Amy Goodman, Dan Rather Feign Ignorance of Bilderberg
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
June 8, 2008
In the Minnesota Change video at left, Dan Rather and Amy Goodman are asked point-blank about Bilderberg and their responses are, to say the least, very interesting.
Dan Rather feigns ignorance. However, according to Bilderberg researcher and journalist Daniel Estulin, Rather, formerly of CBS News, is a member in good standing (see Bill Gallagher’s review of Estulin’s book, The True Story Of The Bilderberg Group). Moreover, on May 18, 2003, Paris Indymedia reported spotting Rather attending a Bilderberg meeting in Paris at the posh Trianon Hotel Palace.
Amy Goodman appears to have no overt connection to the Bilderbergers, but it is difficult to believe she is unaware of the group. Her Democracy Now program receives funding from Pacifica, the Ford Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation. The Ford Foundation directly funds the Bilderbergers, taking up where the CIA left off (see Bilderberg entry at SourceWatch). As James Petras notes, the CIA has a history of using the Ford Foundation to fund “cultural fronts” like Democracy Now.
Finally, according to a letter posted on the Educate Yourself website, Eban Ray of KPFK radio in Los Angeles inadvertently revealed that the Rockefeller Foundation funds Democracy Now. It is common knowledge that David Rockefeller, a consummate and proudly declared globalist, attended the inaugural Bilderberg meeting in 1954 and has occupied a prominent place on the steering committee ever since.
Goodman’s facial expression, when asked about the Bilderbergs, in the video above is priceless, so much so Minnesota Change decided to freeze-frame it and add the Jeopardy theme song.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Castrated U.S. Media Remains Obediently Silent On Bilderberg
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Monday, June 9, 2008
The mainstream American corporate press has once again proven itself to be no better than the state controlled media in places like Communist China or Zimbabwe, by steadfastly refusing to print even a mention of over a hundred global power brokers meeting in secret to discuss the future of the planet.
Based on this precedent, the Bilderberg Group may find it more convenient to abandon their European roots and permanently confine their meetings to a country where they can count on the silent obedience of the cowardly, castrated and complicit U.S. corporate media.
David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, the secretary general of NATO, CEO’s of the world’s biggest corporations, U.S. politicians and European royalty were all there in Chantilly, but the U.S. media failed to show and did not even mention that the meeting was taking place, despite Bilderberg themselves issuing a press release!
A press release about a missing dog would make a few local newspapers, but a press release about over a hundred of the most powerful people in the world meeting in secret was completely ignored
A perusal of local area newspaper websites such as the Fairfax Times provides an even starker indication of how tightly controlled the media is in America. In its Chantilly section, the paper carries stories about the Chantilly boys lacrosse team and a pizza delivery man - but 125+ global kingpins, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Condoleezza Rice, meeting in their back yard isn’t deemed worthy of attention!
We know for a fact that a Fairfax Times reporter was dispatched to cover Bilderberg days ago but their story has not seen the light of day.
Let’s play devil’s advocate and take the debunker’s line and pretend that Bilderberg sets no policy whatsoever and is merely a talking shop for the global elite. A book signing by any one of the meeting’s attendants would warrant a handful of column inches at the very least - yet 125+ of them meeting in secret and not one mention in any U.S. mainstream media outlet?
Even to the hardened anti-conspiracy theorist this must raise troubling questions.
What are they so keen to put the lid on that they will not even dare draw attention to Bilderberg by writing a puff piece debunking anyone who ascribes power to the group?
An attack on Iran? The likely outcome of the presidential election? The consequences of the price of oil rising above and beyond Bilderberg’s stated $200 dollar a barrel target?
The gaggle of alternative media reporters and protesters who gathered to cover Bilderberg in Chantilly, and were constantly harassed, stalked, surveilled and scorned for doing so, represent the last truly free press that exists in America.
Central Bilderberg member David Rockefeller’s infamous quote about the castrated U.S. media and its sycophantic support for Bilderberg’s agenda has never been more prescient.
“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the light of publicity during those years. But now the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government."
Rockefeller can thank the ideological prostitutes that staff these same organizations once again this year for providing the darkness necessary for Bilderberg to scheme its evil agenda for the destruction of the middle class and the erection of the elite’s fourth reich.
Prison Planet
Monday, June 9, 2008
The mainstream American corporate press has once again proven itself to be no better than the state controlled media in places like Communist China or Zimbabwe, by steadfastly refusing to print even a mention of over a hundred global power brokers meeting in secret to discuss the future of the planet.
Based on this precedent, the Bilderberg Group may find it more convenient to abandon their European roots and permanently confine their meetings to a country where they can count on the silent obedience of the cowardly, castrated and complicit U.S. corporate media.
