From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Tue May 26 2009 - 22:42:04 EDT
The Bilderberg Plan for 2009: Remaking the Global Political Economy
By Andrew G. Marshall
Global Research, May 26, 2009
>From May 14-17, the global elite met in secret in Greece for the yearly
Bilderberg conference, amid scattered and limited global media attention.
Roughly 130 of the world’s most powerful individuals came together to
discuss the pressing issues of today, and to chart a course for the next
year. The main topic of discussion at this years meeting was the global
financial crisis, which is no surprise, considering the list of conference
attendees includes many of the primary architects of the crisis, as well as
those poised to “solve” it.
The Agenda: The Restructuring of the Global Political Economy
Before the meeting began, Bilderberg investigative journalist Daniel
Estulin reported on the main item of the agenda, which was leaked to him by
his sources inside. Though such reports cannot be verified, his sources,
along with those of veteran Bilderberg tracker, Jim Tucker, have proven to
be shockingly accurate in the past. Apparently, the main topic of
discussion at this years meeting was to address the economic crisis, in
terms of undertaking, “Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that
dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline and poverty ... or an
intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable
economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.” Other
items on the agenda included a plan to “continue to deceive millions of
savers and investors who believe the hype about the supposed up-turn in the
economy. They are about to be set up for massive losses and searing
financial pain in the months ahead,” and “There will be a final push
for the enactment of Lisbon Treaty, pending on Irish voting YES on the
treaty in Sept or October,”[1] which would give the European Union
massive powers over its member nations, essentially making it a
supranational regional government, with each country relegated to more of a
provincial status.
Shortly after the meetings began, Bilderberg tracker Jim Tucker reported
that his inside sources revealed that the group has on its agenda, “the
plan for a global department of health, a global treasury and a shortened
depression rather than a longer economic downturn.” Tucker reported that
Swedish Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister, Carl Bildt, “Made a
speech advocating turning the World Health Organization into a world
department of health, advocating turning the IMF into a world department of
treasury, both of course under the auspices of the United Nations.”
Further, Tucker reported that, “Treasury Secretary Geithner and Carl
Bildt touted a shorter recession not a 10-year recession ... partly because
a 10 year recession would damage Bilderberg industrialists themselves, as
much as they want to have a global department of labor and a global
department of treasury, they still like making money and such a long
recession would cost them big bucks industrially because nobody is buying
their toys.....the tilt is towards keeping it short.”[2]
After the meetings finished, Daniel Estulin reported that, “One of
Bilderberg’s primary concerns according to Estulin is the danger that
their zeal to reshape the world by engineering chaos in order to implement
their long term agenda could cause the situation to spiral out of control
and eventually lead to a scenario where Bilderberg and the global elite in
general are overwhelmed by events and end up losing their control over the
planet.”[3]
On May 21, the Macedonian International News Agency reported that, “A new
Kremlin report on the shadowy Bilderberg Group, who this past week held
their annual meeting in Greece, states that the West’s financial,
political and corporate elite emerged from their conclave after coming to
an agreement that in order to continue their drive towards a New World
Order dominated by the Western Powers, the US Dollar has to be
‘totally’ destroyed.” Further, the same Kremlin report apparently
stated that, “most of the West’s wealthiest elite convened at an
unprecedented secret meeting in New York called for and led by” David
Rockefeller, “to plot the demise of the US Dollar.”[4]
The Secret Meeting of Billionaires
The meeting being referred to was a secret meeting where, “A dozen of the
richest people in the world met for an unprecedented private gathering at
the invitation of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to talk about giving away
money,” held at Rockefeller University, and included notable
philanthropists such as Gates, Buffett, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
George Soros, Eli Broad, Oprah Winfrey, David Rockefeller Sr. and Ted
Turner. One attendee stated that, “It wasn’t secret,” but that, “It
was meant to be a gathering among friends and colleagues. It was something
folks have been discussing for a long time. Bill and Warren hoped to do
this occasionally. They sent out an invite and people came.” Chronicle of
Philanthropy editor Stacy Palmer said, “Given how serious these economic
times are, I don't think it's surprising these philanthropists came
together,” and that, “They don't typically get together and ask each
other for advice.” The three hosts of the meeting were Buffet, Gates and
David Rockefeller.[5] [See: Appendix 2: Bilderberg Connections to the
Billionaire’s Meeting].
Bilderberg founding member David Rockefeller, Honourary Chairman of the
Council on Foreign Relations, Honourary Chairman and Founder of the
Trilateral Commission, Chairman of the Council of the Americas and the
Americas Society, former Chairman and CEO of Chase Manhattan.
At the meeting, “participants steadfastly refused to reveal the content
of the discussion. Some cited an agreement to keep the meeting
confidential. Spokesmen for Mr. Buffett, Mr. Bloomberg, Mr. Gates, Mr.
