 Bilderberg's head Viscount Davignon plays down the group's role in setting the international agenda
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Posted on 10/03/2005 10:46:20 PM PDT by Coleus
How much influence do private networks of the rich and powerful have on government policies and international relations? One group, the Bilderberg, has often attracted speculation that it forms a shadowy global government. As part of the BBC's Who Runs Your World? series, Bill Hayton tries to find out more.
Bilderberg's head Viscount Davignon plays down the group's role in setting the international agenda
The chairman of the secretive - he prefers the word private - Bilderberg Group is 73-year-old Viscount Etienne Davignon, corporate director and former European Commissioner.
In his office, on a private floor above the Brussels office of the Suez conglomerate lined with political cartoons of himself, he told me what he thought of allegations that Bilderberg is a global conspiracy secretly ruling the world.
"It is unavoidable and it doesn't matter," he says. "There will always be people who believe in conspiracies but things happen in a much more incoherent fashion."
Lack of publicity
In an extremely rare interview, he played down the importance of Bilderberg in setting the international agenda. "What can come out of our meetings is that it is wrong not to try to deal with a problem. But a real consensus, an action plan containing points 1, 2 and 3? The answer is no. People are much too sensible to believe they can do that."
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 There need to be places where these people can think about the main challenges ahead, co-ordinate where policies should be going, and find out where there could be a consensus  Professor Kees van der Pijl
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Every year since 1954, a small network of rich and powerful people have held a discussion meeting about the state of the trans-Atlantic alliance and the problems facing Europe and the US.
Organised by a steering committee of two people from each of about 18 countries, the Bilderberg Group (named after the Dutch hotel in which it held its first meeting) brings together about 120 leading business people and politicians.
At this year's meeting in Germany, the audience included the heads of the World Bank and European Central Bank, Chairmen or Chief Executives from Nokia, BP, Unilever, DaimlerChrysler and Pepsi - among other multi-national corporations, editors from five major newspapers, members of parliament, ministers, European commissioners, the crown prince of Belgium and the queen of the Netherlands.
"I don't think (we are) a global ruling class because I don't think a global ruling class exists. I simply think it's people who have influence interested to speak to other people who have influence," Viscount Davignon says.
 Bill Clinton was featured at a Bilderberg meeting while he was governor of Arkansas
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"Business influences society and politics influences society - that's purely common sense. It's not that business contests the right of democratically-elected leaders to lead".
For Bilderberg's critics the fact that there is almost no publicity about the annual meetings is proof that they are up to no good. Jim Tucker, editor of a right-wing newspaper, the American Free Press for example, alleges they organise wars and elect and depose political leaders. He describes the group as simply 'evil'. So where does the truth lie?
Professor Kees van der Pijl of Sussex University in Britain says such private networks of corporate and political leaders play an informal but crucial role in the modern world.
"There need to be places where these people can think about the main challenges ahead, co-ordinate where policies should be going, and find out where there could be a consensus."
'Common sense'
Will Hutton, an economic analyst and former newspaper editor who attended a Bilderberg meeting in 1997, says people take part in these networks in order to influence the way the world works, to create what he calls "the international common sense" about policy.
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Business influences society and politics influences society - that's purely common sense |
And that "common sense" is one which supports the interests of Bilderberg's main participants - in particular free trade. Viscount Davignon says that at the annual meetings, "automatically around the table you have internationalists" - people who support the work of the World Trade Organisation, trans-Atlantic co-operation and European integration.
Bilderberg meetings often feature future political leaders shortly before they become household names. Bill Clinton went in 1991 while still governor of Arkansas, Tony Blair was there two years later while still an opposition MP. All the recent presidents of the European Commission attended Bilderberg meetings before they were appointed.
'Secret Government'
This has led to accusations that the group pushes its favoured politicians into high office. But Viscount Davignon says his steering committee are simply excellent talent spotters. The steering committee "does its best assessment of who are the bright new boys or girls in the beginning phase of their career who would like to get known."
"It's not a total accident, but it's not a forecast and if they go places it's not because of Bilderberg, it's because of themselves," Viscount Davignon says.
But its critics say Bilderberg's selection process gives an extra boost to aspiring politicians whose views are friendly to big business. None of this, however, is easy to prove - or disprove.
Observers like Will Hutton argue that such private networks have both good and bad sides. They are unaccountable to voters but, at the same time, they do keep the international system functioning. And there are limits to their power - a point which Bilderberg chairman was keen to stress, "When people say this is a secret government of the world I say that if we were a secret government of the world we should be bloody ashamed of ourselves."
Informal and private networks like Bilderberg have helped to oil the wheels of global politics and globalisation for the past half a century. In the eyes of critics they have undermined democracy, but their supporters believe they are crucial to modern democracy's success. And so long as business and politics remain mutually dependent, they will continue to thrive.
They do have a tendency to discuss major world events before they happen...for example, I think the subject the year of clinton's appearance was the Serbia/Bosnia area and the geopolitical (read oil) considerations.
Is there a MINI ME somewhere in this?
Any group that can look all over the world and pick out the Governor of a backwater state as a soon to be mover and shaker scares me!
PS, in my weaker moments, PaMom has purchased their products. Under duress....