David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, the secretary general of NATO, CEO’s of the world’s biggest corporations, U.S. politicians and European royalty were all there in Chantilly, but the U.S. media failed to show and did not even mention that the meeting was taking place, despite Bilderberg themselves issuing a press release!
A press release about a missing dog would make a few local newspapers, but a press release about over a hundred of the most powerful people in the world meeting in secret was completely ignored
A perusal of local area newspaper websites such as the Fairfax Times provides an even starker indication of how tightly controlled the media is in America. In its Chantilly section, the paper carries stories about the Chantilly boys lacrosse team and a pizza delivery man - but 125+ global kingpins, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Condoleezza Rice, meeting in their back yard isn’t deemed worthy of attention!
We know for a fact that a Fairfax Times reporter was dispatched to cover Bilderberg days ago but their story has not seen the light of day.
Let’s play devil’s advocate and take the debunker’s line and pretend that Bilderberg sets no policy whatsoever and is merely a talking shop for the global elite. A book signing by any one of the meeting’s attendants would warrant a handful of column inches at the very least - yet 125+ of them meeting in secret and not one mention in any U.S. mainstream media outlet?
Even to the hardened anti-conspiracy theorist this must raise troubling questions.
What are they so keen to put the lid on that they will not even dare draw attention to Bilderberg by writing a puff piece debunking anyone who ascribes power to the group?
An attack on Iran? The likely outcome of the presidential election? The consequences of the price of oil rising above and beyond Bilderberg’s stated $200 dollar a barrel target?
The gaggle of alternative media reporters and protesters who gathered to cover Bilderberg in Chantilly, and were constantly harassed, stalked, surveilled and scorned for doing so, represent the last truly free press that exists in America.
Central Bilderberg member David Rockefeller’s infamous quote about the castrated U.S. media and its sycophantic support for Bilderberg’s agenda has never been more prescient.
“We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the light of publicity during those years. But now the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government."
Rockefeller can thank the ideological prostitutes that staff these same organizations once again this year for providing the darkness necessary for Bilderberg to scheme its evil agenda for the destruction of the middle class and the erection of the elite’s fourth reich.
Bilderberg Seeks Bank Centralization Agenda
Lee Rogers
Rogue Government
June 9, 2008
Fresh off of the 2008 Bilderberg Meeting, it looks as if New York Federal Reserve president Timothy Geithner is set to push a new agenda in the world of central banking that was likely decided upon at Bilderberg. Geithner yesterday, wrote an article in the Financial Times calling for a global regulatory banking framework. In addition, Geithner called for the Federal Reserve to have an instrumental role in this new framework. Geithner cites all of the problems that were actually created by the central bankers in the first place as the rationale for having greater centralized power. It is interesting Geithner decides to write this piece right after the Bilderberg Meeting where some of the most powerful figures in the world of central banking attended. Not only did Geithner attend, but the attendee list included Ben Bernanke the Federal Reserve Chairman, Henry Paulson the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Jean-Claude Trichet the president of the European Central Bank, Robert Zoellick the president of the World Bank and other high profile bankers. With the who’s who of central banking attending the Bilderberg Meeting, it is highly unlikely that what Geithner is proposing in his Financial Times article was not discussed at the Bilderberg Meeting. It is no secret that the true objective of the Bilderberg Meeting is to steer the world into accepting a global government. By establishing a new global regulatory banking framework, this will inch the planet ever closer to a one world currency operating in a cashless society where microchips are used to facilitate transactions. Make no mistake about it, this system will not be good, because it will be controlled by a bunch of criminal psychopaths like the one’s who attended the 2008 Bilderberg Meeting.
In his Financial Times article, Geithner wrote the following:
The institutions that play a central role in money and funding markets – including the main globally active banks and investment banks – need to operate under a unified framework that provides a stronger form of consolidated supervision, with appropriate requirements for capital and liquidity. To complement this, we need to put in place a stronger framework of oversight authority over the critical parts of the payments system – not just the established payments, clearing and settlements systems, but the infrastructure that underpins the decentralised over-the-counter markets.
Because of its primary responsibility for the stability of the overall financial system, the Federal Reserve should play a central role in such a framework, working closely with supervisors in the US and in other countries. At present the Fed has broad responsibility for financial stability not matched by direct authority and the consequences of the actions we have taken in this crisis make it more important that we close that gap.
Finally, we need a stronger capacity to respond to crises. The Fed has put in place a number of innovative new facilities that have helped ease liquidity strains. We plan to leave these in place until conditions in money and credit markets have improved substantially.