Rockefeller, Mr. Soros and Ms. Winfrey and others dutifully declined
comment, though some confirmed attendance.”[6] Reports indicate that,
“They discussed how to address the global slump and expand their
charitable activities in the downturn.”[7]
The UK newspaper The Times reported that these “leading billionaires have
met secretly to consider how their wealth could be used to slow the growth
of the world’s population,” and that they “discussed joining forces
to overcome political and religious obstacles to change.” Interestingly,
“The informal afternoon session was so discreet that some of the
billionaires’ aides were told they were at ‘security briefings’.”
Further, “The billionaires were each given 15 minutes to present their
favourite cause. Over dinner they discussed how they might settle on an
‘umbrella cause’ that could harness their interests,” and what was
decided upon was that, “they agreed that overpopulation was a
priority.” Ultimately, “a consensus emerged that they would back a
strategy in which population growth would be tackled as a potentially
disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat,” and that,
“They need to be independent of government agencies, which are unable to
head off the disaster we all see looming.” One guest at the meeting said
that, “They wanted to speak rich to rich without worrying anything they
said would end up in the newspapers, painting them as an alternative world
government.”[8]
The Leaked Report
Bilderberg investigative reporter Daniel Estulin reportedly received from
his inside sources a 73-page Bilderberg Group meeting wrap-up for
participants, which revealed that there were some serious disagreements
among the participants. “The hardliners are for dramatic decline and a
severe, short-term depression, but there are those who think that things
have gone too far and that the fallout from the global economic cataclysm
cannot be accurately calculated if Henry Kissinger's model is chosen. Among
them is Richard Holbrooke. What is unknown at this point: if Holbrooke's
point of view is, in fact, Obama's.” The consensus view was that the
recession would get worse, and that recovery would be “relatively slow
and protracted,” and to look for these terms in the press over the next
weeks and months.
Estulin reported, “that some leading European bankers faced with the
specter of their own financial mortality are extremely concerned, calling
this high wire act "unsustainable," and saying that US budget and trade
deficits could result in the demise of the dollar.” One Bilderberger said
that, “the banks themselves don't know the answer to when (the bottom
will be hit).” Everyone appeared to agree, “that the level of capital
needed for the American banks may be considerably higher than the US
government suggested through their recent stress tests.” Further,
“someone from the IMF pointed out that its own study on historical
recessions suggests that the US is only a third of the way through this
current one; therefore economies expecting to recover with resurgence in
demand from the US will have a long wait.” One attendee stated that,
“Equity losses in 2008 were worse than those of 1929,” and that, “The
next phase of the economic decline will also be worse than the '30s, mostly
because the US economy carries about $20 trillion of excess debt. Until
that debt is eliminated, the idea of a healthy boom is a mirage.”[9]
According to Jim Tucker, Bilderberg is working on setting up a summit in
Israel from June 8-11, where “the world’s leading regulatory experts”
can “address the current economic situation in one forum.” In regards
to the proposals put forward by Carl Bildt to create a world treasury
department and world department of health under the United Nations, the IMF
is said to become the World Treasury, while the World Health Organization
is to become the world department of health. Bildt also reaffirmed using
“climate change” as a key challenge to pursue Bilderberg goals,
referring to the economic crisis as a “once-in-a-generation crisis while
global warming is a once-in-a-millennium challenge.” Bildt also advocated
expanding NAFTA through the Western hemisphere to create an American Union,
using the EU as a “model of integration.”
The IMF reportedly sent a report to Bilderberg advocating its rise to
becoming the World Treasury Department, and “U.S. Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner enthusiastically endorsed the plan for a World Treasury
Department, although he received no assurance that he would become its
leader.” Geithner further said, “Our hope is that we can work with
Europe on a global framework, a global infrastructure which has appropriate
global oversight.”[10]
Bilderberg’s Plan in Action?
Reorganizing the Federal Reserve
Following the Bilderberg meeting, there were several interesting
announcements made by key participants, specifically in regards to
reorganizing the Federal Reserve. On May 21, it was reported that US
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner “is believed to be leaning heavily
towards giving the Federal Reserve a central role in future regulation,”
and “it is understood that the Fed would take on some of the work
currently undertaken by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.”[11]
On Wednesday, May 20, Geithner spoke before the Senate Banking Committee,
at which he stated that, “there are important indications that our
financial system is starting to heal.” In regards to regulating the
financial system, Geithner stated that, “we must ensure that
international rules for financial regulation are consistent with the high
standards we will be implementing in the United States.”[12]
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, former President of the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York
Bloomberg reported that, “The Obama administration may call for stripping
the Securities and Exchange Commission of some of its powers under a
regulatory reorganization,” and that, “The proposal, still being
drafted, is likely to give the Federal Reserve more authority to supervise
financial firms deemed too big to fail. The Fed may inherit some SEC
functions, with others going to other agencies.” Interestingly, “SEC
Chairman Mary Schapiro’s agency has been mostly absent from negotiations
within the administration on the regulatory overhaul, and she has expressed
frustration about not being consulted.”
