Conspiracy theories or 'frank and open' ?

[Henk Elegeert]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3031717.stm
BBC NEWS | Europe | Elite power brokers meet in secret

"
Elite power brokers meet in secret

		
By Emma Jane Kirby
BBC correspondent in Paris

The world's financial and political elite are to
hold a closed meeting in France on Thursday where
delegates are expected to be focusing their
attention on post war Iraq.

The Bilderberg meeting will be held in Versailles
just before the start of the Group of Seven meeting
of finance ministers in nearby Paris.
Henry Kissinger (L) and George W Bush
Henry Kissinger is believed to be attending this year

Bilderberg, which was founded in the 1950s by Prince
Bernhard of the Netherlands, is said to steer
international policy from behind closed doors.

Its critics say that it is a capitalist organisation
which operates entirely through self interest.

By anyone's standards, it is a bit of a mystery.

There are no members as such - instead, an
invitation list is comprised each year by an unknown
steering committee, but participants are mainly
leading and powerful figures in the fields of
business and politics.

Political clout

The meetings are cloaked in secrecy and participants
rarely reveal their attendance, although this year's
list is rumoured to include the American banker
David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger.

What the group actually does is no clearer either,
although it's known to be an extremely influential
lobbying group with a good deal of political clout
on both sides of the Atlantic.

Key members of both the British and the US
governments are said to have attended gatherings.

But critics accuse Bilderberg of being sinister and
conspiratorial - if what the delegates are
discussing is really for the good of ordinary people
they ask, then why can't they publicise it?
"

Henk Elegeert

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