What Geithner is proposing is entirely insane but this is the same tactic that the financial elites used to establish the Federal Reserve back in 1913. They created a crisis and said that the crisis happened because they didn’t have enough power to prevent it. The Panic of 1907 which was used to justify the passage of the Federal Reserve Act was actually caused by JP Morgan and assorted elite financial interests. They did this so they could use the crisis as an excuse to centralize their control and power over the banking system. Through the Federal Reserve, banks were finally consolidated under its umbrella through the Great Depression which was deliberately caused by the tight monetary policies implemented the central bank. Throughout the 1920s money was made plentiful, but following the stock market crash of 1929, the Federal Reserve tightened the money supply which put hundreds of community banks out of business and allowed the central bankers to consolidate control over the nation’s banking system.
Geithner is using the excuse of the current financial crisis that was caused by the Federal Reserve and the world’s assorted central banks in order to again consolidate more power for the banking cartel. It is simply history repeating itself, only this time it is on a much larger scale.
Below is another blurb taken from Geithner’s Financial Times piece:
Since last summer, we have lived through a severe and complex financial crisis. Why was the financial system so fragile? What can be done to make the system more resilient in the future?
The world experienced a financial boom. The boom fed demand for risk. Products were created to meet that demand, including risky, complicated mortgages. Many assets were financed with significant leverage and liquidity risk and many of the world’s largest financial institutions got themselves too exposed to the risk of a global downturn. The amount of long-term illiquid assets financed with short-term liabilities made the system vulnerable to a classic type of run. As concern about risk increased, investors pulled back, triggering a self-reinforcing cycle of forced liquidation of assets, higher margin requirements, increased volatility.
What Geithner doesn’t say in his article is that the current global financial crisis was caused by the Federal Reserve and the world’s various central banks. Alan Greenspan intentionally set interest rates at incredibly low levels after the 9/11 attacks. This encouraged lenders to lend out money using all sorts of creative financing packages. It also encouraged borrowers to borrow money from the lenders because of the cheaper money. These policies lead to the continued devaluation of the U.S. Dollar and the U.S. housing crisis which have been the main drivers behind most of the economic problems we are currently seeing.
Geithner wants us to believe that giving the Federal Reserve and the rest of this private banking system more power is what’s needed to resolve all of the economic problems that were caused by the central bankers themselves. How stupid does Geithner and the rest of the global elite think we are? We have a historical track record of central bankers creating economic problems and bringing in phony solutions to expand their control. We need decentralization and free markets to resolve the economic problems that have been created by these people, not more centralized power.
If all of this wasn’t bad enough, Jim Tucker from the American Free Press speaking on the Alex Jones show today stated that one of his Bilderberg sources revealed to him that the global elite are planning to push forward their cashless society grid agenda with the use of implantable microchips. The implantable microchips would be sold as a way for people to easily move through the militarized control grid that they’ve setup via the bogus terror war. Tucker also mentioned that we would see the media hyping the phony terror war and specifically the phony “white Al-Qaeda terror threat” as a way for them to continue the justification of the enslavement grid. Assuming Tucker’s Bilderberg source is providing accurate information, this agenda that Geithner is pushing in his Financial Times article is right in line with their well documented plans to get rid of cash. The central bankers would need a global regulatory framework for the banking system so they can move closer to a global currency operating in a cashless society.
This is some incredibly scary stuff. Of course there was not one word of the 2008 Bilderberg Meeting in any major U.S. media outlets. The corporate controlled media maintained a blackout on any coverage of this incredibly important yearly meeting of the global elite. It is pathetic when citizen journalists like the ones at InfoWars, PrisonPlanet and RogueGovernment provide the best coverage of what is one of the most important geopolitical meetings of the year. Either way, the commentary from Geithner as well as the information from Tucker’s Bilderberg source seems to indicate that the global elite are getting ready to further centralize the banking system in order to establish their one world cashless society grid. These criminals must be exposed and their system of global corruption and tyranny must be defeated. Let’s tell these bastards that they can take their cashless society grid and their implantable microchips where the sun don’t shine.
Rogue Government
June 9, 2008
Fresh off of the 2008 Bilderberg Meeting, it looks as if New York Federal Reserve president Timothy Geithner is set to push a new agenda in the world of central banking that was likely decided upon at Bilderberg. Geithner yesterday, wrote an article in the Financial Times calling for a global regulatory banking framework. In addition, Geithner called for the Federal Reserve to have an instrumental role in this new framework. Geithner cites all of the problems that were actually created by the central bankers in the first place as the rationale for having greater centralized power. It is interesting Geithner decides to write this piece right after the Bilderberg Meeting where some of the most powerful figures in the world of central banking attended. Not only did Geithner attend, but the attendee list included Ben Bernanke the Federal Reserve Chairman, Henry Paulson the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Jean-Claude Trichet the president of the European Central Bank, Robert Zoellick the president of the World Bank and other high profile bankers. With the who’s who of central banking attending the Bilderberg Meeting, it is highly unlikely that what Geithner is proposing in his Financial Times article was not discussed at the Bilderberg Meeting. It is no secret that the true objective of the Bilderberg Meeting is to steer the world into accepting a global government. By establishing a new global regulatory banking framework, this will inch the planet ever closer to a one world currency operating in a cashless society where microchips are used to facilitate transactions. Make no mistake about it, this system will not be good, because it will be controlled by a bunch of criminal psychopaths like the one’s who attended the 2008 Bilderberg Meeting.