It was reported that “Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was set to
discuss proposals to change financial regulations last night at a dinner
with National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers [who was also
present at Bilderberg], former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker [also at
Bilderberg], ex-SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt and Elizabeth Warren, the
Harvard University law professor who heads the congressional watchdog group
for the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.”[13] The Federal
Reserve is a privately owned central bank, owned by its shareholders,
consisting of the major banks the make up each regional Fed bank (the
largest of which is JP Morgan Chase and the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York). This plan would essentially give a privately owned bank, which has
governmental authority, the ability to regulate the banks that own it.
It’s the equivalent of getting a Colonel to guard a General to whom he is
directly answerable. Talk about the fox guarding the hen house. It is
literally granting ownership over the financial regulator to the banks
being regulated.
As Market Watch, an online publication of the Wall Street Journal,
reported, “The Federal Reserve, created nearly 100 years ago in the
aftermath of a financial panic, could be transformed into a different
agency as the Obama administration reinvents the way government interacts
with the financial system.” Referring to Geithner’s Senate appearance,
it was reported that, “Geithner was also grilled on the cozy
relationships that exist between the big banks and the regional Federal
Reserve banks. Before Geithner joined the administration, he was president
of the New York Fed, which is a strange public-private hybrid institution
that is actually owned and run by the banks.” In response, “Geithner
insisted that the private banks have no say over the policies of the New
York Fed, but he acknowledged that the banks do have a say in hiring the
president, who does make policy. The chairman of the New York Fed, Stephen
Friedman, was forced to resign earlier this month because of perceived
conflicts of interest due to his large holdings in Goldman Sachs.”[14]
The IMF as a Global Treasury
The Bilderberg agenda of creating a global treasury has already been
started prior to the Bilderberg meeting, with decisions made during the G20
financial summit in April. Although the G20 seemed to frame it more in
context of being formed into a global central bank, although it is likely
the IMF could fill both roles.
Following the G20 meeting at the beginning of April, 2009, it was reported
that, “The world is a step closer to a global currency, backed by a
global central bank, running monetary policy for all humanity,” as the
Communiqué released by the G20 leaders stated that, “We have agreed to
support a general SDR allocation which will inject $250bn (£170bn) into
the world economy and increase global liquidity,” and that, “SDRs are
Special Drawing Rights, a synthetic paper currency issued by the
International Monetary Fund that has lain dormant for half a century.”
Essentially, “they are putting a de facto world currency into play. It is
outside the control of any sovereign body.”[15] [See Appendix 2: Creating
a Central Bank of the World]
Following the Bilderberg meeting, “President Obama has asked Congress to
authorize $100 billion in loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to
help create a $500 billion global bailout fund,” which would give the IMF
the essential prerogative of a global treasury, providing bailouts for
countries in need around the world. Further, “the bill would allow the
IMF to borrow up to $100 billion from the U.S. and increase the U.S. fiscal
contribution to the IMF by $8 billion.” Elaborating on the program, it
was reported that, “World leaders began on the global bailout initiative,
called the New Arrangement for Borrowing (NAB), at the G-20 summit in early
April. The president agreed at that time to make the additional funds
available.” Obama wrote that, “Treasury Secretary Geithner concluded
that the size of the NAB is woefully inadequate to deal with the type of
severe economic and financial crisis we are experiencing, and I agree with
him.”[16]
With the G20 decision to increase the usage of IMF Special Drawing Rights
(SDRs), forming a de facto world currency, it was recently reported that,
“Sub-Saharan Africa will receive around $10 billion from the IMF in
Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to help its economies weather the global
financial crisis,” and that, “As part of a $1.1 trillion deal to combat
the world economic downturn agreed at April's G20 summit, the IMF will
issue $250 billion worth of SDRs, which can be used to boost foreign
currency reserves.”[17]
Recent reports have also indicated that the IMF’s role in issuing SDRs
goes hand in hand with the Bilderberg discussion on the potential collapse
of the US dollar, and, “Transforming the dollar standard into an
SDR-based system would be a major break with a policy that has lasted more
than 60 years.” It was reported that, “There are two ways in which the
dollar’s role in the international monetary system can be reduced. One
possibility is a gradual, market-determined erosion of the dollar as a
reserve currency in favor of the euro. But, while the euro’s
international role – especially its use in financial markets – has
increased since its inception, it is hard to envisage it overtaking the
dollar as the dominant reserve currency in the foreseeable future.”
However, “With the dollar’s hegemony unlikely to be seriously
undermined by market forces, at least in the short and medium-term, the
only way to bring about a major reduction in its role as a reserve currency
is by international agreement.” This is where the SDRs come into play, as
“One way to make the SDR the major reserve currency relatively soon would
be to create and allocate a massive amount of new SDRs to the IMF’s
members.”[18] This is, interestingly, exactly what is happening with
Africa and the IMF now.
