obsolete. Now they are afraid the whole agenda could unravel." With the U.S. Senate "turned upside down, they are afraid Big Labor will help stop the FTAA and the 'American Union' will never happen," the Bilderberg source said.
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
http://www.spotlight.org/06_06_01/Spotlight_Busts_Bilderbergers_/spotlight_busts_bilderbergers_.html
The shadowy Bilderberg group of senior Western business leaders and politicians backed a vigorous western military alliance at a meeting in Sweden at the weekend.
A statement from the meeting said "the cold war has now ended, but in practically all respects there are more, not fewer, common problems - from trade to jobs, from monrtary policy to investment, from ecological challenges to the task of promoting international security."
The group has held meetings since 1954 to promote capitalist policies. It has been accused of being an unaccountable clique exerting influence over invited politicians. Both Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were groomed at Bilderberg meetings before becoming US president and British Prime Minister respectively.
The European parliament's Green Party group attacked the gathering - held amid tight security at a hotel in Stenungsund on the Swedish coast - as a corporate carve-up."The clandestine meetings do not make policy, yet directly inform the thinking of world leaders," the greens said.
With the exception of the Secretary-General, Martin Taylor, Bilderberg participants are obliged to remain silent on what goes on at meetings, under the so-called Chatham House rule.
Bilderberg steering committee Swedish member Jacob Wallenberg, who is Chairman of Commercial Bank seb, and head of the powerful Wallenberg dynasty, said: "Martin Taylor gives the interviews on behalf of Bilderberg."
European Union competition commissioner Mario Monti, who attended this year's meeting, also refused to comment on the gathering. Participants included NATO Secretary General George Robertson, Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, Swiss economic affairs minister, Pascal Couchepin and US Senators Christopher Dodd and Chuck Hagel.European central bank executive board member Thommaso Padoa-Schioppa and a host of corporate leaders were also in attendance.
E.U. Commission president Romano Prodi, European Central bank governor Wim Duisenberg both have a past as Bilderbergers.
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
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4149485,00.html
Guardian Unlimited
Bilderberg members continued to ignore my enquiries through the end of 1999 and into 2000. I continued dutifully to write to Bilderbergers, although I held out no hope of a breakthrough. And then, one Tuesday morning, the phone rang. It was the instantly recognisable voice of a
Bilderberg founder member, for 30 years one of their inner circle, their steering committee, a Bilderberg agenda setter, a head-hunter - a secret ruler of the world himself, should you choose to believe the assorted militants I had spent the past five years with. It was Denis Healey.
"How can I help you?" he said.
"Well," I said, "would you tell me what happens inside Bilderberg meetings?"
"Okay," 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 Lord Healey had agreed to talk to me - and I had circulated this information far and wide - other Bilderberg members became amenable, too (albeit on the condition of anonymity). These interviews enabled me to piece together the backstage mechanics of this most secret society.
So this is how it works. 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. (The British ones have included Lord Carrington, Denis Healey, Andrew Knight, the one-time editor of The Economist magazine, and Martin Taylor, the ex-CEO of Barclays Bank.)
They say that each country dreads their turn coming around, for they have to raise enough money to book an entire five-star hotel for four days (plus meals and transport and vast security - every packet of peas is opened and scrutinised, and so on). They call up Bilderberg-friendly global corporations, such as Xerox or Heinz or Fiat or Barclays or Nokia, which donate the hundreds of thousands of pounds needed.
They do not accept unsolicited donations from non-Bilderberg corporations.
Nobody can buy their way into a Bilderberg meeting, although many corporations have tried. Then they decide who to invite - who seems to be a "Bilderberg person". The notion of a Bilderberg person hasn't changed since the earliest days, back in 1954, when the group was created by Denis Healey, Joseph Retinger, David Rockefeller and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (a former SS officer while he was a student - ironic that a former Nazi, albeit a low-ranking and half-hearted one, would help give birth to an organisation that so many would consider to be evidence of a Jewish conspiracy).
"First off," said a steering committee member to 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, Senator Mathias of Maryland. 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 you can imagine. 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.
"I remember when Clinton came in '91," he added. "Vernon Jordan invited him along. He used it as a one-stop-shop. He went around glad-handing everyone. Nobody thought they were meeting the next president." (Of course, Jim Tucker would contend that they all knew they were meeting the next president - for they huddled together that weekend and decided he would be the next president.) At times, I become nostalgic for when I knew nothing. There are so few mysteries left, and here I am, I presume, relegating Bilderberg to the dingy world of the known.