In his Financial Times article, Geithner wrote the following:
The institutions that play a central role in money and funding markets – including the main globally active banks and investment banks – need to operate under a unified framework that provides a stronger form of consolidated supervision, with appropriate requirements for capital and liquidity. To complement this, we need to put in place a stronger framework of oversight authority over the critical parts of the payments system – not just the established payments, clearing and settlements systems, but the infrastructure that underpins the decentralised over-the-counter markets.
Because of its primary responsibility for the stability of the overall financial system, the Federal Reserve should play a central role in such a framework, working closely with supervisors in the US and in other countries. At present the Fed has broad responsibility for financial stability not matched by direct authority and the consequences of the actions we have taken in this crisis make it more important that we close that gap.
Finally, we need a stronger capacity to respond to crises. The Fed has put in place a number of innovative new facilities that have helped ease liquidity strains. We plan to leave these in place until conditions in money and credit markets have improved substantially.
What Geithner is proposing is entirely insane but this is the same tactic that the financial elites used to establish the Federal Reserve back in 1913. They created a crisis and said that the crisis happened because they didn’t have enough power to prevent it. The Panic of 1907 which was used to justify the passage of the Federal Reserve Act was actually caused by JP Morgan and assorted elite financial interests. They did this so they could use the crisis as an excuse to centralize their control and power over the banking system. Through the Federal Reserve, banks were finally consolidated under its umbrella through the Great Depression which was deliberately caused by the tight monetary policies implemented the central bank. Throughout the 1920s money was made plentiful, but following the stock market crash of 1929, the Federal Reserve tightened the money supply which put hundreds of community banks out of business and allowed the central bankers to consolidate control over the nation’s banking system.
Geithner is using the excuse of the current financial crisis that was caused by the Federal Reserve and the world’s assorted central banks in order to again consolidate more power for the banking cartel. It is simply history repeating itself, only this time it is on a much larger scale.
Below is another blurb taken from Geithner’s Financial Times piece:
Since last summer, we have lived through a severe and complex financial crisis. Why was the financial system so fragile? What can be done to make the system more resilient in the future?
The world experienced a financial boom. The boom fed demand for risk. Products were created to meet that demand, including risky, complicated mortgages. Many assets were financed with significant leverage and liquidity risk and many of the world’s largest financial institutions got themselves too exposed to the risk of a global downturn. The amount of long-term illiquid assets financed with short-term liabilities made the system vulnerable to a classic type of run. As concern about risk increased, investors pulled back, triggering a self-reinforcing cycle of forced liquidation of assets, higher margin requirements, increased volatility.
What Geithner doesn’t say in his article is that the current global financial crisis was caused by the Federal Reserve and the world’s various central banks. Alan Greenspan intentionally set interest rates at incredibly low levels after the 9/11 attacks. This encouraged lenders to lend out money using all sorts of creative financing packages. It also encouraged borrowers to borrow money from the lenders because of the cheaper money. These policies lead to the continued devaluation of the U.S. Dollar and the U.S. housing crisis which have been the main drivers behind most of the economic problems we are currently seeing.
Geithner wants us to believe that giving the Federal Reserve and the rest of this private banking system more power is what’s needed to resolve all of the economic problems that were caused by the central bankers themselves. How stupid does Geithner and the rest of the global elite think we are? We have a historical track record of central bankers creating economic problems and bringing in phony solutions to expand their control. We need decentralization and free markets to resolve the economic problems that have been created by these people, not more centralized power.
If all of this wasn’t bad enough, Jim Tucker from the American Free Press speaking on the Alex Jones show today stated that one of his Bilderberg sources revealed to him that the global elite are planning to push forward their cashless society grid agenda with the use of implantable microchips. The implantable microchips would be sold as a way for people to easily move through the militarized control grid that they’ve setup via the bogus terror war. Tucker also mentioned that we would see the media hyping the phony terror war and specifically the phony “white Al-Qaeda terror threat” as a way for them to continue the justification of the enslavement grid. Assuming Tucker’s Bilderberg source is providing accurate information, this agenda that Geithner is pushing in his Financial Times article is right in line with their well documented plans to get rid of cash. The central bankers would need a global regulatory framework for the banking system so they can move closer to a global currency operating in a cashless society.