Former IMF Managing Director Jacques de Larosière recently stated that the
current financial crisis, “given its scope, presents a unique opening to
improve institutions, and there is already a danger that the chance might
be missed if the different actors cannot agree to changes by the time
economic growth resumes.” He is now an adviser with BNP Paribas, a
corporation highly represented at Bilderberg meetings, and he was head of
the Treasury of France when Valéry Giscard d’Estaing was President of
France, who is a regular of the Bilderberg Group.[19]
The Guardian Covers Bilderberg
The British paper, the Guardian, was the only major mainstream news
publication to provide ongoing coverage of the Bilderberg meeting over the
weekend. His first columns were satirical and slightly mocking, referring
to it as, “A long weekend at a luxury hotel, where the world's elite get
to shake hands, clink glasses, fine-tune their global agenda and squabble
over who gets the best sun loungers. I'm guessing that Henry Kissinger
brings his own, has it helicoptered in and guarded 24/7 by a CIA special
ops team.”[20] However, as the weekend dragged on, his reporting took a
change of tone. He reported on the Saturday that, “I know that I'm being
followed. I know because I've just been chatting to the plainclothes
policemen I caught following me,” and he was arrested twice in the first
day of the meetings for attempting to take photographs as the limousines
entered the hotel.[21]
He later reported that he wasn’t sure what they were discussing inside
the hotel, but that he has “a sense of something rotten in the state of
Greece,” and he further stated, “Three days and I've been turned into a
suspect, a troublemaker, unwanted, ill at ease, tired and a bit afraid.”
He then went on to write that, “Bilderberg is all about control. It's
about "what shall we do next?" We run lots of stuff already, how about we
run some more? How about we make it easier to run stuff? More efficient.
Efficiency is good. It would be so much easier with a single bank, a single
currency, a single market, a single government. How about a single army?
That would be pretty cool. We wouldn't have any wars then. This prawn
cocktail is GOOD. How about a single way of thinking? How about a
controlled internet?,” and then, “How about not.”
He makes a very astute point, countering the often postulated argument that
Bilderberg is simply a forum where people can speak freely, writing: “I
am so unbelievably backteeth sick of power being flexed by the few. I've
had it flexed in my face for three days, and it's up my nose like a wasp. I
don't care whether the Bilderberg Group is planning to save the world or
shove it in a blender and drink the juice, I don't think politics should be
done like this,” and the author, Charlie Skelton, eloquently stated,
“If they were trying to cure cancer they could do it with the lights
on.” He further explained that, “Bilderberg is about positions of
control. I get within half a mile of it, and suddenly I'm one of the
controlled. I'm followed, watched, logged, detained, detained again. I'd
been put in that position by the "power" that was up the road.”[22]
On Sunday, May 17, Skelton reported that when he asked the police chief why
he was being followed, the chief responded asking, “Why you here?” to
which Skelton said he was there to cover the Bilderberg conference, after
which the chief stated, “Well, that is the reason! That is why! We are
finished!”[23] Do reporters get followed around and stalked by police
officers when they cover the World Economic Forum? No. So why does it
happen with Bilderberg if all it is, is a conference to discuss ideas
freely?
On the Monday following the conference, Skelton wrote that, “It isn't
just me who's been hauled into police custody for daring to hang around
half a mile from the hotel gates. The few journalists who've made the trip
to Vouliagmeni this year have all been harassed and harried and felt the
business end of a Greek walkie-talkie. Many have been arrested. Bernie,
from the American Free Press, and Gerhard the documentarian (sounds like a
Dungeons and Dragons character) chartered a boat from a nearby marina to
try to get photos from the sea. They were stopped three miles from the
resort. By the Greek navy.” As Skelton said himself, “My dispatches on
the 2009 conference, if they mean anything at all, represent nothing more
acutely than the absence of thorough mainstream reporting.”[24]
Skelton’s final report on Bilderberg from May 19, showed how far he had
gone in his several days of reporting on the meeting. From writing jokingly
about the meeting, to discovering that he was followed by the Greek State
Security force. Skelton mused, “So who is the paranoid one? Me, hiding in
stairwells, watching the pavement behind me in shop windows, staying in the
open for safety? Or Bilderberg, with its two F-16s, circling helicopters,
machine guns, navy commandos and policy of repeatedly detaining and
harassing a handful of journalists? Who's the nutter? Me or Baron
Mandelson? Me or Paul Volker, the head of Obama's economic advisory board?
Me or the president of Coca-Cola?”
Skelton stated that, “Publicity is pure salt to the giant slug of
Bilderberg. So I suggest next year we turn up with a few more tubs. If the
mainstream press refuses to give proper coverage to this massive annual
event, then interested citizens will have to: a people's media.”
Amazingly, Skelton made the pronouncement that what he learned after the
Bilderberg conference, was that, “we must fight, fight, fight, now –
right now, this second, with every cubic inch of our souls – to stop
identity cards,” as, “It's all about the power to ask, the obligation
to show, the justification of one's existence, the power of the asker over
the subservience of the asked.” He stated that he “learned this from
the random searches, detentions, angry security goon proddings and thumped
police desks without number that I've had to suffer on account of
Bilderberg: I have spent the week living in a nightmare possible future and
many different terrible pasts. I have had the very tiniest glimpse into a
world of spot checks and unchecked security powers. And it has left me
shaken. It has left me, literally, bruised.” Pointedly, he explains that,
“The identity card turns you from a free citizen into a suspect.”[25]
Who was there?