The invited guests are not allowed to bring their wives, girlfriends or - on rarer occasions - their husbands or boyfriends. Their security officers cannot attend the conference and must have dinner in a separate hall. The guests are expressly asked not to give interviews to journalists. Rooms, refreshments, wine and cocktails before dinner are paid for by Bilderberg. Telephone, room service and laundry bills are paid for by the participants. There are two morning sessions and two afternoon sessions, except on the Saturday, when the sessions take place only in the evening so that the Bilderbergers can play golf.
The seating plan is in alphabetical order. It is reversed each year. One year Umberto Agnelli, the chairman of Fiat, will sit at the front. The next year, Norbert Zimmermann, chairman of Berndorf, the Austrian cutlery and metalware manufacturer, will take his place. While furiously denying that they secretly ruled the world, my Bilderberg interviewees did admit to me that international affairs had, from time to time, been influenced by these sessions.
I asked for examples, and I was given one: "During the Falklands war, the British government's request for international sanctions against Argentina fell on stony ground. But at a Bilderberg meeting in, I think, Denmark, David Owen stood up and gave the most fiery speech in favour of imposing them. Well, the speech changed a lot of minds. I'm sure that various foreign ministers went back to their respective countries and told their leaders what David Owen had said. And you know what? Sanctions were imposed."
The man who told me this story added, "I hope that gives you a flavour of what really does go on in Bilderberg meetings."
This is how Denis Healey described a Bilderberg person to 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 forever 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."
He said, "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. Then he added, "Your new understanding of the world will certainly help your career."
"Which sounds like a conspiracy," I said.
"Crap!" said Denis 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."
He added, "But I will tell you this. If extremists and leaders of militant groups believe that Bilderberg is out to do them down, then 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. Denis 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. Actually seeing the pictures, seeing the set-up, the faces, the mood - that would be something.
"Could I have a look at them?" I asked him. Lord Healey looked down at his lap. He thought about my request. He looked up again. "No," he said. "Fuck off."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4149485,00.html
http://www.nationalpost.com/stories/20010524/571724.html
SAINT JOHN, N.B. - Bernard Lord, the Premier of New Brunswick, has been invited to a meeting of some of the most powerful people on Earth.
Mr. Lord will be in Sweden today at the invitation of the exclusive and secretive Bilderberg Group, an international conference sponsored by a think-tank that brings together 100 influential and powerful people to discuss the world's problems. The conferences are held under absolute secrecy and tight security, with no media coverage allowed.
Mr. Lord, believed to be the youngest person in attendance at this year's conference, said yesterday he was not sure why he was invited. "What can I tell you? They invited me to this conference," he said."I am just very happy to go. Maybe it's the youth, the energy, the potential, the future that they see. I'm not sure."
Mr. Lord was vague when asked what topics are up for discussion at the meeting. He said participants would talk about economic trends and links between Europe and the United States. The theme of the conference is: The Interests to the Atlantic Alliance.
"I feel very fortunate to have been invited. I think this will be a good opportunity for myself and the province of New Brunswick to make contacts and get a sense of some trends which are developing in the world," he said.
An Internet site, which claimed to be campaigning for media access to the event, said Henry Kissinger, a former U.S. secretary of state, will also be participating this year.
The site quoted leaked documents as saying participants will discuss such topics as the enlargement of the European Union, the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, agriculture and food safety, as well as Russia and China.
The Bilderberg Group was established in 1954. The original mandate was to strengthen ties between the United States and Europe in the face of a threat from the Soviet Union, the Web site said.
Mr. Lord will travel alone to the conference and is scheduled to return to New Brunswick next Monday. Former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna attended a meeting of the Bilderberg Group in the early 1990s.
Mr. Lord was only 33 when he became the youngest premier in Canada. His name has been suggested as a possible successor to Joe Clark, the leader of the federal Conservative party. Mr. Lord, the bilingual Premier of an officially bilingual province, has taken an international view of governing New Brunswick.
He has said French and English may not be enough to compete in the global economy, and has steered youth toward Spanish, announcing an initiative to promote classes in the language in the province's high schools.
And despite a divisive health-care dispute earlier this year, he has remained popular in the province.
http://www.nationalpost.com/stories/20010524/571724.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, prime minister, 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
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)
http://www.nationalpost.com/stories/20010524/571724.html
SAINT JOHN, N.B. - Bernard Lord, the Premier of New Brunswick, has been invited to a meeting of some of the most powerful people on Earth.
Mr. Lord will be in Sweden today at the invitation of the exclusive and secretive Bilderberg Group, an international conference sponsored by a think-tank that brings together 100 influential and powerful people to discuss the world's problems.