This is some incredibly scary stuff. Of course there was not one word of the 2008 Bilderberg Meeting in any major U.S. media outlets. The corporate controlled media maintained a blackout on any coverage of this incredibly important yearly meeting of the global elite. It is pathetic when citizen journalists like the ones at InfoWars, PrisonPlanet and RogueGovernment provide the best coverage of what is one of the most important geopolitical meetings of the year. Either way, the commentary from Geithner as well as the information from Tucker’s Bilderberg source seems to indicate that the global elite are getting ready to further centralize the banking system in order to establish their one world cashless society grid. These criminals must be exposed and their system of global corruption and tyranny must be defeated. Let’s tell these bastards that they can take their cashless society grid and their implantable microchips where the sun don’t shine.
Jack Shafer’s Bilderberg Article: A Response
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
June 10, 2008
Re: http://www.slate.com/id/2193220/pagenum/all/#page_start
Jack, I work for Alex Jones. Please allow me to state for the record I believe your Bilderberg article is bunk. Of course the corporate media, on occasion, reports the comings and goings and when they can — dare I say, when they are permitted — the grist of Bilderberg meetings. You miss the point. It is not so much that there is a partial blackout surrounding these events, but rather what is discussed at the meetings is rarely if ever reported. Adam Smith wrote back in the day, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public.” Same applies to the Bilderbergers. But then I imagine you likely consider this in the province of tinfoil hat stuff, especially considering who writes your paycheck.
May I suggest you plunk an addendum on your article after you read Daniel Estulin’s The True Story of the Bilderberg Group? After reading this book, you may actually feel a tinge of embarrassment over the naivety of your article. In this book, Mr. Estulin names plenty of corporate media people who attend this annual confab. No wonder so few corporate media outlets report seriously on Bilderberg, including Slate, owned by the Washington Post. But then the naivety may be on my side, as corporate media writers have a tendency not to experience embarrassment, let alone shame. But then maybe I am a bit too judgmental.
Not sure if you know, but your boss, Donald E. Graham, was on the Bilderberg participation list this year. Now that fact sheds a bit of light on your article. As well, a representative of Microsoft, the multinational corporation that created Slate, was at the meeting. No sense biting that hand that feeds, I suppose.
Finally, I find your article insulting due to the fact Alex Jones and his media team were harassed and threatened while attempting to cover the Bilderberg confab in Chantilly. His wife received a threatening telephone call. I wonder how many effete Washington Post writers would have put up with that for more than five minutes, let alone three days. Dare I say none?
Kurt Nimmo
—
Jack Shafer’s response
Kurt,
Thanks for your note.
Donald Graham
Donald E. Graham, CEO of the Washington Post Company. Mr. Graham violated the Logan Act this past week.
I included Don Graham’s name of those have attended Bilderberg in my article and am aware that many journalists have attended the conference. Sorry to hear that the Jones team was harassed and his wife received a threatening phone call. That is inexcusable.
All that said, what evidence do we have that the Bilderberg conference is nefarious? Do you take the Logan Act accusations seriously?
Regards,
Jack
—
Jack, I do take the Logan Act violations seriously. Logan specifically addresses the Constitution, Article. II, Section 2, that states the President “shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.” The Logan Act expands on this by stating that any citizen of the United States “who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”
All Americans in attendance this past week at the Bilderberg conference in Chantilly, Virginia, are in violation of the Logan Act.
I’d have to say those who believe kings, queens, princes, chancellors, prime ministers, presidents, ambassadors, secretaries of state, Wall Street investors, international bankers, news media executives, CEOs of transnational corporations, et al, get together annually to simply and idly engage in informal discussion without seeking to “reach a consensus on the big issues,” as Bilderberg founder and former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey once put it, are naive in extremis. Of course the members of Bilderberg wish to reach a consensus. And what is that consensus? Nothing less than the establishment of a world government.
Again, may I suggest you read Daniel Estulin’s The True Story of the Bilderberg Club? This book was named Non-fiction Book of the Year in Canada by the The Kingston Eye Opener and became an international bestseller. It details who the Bilderbergers are and their global agenda.
Hotel
The late Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands, a former member of the Nazi SS and founder of the Bilderberg.
Bilderberg founder Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands, a former member of the Nazi SS, has said: “It is difficult to re-educate people who have been brought up on nationalism to the idea of relinquishing part of their sovereignty to a supranational body.” Bernhard’s daughter, Queen Beatrix, now carries this message and mission to Bilderberg meetings.