Royalty
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, the largest shareholder in Royal Dutch
Shell
Among the members of the Bilderberg Group are various European monarchs. At
this years meeting, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was present, who
happens to be the largest single shareholder in Royal Dutch Shell, one of
the world’s largest corporations. She was joined by one of her three
sons, Prince Constantijn, who also attended the meeting. Prince Constantijn
has worked with the Dutch European Commissioner for the EU, as well as
having been a strategic policy consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton in
London, a major strategy and technology consulting firm with expertise in
Economic and Business Analysis, Intelligence and Operations Analysis and
Information Technology, among many others. Prince Constantijn has also been
a policy researcher for RAND Corporation in Europe. RAND was initially
founded as a global policy think tank that was formed to offer research and
analysis to the US Armed Forces, however, it now works with governments,
foundations, international organizations and commercial organizations.[26]
Also present among European Royalty was Prince Philippe of Belgium, and
Queen Sofia of Spain.
Private Bankers
As usual, the list of attendees was also replete with names representing
the largest banks in the world. Among them, David Rockefeller, former CEO
and Chairman of Chase Manhattan, now JP Morgan Chase, of which he was,
until recently, Chairman of the International Advisory Board; and still
sits as Honourary Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, Chairman of
the Board of the Americas Society and Council of the Americas, Honourary
Chairman of the Trilateral Commission, which he founded alongside Zbigniew
Brzezinski; also a founding member of the Bilderberg Group, prominent
philanthropist and is the current patriarch of one of the world’s richest
and most powerful banking dynasties.
Also present was Josef Ackermann, a Swiss banker who is CEO of Deutsche
Bank, also a non-executive director of Royal Dutch Shell; Deputy Chairman
of Siemens AG, Europe’s largest engineering corporation; he is also a
member of the International Advisory Council of Zurich Financial Services
Group; Chairman of the Board of the Institute International of Finance, the
world’s only global association of financial institutions; and Vice
Chairman of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum.[27]
Roger Altman was also present at the Bilderberg meeting, an investment
banker, private equity investor and former Deputy Treasury Secretary in the
Clinton Administration. Other bankers at this years meeting include Ana
Patricia Botin, Chairman of the Spanish bank, Banco Español de Crédito,
formerly having worked with JP Morgan; Frederic Oudea, CEO and newly
appointed Chairman of the Board of French bank Societe Generale; Tommaso
Padoa-Schioppa, an Italian banker and economist, formerly Italy’s
Minister of Economy and Finance; Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman of Investor AB;
Marcus Wallenberg, CEO of Investor AB; and George David, CEO of United
Technologies Corporation, who also sits on the board of Citigroup, member
of the Business Council, the Business Roundtable, and is Vice Chairman of
the Peterson Institute for International Economics. [For more on the
Peterson Institute, see: Appendix 1]
Canadian bankers include W. Edmund Clark, President and CEO of TD Bank
Financial Group, also a member of the board of directors of the C.D. Howe
Institute, a prominent Canadian think tank; Frank McKenna, Deputy Chairman
of TD Bank Financial Group, former Canadian Ambassador to the United
States, former Premier of New Brunswick; and Indira Samarasekera, President
of the University of Alberta, who is also on the board of Scotiabank, one
of Canada’s largest banks.
Central Bankers
Of course, among the notable members of the Bilderberg Group, are the
world’s major central bankers. Among this years members are the Governor
of the National Bank of Greece, Governor of the Bank of Italy, President of
the European Investment Bank, James Wolfensohn, former President of the
World Bank, and Nout Wellink, on the board of the Bank for International
Settlements (BIS).[28] Jean-Claude Trichet, the President of the European
Central Bank was also present.[29] There is no indication that the Governor
of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke was present, which would be an odd
turn of events, considering that the Federal Reserve Governor is always
present at Bilderberg meetings, alongside the President of the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, William C. Dudley. I have contacted the New York
Fed inquiring if Dudley visited Greece or went to any meetings in Greece
between May 14-17, or if another senior representative from the New York
Fed went in his stead. I have yet to get a response.
The Obama Administration at Bilderberg
National Security Adviser General James Jones
The Obama administration was heavily represented at this years Bilderberg
meeting. Among the attendees were Keith B. Alexander, a Lieutenant General
of U.S. Army and Director of the National Security Agency, the massive
spying agency of the United States; Timothy Geithner, US Treasury Secretary
and former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; Richard
Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special envoy for Afghanistan and
Pakistan; General James Jones, United States National Security Advisor;
Henry Kissinger, Obama’s special envoy to Russia, longtime Bilderberg
member and former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor; Dennis
Ross, special advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton; David Patraeus, Commander of CENTCOM, (U.S.