The conferences are held under absolute secrecy and tight security, with no media coverage allowed.
Mr. Lord, believed to be the youngest person in attendance at this year's conference, said yesterday he was not sure why he was invited. "What can I tell you? They invited me to this conference," he said."I am just very happy to go. Maybe it's the youth, the energy, the potential, the future that they see. I'm not sure."
Mr. Lord was vague when asked what topics are up for discussion at the meeting.
He said participants would talk about economic trends and links between Europe and the United States.
The theme of the conference is: The Interests to the Atlantic Alliance.
"I feel very fortunate to have been invited. I think this will be a good opportunity for myself and the province of New Brunswick to make contacts and get a sense of some trends which are developing in the world," he said.
An Internet site, which claimed to be campaigning for media access to the event, said Henry Kissinger, a former U.S. secretary of state, will also be participating this year.
The site quoted leaked documents as saying participants will discuss such topics as the enlargement of the European Union, the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, agriculture and food safety, as well as Russia and China.
The Bilderberg Group was established in 1954. The original mandate was to strengthen ties between the United States and Europe in the face of a threat from the Soviet Union, the Web site said.
Mr. Lord will travel alone to the conference and is scheduled to return to New Brunswick next Monday. Former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna attended a meeting of the Bilderberg Group in the early 1990s.
Mr. Lord was only 33 when he became the youngest premier in Canada.
His name has been suggested as a possible successor to Joe Clark, the leader of the federal Conservative party.
Mr. Lord, the bilingual Premier of an officially bilingual province, has taken an international view of governing New Brunswick.
He has said French and English may not be enough to compete in the global economy, and has steered youth toward Spanish, announcing an initiative to promote classes in the language in the province's high schools.
And despite a divisive health-care dispute earlier this year, he has remained popular in the province.
http://www.nationalpost.com/stories/20010524/571724.html
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 Paul O'Neill, Bush's new Treasury Secretary, '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).
Public Affairs publishing are sending out mixed messages about the publication of 'Private Capacity' latest information first here: {TG}
From: "Taft, Gene" <Gene.Taft@perseusbooks.com>
Subject: FW: Renato's book
Mr. Gosling,
I'm not certain, but I think you are referring to Renata Adler's forthcoming book on the Bilderberg conferences. If that is the case, the book is currently scheduled for publication in June 2002 and it is therefore significantly premature for Ms. Adler to give interviews.
Gene Taft
Director of Publicity
PublicAffairs
212/397-6666 x234
Mr. Tony Gosling,
The publication of Renata Adler's Private Capacity, a book about the Bilderberg group, has been postponed. The author is still writing but a new publication date has not yet been set.
Robert Kimzey
Managing Editor
PublicAffairs
The first serious study of the ultra-secretive Bilderberg Conferences and their role in the modern world. In 1954, a group of leaders of the Western World held a secret meeting in Holland that would lead to the formation of the Bilderberg group. That meeting included officials from the United States and from two countries, Germany and Italy, which were defeated in World War II, and which were participating for the first time on an equal basis with other European powers. Since that first meeting Bilderberg has included presidents, Prime Ministers, bankers, princes, tycoons, labor leaders, secretaries of state, NATO commanders, ambassadors, and others whose occupations are not widely known. Media barons and journalists are often invited. But only if they agree to keep secret who was there and what was said. Bilderberg has been characterized as an elite think tank or an International Establishment, an elaborate social and business network, or a conspiracy that actually runs the world.
This book addresses, for the first time, the true history of the organization, its participants and effects. With a cache of Bilderberg archives, secretly turned over to the author by a few senior leaders of the Bilderberg, the book describes the organization, and discusses who has been involved and when. It shows connections that exist and connections that--despite rumor, and a virtual obsession of the extreme left and right--do not. It explains how Bilderberg has changed, and in what ways it may have changed the world. The author also analyzes questions raised by clubs, cabals, exclusive and secret or not-secret groups of every sort.
Educated at Bryn Mawr, Harvard, the Sorbonne and Yale Law School, Renata Adler has had an unrivaled career as a reporter, novelist and short story writer. She was for many years on the staff of The New Yorker. She has also been the chief film critic of The New York Times. She won prizes for her novels, essays and short stories. She is a member of the National Academy of Arts and Letters. Her most recent book is Gone: The Last Days of the New Yorker.
The Single Market programme was the 1980's relaunch of the economic and ultimately political integration of Europe. So-called Father of the EU, [see Mike Peters' paper for more on his role] Jean Monnet, had always felt it crucial to rein back big business. The single market programme turned this policy on its head. The relaunch document (see below) was prepared by Philips Industries in Holland and researched by unnamed Philips staff. The staff were told to "imagine yourselves to be dictators of Europe."