Denis Healey, mentioned above, has said: “World events do not occur by accident. They are made to happen, whether it is to do with national issues or commerce; and most of them are staged and managed by those who hold the purse strings.”
David Rockefeller, a consistent member of the Bilderberg steering committee and unabashed globalist, wrote in his memoir: “Some even believe we are a part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty and I am proud of it.” Is it possible, when kings, sheiks and presidents visit Rockefeller at his vast family estate at Pocantico, they are engaged in idle chatter? Or are they discussing Rockefeller’s lifelong passion, the establishment of a world government?
On March 5, 2005, during a Bilderberg meeting at the isolated Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Ueberfahrt in Rottach-Egern in Germany, Rockefeller stated: “It would have been quite impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries.”
British economist Will Hutton was spot on when he declared Bilderberg to be “the backdrop against which policy is made worldwide” and these policies are expected to be later implemented at G-8 meetings, and those of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Asia Times journalist Pepe Escobar has noted: “Whenever corporate media approaches Bilderberg it mirrors the silence of the lambs.” It is a deafening silence over at the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune, and yes the Washington Post, your article notwithstanding.
In fact, I am a bit surprised Slate, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Washington Post, posted your article. But then the corporate media is boxed in a corner now that the Bilderberg confabs increasingly draw attention, never mind the former silence of corporate media lambs.
Finally, it is interesting your article, essentially a hit piece directed against Bilderberg critics, appeared at approximately the same time the Bilderberg press release and participant list appeared. Publishing the press release and the list is a first for the Bilderbergers. It is a defensive move, obviously designed to silence, however feebly, the critics. It will not work, however.
The official participant list reveals no shortage of Americans, from Fed boss Ben Bernanke to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. May I suggest this list be used to round up those in violation of the Logan Act? Of course, that would also include your boss, Donald E Graham, who has no right to discuss the future of U.S. sovereignty in private.
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
June 10, 2008
Re: http://www.slate.com/id/2193220/pagenum/all/#page_start
Jack, I work for Alex Jones. Please allow me to state for the record I believe your Bilderberg article is bunk. Of course the corporate media, on occasion, reports the comings and goings and when they can — dare I say, when they are permitted — the grist of Bilderberg meetings. You miss the point. It is not so much that there is a partial blackout surrounding these events, but rather what is discussed at the meetings is rarely if ever reported. Adam Smith wrote back in the day, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public.” Same applies to the Bilderbergers. But then I imagine you likely consider this in the province of tinfoil hat stuff, especially considering who writes your paycheck.
May I suggest you plunk an addendum on your article after you read Daniel Estulin’s The True Story of the Bilderberg Group? After reading this book, you may actually feel a tinge of embarrassment over the naivety of your article. In this book, Mr. Estulin names plenty of corporate media people who attend this annual confab. No wonder so few corporate media outlets report seriously on Bilderberg, including Slate, owned by the Washington Post. But then the naivety may be on my side, as corporate media writers have a tendency not to experience embarrassment, let alone shame. But then maybe I am a bit too judgmental.
Not sure if you know, but your boss, Donald E. Graham, was on the Bilderberg participation list this year. Now that fact sheds a bit of light on your article. As well, a representative of Microsoft, the multinational corporation that created Slate, was at the meeting. No sense biting that hand that feeds, I suppose.
Finally, I find your article insulting due to the fact Alex Jones and his media team were harassed and threatened while attempting to cover the Bilderberg confab in Chantilly. His wife received a threatening telephone call. I wonder how many effete Washington Post writers would have put up with that for more than five minutes, let alone three days. Dare I say none?
Kurt Nimmo
—
Jack Shafer’s response
Kurt,
Thanks for your note.
Donald Graham
Donald E. Graham, CEO of the Washington Post Company. Mr. Graham violated the Logan Act this past week.
I included Don Graham’s name of those have attended Bilderberg in my article and am aware that many journalists have attended the conference. Sorry to hear that the Jones team was harassed and his wife received a threatening phone call. That is inexcusable.
All that said, what evidence do we have that the Bilderberg conference is nefarious? Do you take the Logan Act accusations seriously?
Regards,
Jack
—
Jack, I do take the Logan Act violations seriously. Logan specifically addresses the Constitution, Article. II, Section 2, that states the President “shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.” The Logan Act expands on this by stating that any citizen of the United States “who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”
All Americans in attendance this past week at the Bilderberg conference in Chantilly, Virginia, are in violation of the Logan Act.
