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THE INFAMOUS BILDERBERG Group meeting is back on the agenda this week as the world’s elite gather for an event most famous for its secrecy.
This year the conference is being held in Dresden, Germany and will be attended by 130 of the world’s leaders in finance, academia, industry, politics and media from 20 countries.
However, little is known about what takes place behind closed doors at the annual meeting, a trait that has spawned numerous conspiracy theories about the get-together.
Bilderberg was created in 1954 in an attempt to foster dialogue between Europe and the US as anti-American sentiment rose in parts of the continent.
The whole event runs in strict accordance with the Chatham House Rule, which in everyday English means that those in attendance are free to use the information shared by other attendees, but the identity and the affiliation of those who said it cannot be revealed.
As everyone is bound to this agreement, no minutes or notes are taken at the meeting – and the very few members of the media who are let into the inner circle can’t report on the event.
This means little is known about exactly what is said, beyond the broad discussion topics released to the public. Over the years, however, a few tidbits have trickled out.
In 2012, documents released to TheJournal.ie under the Freedom of Information Act shone a light on the event after details relating to Finance Minister Michael Noonan’s attendance were made public.
Besides insights into the strict security measures put in place to ensure the event remained private, the files revealed that some high-profile people who weren’t included in the official guest list may also have been in attendance – adding yet another veil of secrecy to the affair.
What we do know is that each year there is an agenda set for the conference, with some key areas of focus for 2016 including China, migration in Europe, the US political landscape, cyber security and technological innovation.
In 2014, RT disputed the legitimacy of the officially released Bilderberg agenda when one of the news station’s presenters claimed he had got his hands on a copy of the real topics up for discussion at the event.
It was reported that the main items up for discussion were the nuclear deal being cut with Iran, the rising tide of nationalist groups in Europe and Edward Snowden’s exposure of the US National Security Agency’s activity.
The whole conference is chaired by outgoing Axa chief executive and French count Henri de Castries, while the Bilderberg steering committee contains notable business figures like Peter Thiel, who recently backed Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker, and Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt.
This year, only two Irish names feature on the list of attendees. Noonan, a frequent visitor, will return to the event, while Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary, who is also a member of the conference’s steering committee, is the second inclusion.
Other big names at the event this year are former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble.
In previous years, a number of Irish politicians and business figures have attended, including former tánaiste Michael McDowell, former attorney general Dermot Gleeson and ex-taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.
Due to all the secrecy surrounding Bilderberg, conspiracy theories abound about the inner workings of the elite club and the power it wields.
It has been suggested that the whole group is a precursor to a one-world government, but this has been strongly denied by previous chairs of the organisation – who have played down the group’s importance during rare interviews on the subject.
Nevertheless, the meeting has invited further suspicion with the attendance of several political leaders, such as Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, before they rose to power. Among the many far-fetched claims levelled at the group is that it was responsible for rigging the 2008 Democratic nomination for US President.
One of the more interesting conspiracy theories about Bilderberg came courtesy of David Icke, a former BBC sports presenter who in 1991 proclaimed himself to be the son of God.
He has claimed a lot of those in attendance at the event are descendants of lizards that have used their shape-shifting skills to make their way into the upper echelons of power.
Written by Killian Woods and posted on Fora.ie
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So sad.
All for oil. Disgusting!
Shocking stuff altogether.
Just a horrendous situation. I wonder will Hussein Obama still tout Yemen as one of his “great foreign policy success stories”?
What is happening is the continuation of the Sunni/Shia conflict that originated following the death of Mahomed when the religion split on the interpretation of how Islam would develop. This conflict is being acted out in a modern weapon context. For them the normal rules of war do not exist.
Indeed: a Kalashnikov makes a mighty warrior out of a little kid in todays world and the dastardly British and french liberated the Arabs from the gentle rule of the ottomans who had kept the lid on religious strife for centuries. By the way- does anybody think hitler would have paid for the oil or be coerced by suicide bombers?
Gaining a better understanding of what is happening in Yemen today , and why .
Yemen – the Big Picture. US Sponsored Civil Wars
Peter Koenig, economist and geopolitical analyst, worked in Yemen in the 1990s and early 2000s.
“Yemen is a patchwork of tribes, the result of former colonies, therefore made vulnerable for conflicts; easily ignitable conflicts. A situation left behind on purpose by the old British colonial masters, today servants to the Washington Empire. That’s the name of the game throughout the Middle East – and eventually throughout the world. Divide and rule, ( a strategy successfully implemented in N.Ireland for many years)– by Zionist-Anglo-Saxon organized and never-ending chaos.
It is certainly true, where ever the US and its NATO cronies put their heavy boots, they create lasting misery and chaos. But these never-ending implanted internal conflicts and civil wars in far-away countries are produced by design, not to end soon. They are multi-benefit endeavors, lubricating the US war machine, assuring the ‘need’ for US intervention and occupation, and they are paving the way for US / western transnational corporations’ unabated and merciless exploitation of the victims’ riches, looting their natural resources and enslaving their people. The globalized warriors, the emperor’s proxy armies, NATO and NATO-CIA trained mercenaries encounter little resistance from the population. People oppressed by civil strife have no time and energy to defend their rights, resources and country. They must fight for their sheer survival.”
http://www.globalresearch.ca/yemen-the-big-picture/5440957
“It is certainly true, where ever the US and its NATO cronies put their heavy boots, they create lasting misery and chaos.”
I’m sure the people liberated from Nazi occupation in N.W and S. Europe, from Japanese occupation in the Pacific region and from communist occupation in Korea would beg to differ with that assertion.
Honestly, I read that entire article and couldn’t find a single piece of evidence to back up the author’s claims. It’s one long opinion piece with absolutely zero facts in there. All it amounts to is the angry ranting of someone who obviously has an issue with both the US and backing up arguments.
@Pat O’D Also to get a better understanding of fantasy vs. reality see more of Peter Koenig’s make-belief,-
“The Kouachi brother, as well as Amedy Coulibaly, the suspect in the hostage drama of the Hyper Cacher food market in eastern Paris, whose identities and past activities were well recorded in French police files, were most likely pre-identified as perpetrators of the probable pre-meditated murderous attacks that left 17 people dead within three days of horror in Paris; attacks so well organized and carried out that they could easily wear the stamp of French special forces, CIA, Mossad or all three of them – because, cui bono – who benefits? – Perhaps the Masters of all three of them?’
Brutality of Islamic state.It shows no mercy,not even towards innocent children.
How many have been killed by previous drone strikes ?
Who is guilty of starting all this trouble in the Middle East.
Yeah, because the Middle East was an idyllic paradise for the previous millennia.
At the minute it’s american backed Saudis doing the bombing.
The same Saudi lads that armed ISIS.
Davedunne
The very same lads.
have your say