Central Command, in the Middle East), Lawrence Summers, Director of the
White House's National Economic Council, former Treasury Secretary in the
Clinton administration, former President of Harvard University, former
Chief Economist of the World Bank; Paul Volcker, former Governor of the
Federal Reserve System and Chair of Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory
Board; Robert Zoellick, former Chairman of Goldman Sachs and current
President of the World Bank;[30] and Deputy Secretary of State James
Steinberg.[31]
Other Notable Names
Among many others present at the meeting are Viscount Étienne Davignon,
former Vice President of the European Commission, and Honourary Chairman of
the Bilderberg Group; Francisco Pinto Balsemão, former Prime Minister of
Portugal; Franco Bernabè, CEO of Telecom Italia and Vice Chairman of
Rothschild Europe; Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden; Kenneth
Clarke, Shadow Business Secretary in the UK; Richard Dearlove, former head
of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Services (MI6); Donald Graham, CEO of
the Washington Post Company; Jaap De Hoop Scheffer, Secretary-General of
NATO; John Kerr, member of the British House of Lords and Deputy Chairman
of Royal Dutch Shell; Jessica Matthews, President of the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace; Richard Perle of the American Enterprise
Institute; Romano Prodi, former Italian Prime Minister; J. Robert S.
Prichard, CEO of Torstar Corporation and President Emeritus of the
University of Toronto; Peter Sutherland, former Director General of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), first Director General of
the World Trade Organization (WTO), and is currently Chairman of British
Petroleum (BP) and Goldman Sachs International as well as being a board
member of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Chairman of the Trilateral
Commission, Vice Chairman of the European Roundtable of Industrialists, and
longtime Bilderberg member; Peter Thiel, on the board of directors of
Facebook; Jeroen van der Veer, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell; Martin Wolf,
Associate Editor and Chief Economics Commentator of the Financial Times
newspaper; and Fareed Zakaria, US journalist and board member of the
Council on Foreign Relations.[32] There were also some reports that this
years meeting would include Google CEO Eric Schmidt, as well as Wall Street
Journal Editor Paul Gigot,[33] both of whom attended last years
meeting.[34]
Conclusion
Clearly, it was the prerogative of this year’s Bilderberg meeting to
exploit the global financial crisis as much as possible to reach goals they
have been striving toward for many years. These include the creation of a
Global Treasury Department, likely in conjunction with or embodied in the
same institution as a Global Central Bank, both of which seem to be in the
process of being incorporated into the IMF.
Naturally, Bilderberg meetings serve the interests of the people and
organizations that are represented there. Due to the large amount of
representatives from the Obama administration that were present, US
policies revolving around the financial crisis are likely to have emerged
from and serve the interests of the Bilderberg Group. Given the heavy
representation of Obama’s foreign policy establishment at the Bilderberg
meeting, it seemed surprising to not have received any more information
regarding US foreign policy from this year’s meeting, perhaps having to
do with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
However, the US recently decided to fire the general who oversaw the Afghan
war, being replaced with “Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, a former Green
Beret who recently commanded the military's secretive special operations
forces in Iraq.”[35] From 2003 to 2008, McChrystal “led the Pentagon's
Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which oversees the military's most
sensitive forces, including the Army's Delta Force,” and who
Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh singled out
as the head of VP Cheney’s “executive assassination wing.”[36]
So, given these recent changes, as well as the high degree of
representation Obama’s foreign policy establishment held at Bildebrerg
this year, there were likely to have been some decisions or at least
discussion of the escalation of the Afghan war and expansion into Pakistan.
However, it is not surprising that the main item on the agenda was the
global financial crisis. Without a doubt, the next year will be an
interesting one, and the elite are surely hoping to make it a productive
one.
APPENDIX 1: Bilderberg Connections to the Billionaire’s Meeting
Peter G. Peterson, one of the guests in attendance at the secret
billionaires meeting, was the former United States Secretary of Commerce in
the Nixon administration, Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers, Kuhn, Loeb
Inc., from 1977 to 1984, he co-founded the prominent private equity and
investment management firm, the Blackstone Group, of which he is currently
Senior Chairman, and in 1985, he became Chairman of the Council on Foreign
Relations, taking over when David Rockefeller stepped down from that
position. He founded the Peterson Institute for International Economics and
was Chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from 2000-2004. The
Peterson Institute for International Economics is a major world economic
think tank, which seeks to “inform and shape public debate,” from
which, “Institute studies have helped provide the intellectual foundation
for many of the major international financial initiatives of the past two
decades: reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), adoption of
international banking standards, exchange rate systems in the G-7 and
emerging-market economies, policies toward the dollar, the euro, and other
important currencies, and responses to debt and currency crises (including
the current crisis of 2008–09).” It has also “made important
contributions to key trade policy decisions” such as the development of
the World Trade Organization, NAFTA, APEC, and East Asian regionalism.[37]
It has a prominent list of names on its board of directors. Peter G.