I’d have to say those who believe kings, queens, princes, chancellors, prime ministers, presidents, ambassadors, secretaries of state, Wall Street investors, international bankers, news media executives, CEOs of transnational corporations, et al, get together annually to simply and idly engage in informal discussion without seeking to “reach a consensus on the big issues,” as Bilderberg founder and former British Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey once put it, are naive in extremis. Of course the members of Bilderberg wish to reach a consensus. And what is that consensus? Nothing less than the establishment of a world government.
Again, may I suggest you read Daniel Estulin’s The True Story of the Bilderberg Club? This book was named Non-fiction Book of the Year in Canada by the The Kingston Eye Opener and became an international bestseller. It details who the Bilderbergers are and their global agenda.
Hotel
The late Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands, a former member of the Nazi SS and founder of the Bilderberg.
Bilderberg founder Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands, a former member of the Nazi SS, has said: “It is difficult to re-educate people who have been brought up on nationalism to the idea of relinquishing part of their sovereignty to a supranational body.” Bernhard’s daughter, Queen Beatrix, now carries this message and mission to Bilderberg meetings.
Denis Healey, mentioned above, has said: “World events do not occur by accident. They are made to happen, whether it is to do with national issues or commerce; and most of them are staged and managed by those who hold the purse strings.”
David Rockefeller, a consistent member of the Bilderberg steering committee and unabashed globalist, wrote in his memoir: “Some even believe we are a part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure — one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty and I am proud of it.” Is it possible, when kings, sheiks and presidents visit Rockefeller at his vast family estate at Pocantico, they are engaged in idle chatter? Or are they discussing Rockefeller’s lifelong passion, the establishment of a world government?
On March 5, 2005, during a Bilderberg meeting at the isolated Dorint Sofitel Seehotel Ueberfahrt in Rottach-Egern in Germany, Rockefeller stated: “It would have been quite impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national autodetermination practiced in past centuries.”
British economist Will Hutton was spot on when he declared Bilderberg to be “the backdrop against which policy is made worldwide” and these policies are expected to be later implemented at G-8 meetings, and those of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Asia Times journalist Pepe Escobar has noted: “Whenever corporate media approaches Bilderberg it mirrors the silence of the lambs.” It is a deafening silence over at the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, the Chicago Tribune, and yes the Washington Post, your article notwithstanding.
In fact, I am a bit surprised Slate, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Washington Post, posted your article. But then the corporate media is boxed in a corner now that the Bilderberg confabs increasingly draw attention, never mind the former silence of corporate media lambs.
Finally, it is interesting your article, essentially a hit piece directed against Bilderberg critics, appeared at approximately the same time the Bilderberg press release and participant list appeared. Publishing the press release and the list is a first for the Bilderbergers. It is a defensive move, obviously designed to silence, however feebly, the critics. It will not work, however.
The official participant list reveals no shortage of Americans, from Fed boss Ben Bernanke to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. May I suggest this list be used to round up those in violation of the Logan Act? Of course, that would also include your boss, Donald E Graham, who has no right to discuss the future of U.S. sovereignty in private.
Kurt Nimmo
Mainstream Media Blackout on Bilderberg Meeting
By Du Won Kang
Epoch Times Washington, D.C. Staff
Jul 10, 2008
ALEX JONES: Syndicate radio talk show host and documentary film maker, Alex Jones, visits Chantilly, Virginia to document the events around the secretive Buiderberg Meeting and to protest against them. Photo taken on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
ALEX JONES: Syndicate radio talk show host and documentary film maker, Alex Jones, visits Chantilly, Virginia to document the events around the secretive Buiderberg Meeting and to protest against them. Photo taken on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
CHANTILLY, VA—While over a hundred of the most influential people in the world are believed to gather at the Westfields Marriott hotel in Chantilly, Virginia, for several days (June 5–8) all the major media, except for the Epoch Times, are apparently silent about it. The event is an annual gathering of the Bilderberg Group.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, Henry Kissinger, Vernon Jordan, and others were seen by witnesses and some of them were confirmed by others just outside of the hotel. Photos and videotapes were taken of them. (See the websites operated by Alex Jones at the bottom of this report that have posted some of the videos and photos.)
Alex Jones, syndicated radio talk show host and documentary film maker, says that he invited the Washington Post, the Fairfax Times, and asked 16 million listeners of the Coast to Coast AM radio show to call on the press to cover the event. But no major media showed.
"This is a criminal group. They're involved in very bad things," said Alex Jones, referring to the Bilderberg Group.
He said, "They violate the Logan Act. The federal law says that they can't come here and discuss policy with private interest in secret because we have the right to know. The only place they can discuss things in secret is in national security meetings, in the Congress, or in the Capitol, and that's amongst themselves ... This is illegal what they're doing … That's why we have moles inside reporting to us what's happened."