Few realise how pivotal the 2000 Bilderberg chairman, Viscount Etienne Davignon, was in this process. As European Commissioner for Industry and the Internal Market from 1977 to 1980 he was perfectly placed to put big business in the driving seat of European policy. In 1985, as Industry Commissioner, he challenged Pehr Gyllenhammar, CEO of Volvo, (also administrator of United Technologies, Vice President of the Aspen Institute and one of the five partners of Kissinger Associates) to organise a group of the top European businessmen to lobby the Commission. Davignon argued that the Commission would be obliged to respond to the demands of some of the largest European industrialists. The Gyllenhammar group was to become the highly influential European Round Table of Industrialists or ERT, drawing up policy for Europe.
On January 11, 1985, in Brussels, Wisse Dekker, CEO of Phillips, unveiled a plan, "Europe 1990", before an audience of 500 people including many of the newly appointed EC commissioners. The plan laid out in precise terms the steps needed in four key areas - trade facilitation (elimination of border formalities), opening up of public procurement markets, harmonization of technical standards, and fiscal harmonization (elimination of the fiscal VAT frontiers) -- to open up a European Market in five years. For the first time a plan was produced which identified some 50 measures needed to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade and to relaunch the European Market. The Dekker paper was revolutionary -- not only because it was proposed by the head of a major multinational, but because it produced what had escaped national and European policymakers -- a simple plan for a unified market.
The Dekker paper was an internal Philips project led by Dekker's government affairs representative in Brussels, Coen Ramaer. It was the result of the company's growing dissatisfaction with the inability of government officials -- national or EC -- to produce a concrete proposal for a European market. While Mitterrand was promoting an industrial initiative, there were no specifics to the French President's plan. Moreover, when the Commission did produce a comprehensive package of proposals in late 1984, there was no outpouring of support for the initiative. The Commission document developed by Commissioner Narjes listed hundreds of pre-existing pieces of legislation -- ranging from standardisation to social actions to environmental issues -- deemed necessary for the creation of an internal market. Business leaders, while pleased that a package was produced, found the Commission package "unwieldy" and lacking "a precise time-table." Moreover, there was no strategy to ensure its implementation and no rationale for industrial growth. It became apparent to the heads of multinationals that industry needed to produce its own concrete program.
With Dekker's support, Ramaer assembled four Philips experts who had long dealt with the four key areas later outlined in the Dekker speech. As Ramaer explains, he instructed the men to:
"imagine yourselves to be dictators of Europe and that you have decided that the job must be done in five years. And they [the experts] started out "but this is impossible! Be realistic!" And I told them that I couldn't care less if we were realistic or not.Once they had picked up this idea, they found it fascinating. And they discovered that it could be done -- given the political will, of course." [Interview, September 24th 1992]
Some of the experts set up informal meetings with their counterparts in the Commission to discuss the project and to hammer out key problems. Dekker stressed to Ramaer that the proposals had to be complete -- he did not want the outcome to be simply another speech on the necessity of European integration.
"Europe 1990" was not simply another speech. In addition to introducing a precise agenda, the paper introduced a number of new conceptualisations of what a unified European market might entail. In the trade facilitation area, for example, the "ultimate goal" of the plan was to create "frontiers without formalities for goods traffic and the replacement of paper documents by data transmission via a telecommunications network used by traders, transporters, banks and statistical and tax authorities..." Of course, to implement this strategy, member states would also be required to allow for the development of a trans-European telecommunications network. The paper left little doubt of the importance of creating a united European market. As Dekker noted in his introduction: "The survival of Europe is in fact at stake."
When the "Europe 1990" plan was presented, it was not for Brussels' consumption alone. Dekker sent the plan, along with a letter, to the heads of government and state of the European Community. One letter went to The Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher, January 7th 1985, from Dr. Wisse Dekker. The letter opens as follows "Europe's industries - both large and small - will have little future if the common market is not created as intended by the Treaties of Rome. This we all know..." Dekker concludes by submitting "these proposals for the consideration of you and your government, hoping that you will promote the action necessary to get Europe out of the deadlock in which it has been for a number of years. You will agree that this is an urgent matter. There is little time left to correct the consequences of a lack of dynamism in the past decade.
[from footnote - Margaret Thatcher refused to meet with ERT who were promoting 'Europe 2000'.]
Grattan and I thoroughly recommend this book 'The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives' by Zbigniew Brzezinski - just get on and read it! You won't be too surprised to hear that the chessboard is in fact the Eurasian continent!