Peterson is Chairman of the board; George David, Chairman of United
Technologies is Vice Chairman, as well as being a board member of
Citigroup, and was a guest at this year’s Bilderberg meeting; Chen Yuan,
Governor of the China Development Bank and former Deputy Governor of the
People’s Bank of China (China’s central bank); Jessica Einhorn, Dean of
Washington's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
of the Johns Hopkins University, former Visiting Fellow of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), former Managing Director of the World
Bank, and currently on the board of Time Warner and the Council on Foreign
Relations; Stanley Fischer, Governor of the Central Bank of Israel, former
Vice President at the World Bank, former Managing Director at the IMF,
former Vice Chairman of Citigroup, and has also been a regular participant
in Bilderberg meetings; Carla A. Hills, former US Trade Representative, and
was the prime negotiator of NAFTA, she sits on the International Advisory
Boards of American International Group, the Coca-Cola Company, Gilead
Sciences, J.P. Morgan Chase, member of the Executive Committee of the
Trilateral Commission, Co-Chair of the Council on Foreign Relations, and
played a key part in the CFR document, “Building a North American
Community,” which seeks to remodel North America following along the
lines of the European Union, and she has also been a prominent Bilderberg
member; David Rockefeller also sits on the Peterson Institute’s board, as
well as Lynn Forester de Rothschild; Jean-Claude Trichet, President of the
European Central Bank, who is at every Bilderberg meeting; Paul A. Volcker,
former Governor of the Federal Reserve System, regular participant of
Bilderberg meetings, and current Chair of Obama’s Economic Recovery
Advisory Board.
Honourary Directors of the Peterson Institute include Bilderbergers Alan
Greenspan, former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
System, a prime architect of the current crisis; Frank E. Loy, former Under
Secretary of State for Global Affairs, and is on the boards of
Environmental Defense, the Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Resources
for the Future, and Population Services International; George P. Shultz,
former US Secretary of State in the Reagan administration, President and
Director of Bechtel Group and former Secretary of the Treasury.[38]
APPENDIX 2: Creating a Central Bank of the World
Jeffrey Garten, Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade in the
Clinton administration, former Dean of the Yale School of Management,
previously served on the White House Council on International Economic
Policy under the Nixon administration and on the policy planning staffs of
Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Cyrus Vance of the Ford and Carter
administrations. He also was a managing director of Lehman Brothers and the
Blackstone Group, is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. As
early as 1998, Garten wrote an article for the New York Times in which he
advocated the creation of a global central bank.[39]
Amid the current financial crisis, Garten wrote an article for the
Financial Times in which he advocated for “the establishment of a Global
Monetary Authority to oversee markets that have become borderless,”
acting as a global central bank.[40] In late October, Garten wrote an
article for Newsweek in which he said that world “leaders should begin
laying the groundwork for establishing a global central bank.”[41]
Three days after the publication of Garten’s Newsweek article, it was
reported that, “The International Monetary Fund may soon lack the money
to bail out an ever growing list of countries crumbling across Eastern
Europe, Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia, raising concerns that it
will have to tap taxpayers in Western countries for a capital infusion or
resort to the nuclear option of printing its own money.” Further, “The
nuclear option is to print money by issuing Special Drawing Rights, in
effect acting as if it were the world's central bank.”[42]
[For a detailed look at the moves to create a global central bank,
regional currencies, a global reserve currency and a world governing body,
see: Andrew G. Marshall, The Financial New World Order: Towards a Global
Currency and World Government: Global Research, April 6, 2009]
Endnotes
[1] CFP, Annual Elite Conclave, 58th Bilderberg Meeting to be held in
Greece, May 14-17. Canadian Free Press: May 5, 2009:
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/10854
[2] Paul Joseph Watson, Bilderberg Wants Global Department Of Health,
Global Treasury. Prison Planet: May 16, 2009:
http://www.infowars.com/bilderberg-wants-global-department-of-health-global-treasury/
[3] Paul Joseph Watson, Bilderberg Fears Losing Control In Chaos-Plagued
World. Prison Planet: May 18, 2009:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/bilderberg-fears-losing-control-in-chaos-plagued-world.html
[4] Sorcha Faal, Bilderberg Group orders destruction of US Dollar? MINA:
May 21, 2009:
http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/6807/53/
[5] Kristi Heim, What really happened at the billionaires' private confab.
The Seattle Times: May 20, 2009:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thebusinessofgiving/2009244202_what_really_happened_at_the_bi.html
[6] A. G. Sulzberger, The Rich Get … Together (Shhh, It Was a Secret).
The New York Times: May 20, 2009:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/the-rich-get-together-shhh-it-was-a-secret/
[7] Chosun, American Billionaires Gather to Discuss Slump. The Chosun Ilbo:
May 22, 2009:
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2009/05/22/2009052200772.html
[8] John Harlow, Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation. The Sunday
Times: May 24, 2009:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6350303.ece
[9] Press Release, Investigative Author, Daniel Estulin Exposes Bilderberg
Group Plans. PRWeb: May 22, 2009:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/Bilderberg_Group_Meeting/Daniel_Estulin/prweb2453144.htm
[10] James P. Tucker Jr., BILDERBERG AGENDA EXPOSED. American Free Press:
June 1, 2009:
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bilderberg_2009_179.html
[11] James Quinn, Tim Geithner to reform US financial regulation. The
Telegraph: May 21, 2009:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5359527/Tim-Geithner-to-reform-US-financial-regulation.html
[12] Greg Menges, U. S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy F. Geithner
speech before the Senate Banking Committee. Examiner: May 20, 2009:
http://www.examiner.com/x-8184-Boston-Investing-Examiner~y2009m5d20-U-S-Secretary-of-the-Treasury-Timothy-F-Geithner-speech-before-the-Senate-Banking-Committee
[13] Robert Schmidt and Jesse Westbrook, U.S. May Strip SEC of Powers in
Regulatory Overhaul. Bloomberg: May 20: 2009:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a18ctNv3FDcw
[14] Rex Nutting, Fed could be completely retooled, Geithner says. Market
Watch: May 20, 2009:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-could-be-completely-retooled-geithner-says
[15] Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, The G20 moves the world a step closer to a
global currency. The Telegraph: April 3, 2009:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/5096524/The-G20-moves-the-world-a-step-closer-to-a-global-currency.html
[16] Marie Magleby, Obama Wants U.S. to Loan $100 Billion to Global Bailout
Fund. CNS News: May 20, 2009:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=48329
[17] Joe Bavier, Sub-Saharan Africa to receive $10 bln in SDRs-IMF.