It does seem rather strange that a hillbilly serial rapist con artist would appeal to an international organization of billionaires. Granted.
Lets not forget...
It's in Dresden...Ohio. Bloody Krauts still trying to take over the world by moving here, making cities like those from the motherland and buildabergering the "final resolution".
Their goal, first, everyone gets Carpel Tunnel Syndrome(the baskets are just a byproduct), then when they print articles in the papers, no one can respond. That's when they win the war of ideas. It's pure genius.
"The governor of Arkansas in a meeting ofthe world's movers and shakers? Arkansas?"
Arkansas figures more prominently in "The Plot Thickens" conspiracy theories than that. Winthrop Rockefeller, of a family fully as suspect as the Bilderbergers, chose Arkansas for his home.
They must have seen the movie.
If a long shot like Clinton was the only 1992 presidential contender to attend one of their meetings then I am going to become a conspiracy theorist.
"SPOTLIGHT" was a DC based newspaper that constantly kept their readers informed on Bilderberg Meetings. After T. McVaugh (sp) et some of OK bombing conspiracy were caught w/ copies of Spotlight, the paper vanished.
And please, please just ignore that man behind the curtain.....
Deliverance?
[PAUSE].
Cheshire Cat smiles all around.
Red-faced belly-shaking laughs and hands pounding on the table.
I see the Count being played by ......DA, DA....Doctor Evil!
Right from the horse's mouth: "There is no conspiracy".
Everyone go home now.
My kooky neighbor believes all of this stuff. She used to ambush me when I was watering the flowers.
One day she kept talking (for an hour) about how the Bilderburgers were having a very secret meeting on some yatch on some lake in Switzerland. I asked her the obvious question--why did she know about it if it was a secret meeting??
My husband always gets me in trouble with her. He went in the house and hit the 'find' button on the phone so it would make a ringing noise. Then he yells that I had a phone call. The neighbor looks at me and says, "your husband is pretending that your phone is ringing again."
I walked in the house and he was laughing. The neighbor can see through my husband's attempt to rescue me but she still beleives in the Bilderburger thing.
No, GHWB was a member of the Tri-Lateral Commission. You will remember that they had such a strong influence that the first monkey the U. S. shot into space was named TLC, for Tri-Lateral Commission. After the conspiracy leaked, it was claimed that TLC stood for Tender Loving Care.
But, if you remember also, TLC died recently, living a long life, for a chimp. He was allowed to smoke cigars and drink champagne as part of his reward for his brave deed. Cigars and champagne sounds a lot like the Tri-Lateral Commission fat cats to me.
It is suspected that once a living creature leaves the confines of the planet earth, they evolve to a new life form, retaining their old physical body but their intellect and awareness grow exponentially.
You can see this in the Biblical account of the Rapture. The Bible says that when Christ comes back we will be taken into the heavens. We will be changed, and it says we will know as we are known...an expansion of our intellect and awareness.
Out of body experience via transcendental meditation does not raise the intelligence, but if one can extend that transcendence beyond the gravitation influence of the earth, one's awareness does expand exponentially.
For those who want to try this, sit in the Lotus position (Indian style for those who never made it out of kindergarten), and chant this prayer:
OWA TAGU FIAM
If at first you do not achieve transcendentalism, keep trying. Recite the prayer loudly and more quickly until you reach a state of true realization of your own persona.
Should you achieve this state, please communicate with me telepathically. I will be monitoring channel '01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 10100000 01100001 10100000 01101010 01101111 01101011 01100101 00101110'. (Yes, in the transcendent state, there is only that which is and that which is not, and is represented as 1's and 0's.)
No, GHWB was a member of the Tri-Lateral Commission. You will remember that they had such a strong influence that the first monkey the U. S. shot into space was named TLC, for Tri-Lateral Commission. After the conspiracy leaked, it was claimed that TLC stood for Tender Loving Care.
But, if you remember also, TLC died recently, living a long life, for a chimp. He was allowed to smoke cigars and drink champagne as part of his reward for his brave deed. Cigars and champagne sounds a lot like the Tri-Lateral Commission fat cats to me.
It is suspected that once a living creature leaves the confines of the planet earth, they evolve to a new life form, retaining their old physical body but their intellect and awareness grow exponentially.
You can see this in the Biblical account of the Rapture. The Bible says that when Christ comes back we will be taken into the heavens. We will be changed, and it says we will know as we are known...an expansion of our intellect and awareness.
Out of body experience via transcendental meditation does not raise the intelligence, but if one can extend that transcendence beyond the gravitation influence of the earth, one's awareness does expand exponentially.
For those who want to try this, sit in the Lotus position (Indian style for those who never made it out of kindergarten), and chant this prayer:
OWA TAGU FIAM
If at first you do not achieve transcendentalism, keep trying. Recite the prayer loudly and more quickly until you reach a state of true realization of your own persona.
Should you achieve this state, please communicate with me telepathically. I will be monitoring channel '01001001 01110100 00100111 01110011 10100000 01100001 10100000 01101010 01101111 01101011 01100101 00101110'. (Yes, in the transcendent state, there is only that which is and that which is not, and is represented as 1's and 0's.)
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