Reuters: May 25, 2009:
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLP336909
[18] Onno Wijnholds, The Dollar’s Last Days? International Business
Times: May 18, 2009:
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20090518/dollar-rsquolast-days.htm
[19] MATTHEW SALTMARSH, Former I.M.F. Chief Sees Opportunity in Crisis. The
New York Times: May 22, 2009:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/23/business/global/23spot.html?ref=global
[20] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: in pursuit of the world's most
powerful cabal. The Guardian: May 13, 2009:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/13/in-search-of-bilderberg
[21] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: They're watching and following
me, I tell you. The Guardian: May 15, 2009:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/15/bilderberg-charlie-skelton-dispatch
[22] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: I'm ready to lose control, but
they're not. The Guardian: May 15, 2009:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/15/bilderberg-charlie-skelton-dispatch1
[23] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: 'You are not allowed to take
pictures of policemen!' The Guardian: May 17, 2009:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/17/charlie-skelton-bilderberg
[24] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: Fear my pen. The Guardian: May
18, 2009:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/18/bilderberg-charlie-skelton-dispatch
[25] Charlie Skelton, Our man at Bilderberg: Let's salt the slug in 2010.
The Guardian: May 19, 2009:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/may/19/bilderberg-skelton-greece
[26] Dutch Royal House, Work and official duties. Prince Constantijn:
http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/english/content.jsp?objectid=18215
[27] Deutsche Bank, Management Board. Our Company:
http://www.db.com/en/content/company/management_board.htm
[28] InfoWars, Bilderberg 2009 Attendee List (revised). May 18, 2009:
http://www.infowars.com/bilderberg-2009-attendee-list/
[29] Demetris Nellas, Greek nationalists protest Bilderberg Club meeting.
AP: May 14, 2009:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jep_nbEq1srzJHFQ8fRGNQO3P38QD987H3200
[30] InfoWars, Bilderberg 2009 Attendee List (revised). May 18, 2009:
http://www.infowars.com/bilderberg-2009-attendee-list/
[31] MRT, Top US official arrives in Greece. Macedonian Radio and
Television: May 15, 2009:
http://www.mrt.com.mk/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6112&Itemid=28
[32] InfoWars, Bilderberg 2009 Attendee List (revised). May 18, 2009:
http://www.infowars.com/bilderberg-2009-attendee-list/
[33] WND, Google joins Bilderberg cabal. World Net Daily: May 17, 2009:
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=98469
[34] Adam Abrams, Are the people who 'really run the world' meeting this
weekend? Haaretz: May 14, 2009:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1085589.html
[35] YOCHI J. DREAZEN and PETER SPIEGEL, U.S. Fires Afghan War Chief. The
Wall Street Journal: May 12, 2009:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124206036635107351.html
[36] M.J. Stephey, Stan McChrystal: The New U.S. Commander in Afghanistan.
Time Magazine: May 12, 2009:
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1897542,00.html
[37] PIIE, About the Institute. Peterson Institute for International
Economics:
http://www.petersoninstitute.org/institute/aboutiie.cfm
[38] PIIE, Board of Directors. Peterson Institute for International
Economics:
http://www.petersoninstitute.org/institute/board.cfm#52
[39] Jeffrey E. Garten, Needed: A Fed for the World. The New York Times:
September 23, 1998:
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/23/opinion/needed-a-fed-for-the-world.html
[40] Jeffrey Garten, Global authority can fill financial vacuum. The
Financial Times: September 25, 2008:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7caf543e-8b13-11dd-b634-0000779fd18c,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F7caf543e-8b13-11dd-b634-0000779fd18c.html&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwilliamnotes.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F09%2F30%2Fgarten-on-a-global-monetary-authority%2F
[41] Jeffrey Garten, We Need a Bank Of the World. Newsweek: October 25,
2009: http://www.newsweek.com/id/165772
[42] Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, IMF may need to "print money" as crisis
spreads. The Telegraph: October 28, 2009:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3269669/IMF-may-need-to-print-money-as-crisis-spreads.html
Andrew G. Marshall is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on
Globalization (CRG). He is currently studying Political Economy and History
at Simon Fraser University.
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