'WE ARE CHANGE': Luke Rudkowski (L) and John Paul Harkins (R) are members of WeAreChange.org who visited Chantilly, Virginia to protest against the Bilderberg Group. Photo taken on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
'WE ARE CHANGE': Luke Rudkowski (L) and John Paul Harkins (R) are members of WeAreChange.org who visited Chantilly, Virginia to protest against the Bilderberg Group. Photo taken on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
He continued, "This isn't about the federal government. This is about private interest meeting with members of the government, outside of the government, violating federal law, and the Logan Act. We are here because this is a criminal summit … These are globalists. They want one world government. They want to reduce liberty."
Alex Jones is also the producer of Endgames: Blueprint for Global Enslavement.
When asked about evidence for Bilderberg Group's influence over U.S. Presidential candidates, he said, "From our sources, they decide who they like best and they put their weight behind him. These people own the media. They own the big corporations. They've got trillions of dollars together. And when you get the nod from the big boys, you tend to get the support ... Do they have total control over society? No. Do they have total control over the candidates? No. But they're steering it. They're massively influencing it."
The Washington Post published an article on June 9 with headline, "Obama Adviser Faces Scrutiny Over Mortgage Deals." It reports that James A. Johnson, former Fannie Mae CEO, is leading Sen. Barack Obama's vice-presidential search process, and that Johnson is a member of the American Friends of Bilderberg.
Jim Tucker, co-founder of American Free Press (AFP), has been investigating the Bilderberg Group for over a quarter of a century. His research on the Bilderberg Group was highly praised by participants of the protests at Chantilly. He is the author of Jim Tucker's Bilderberg Diary (2005).
GROUP POSE: People who came to Chantilly, Virginia to protest against the secret meeting of the Bilderberg Group pose for a photo on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
GROUP POSE: People who came to Chantilly, Virginia to protest against the secret meeting of the Bilderberg Group pose for a photo on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
Jon Ronson, author of Them, described the Bilderberg Group for CNN several years ago:
"Many members of the Bilderberg see themselves in much the same way as the conspiracy theorists see them: as shadowy figures out to influence world events. They see themselves as wise globalist centrists. Many of the anti-Bilderberg conspiracists see themselves as twigs in a tidal wave of globalization; they see themselves as nationalists. World government is what Bilderberg are into—the idea of a global community and a 'one world order.'
"The Bilderberg Group sees themselves as head hunters. They'll get an up and coming politician who they think may be President or Prime Minister one day and as globalist and industrialist leaders, they try to influence them. Bilderberg secrecy hulks back to Henry Kissenger who loves the idea of working in the shadows. The secrecy gives rise to conspiracy theories."
The CNN interview can be seen on You Tube: CNN interview with author Jon Ronson.
Free Press International offers some interesting resources on the Bilderberg Group.
These websites, owned and run by Alex Jones, show photos and videos of the Chantilly event:
http://infowars.net
http://prisonplanet.com
There appears to be a wide range of opinions about the Bilderberg Group. This report represents only the tip of the iceberg.
Epoch Times Washington, D.C. Staff
Jul 10, 2008
ALEX JONES: Syndicate radio talk show host and documentary film maker, Alex Jones, visits Chantilly, Virginia to document the events around the secretive Buiderberg Meeting and to protest against them. Photo taken on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
ALEX JONES: Syndicate radio talk show host and documentary film maker, Alex Jones, visits Chantilly, Virginia to document the events around the secretive Buiderberg Meeting and to protest against them. Photo taken on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
CHANTILLY, VA—While over a hundred of the most influential people in the world are believed to gather at the Westfields Marriott hotel in Chantilly, Virginia, for several days (June 5–8) all the major media, except for the Epoch Times, are apparently silent about it. The event is an annual gathering of the Bilderberg Group.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, Henry Kissinger, Vernon Jordan, and others were seen by witnesses and some of them were confirmed by others just outside of the hotel. Photos and videotapes were taken of them. (See the websites operated by Alex Jones at the bottom of this report that have posted some of the videos and photos.)
Alex Jones, syndicated radio talk show host and documentary film maker, says that he invited the Washington Post, the Fairfax Times, and asked 16 million listeners of the Coast to Coast AM radio show to call on the press to cover the event. But no major media showed.
"This is a criminal group. They're involved in very bad things," said Alex Jones, referring to the Bilderberg Group.
He said, "They violate the Logan Act. The federal law says that they can't come here and discuss policy with private interest in secret because we have the right to know. The only place they can discuss things in secret is in national security meetings, in the Congress, or in the Capitol, and that's amongst themselves ... This is illegal what they're doing … That's why we have moles inside reporting to us what's happened."
'WE ARE CHANGE': Luke Rudkowski (L) and John Paul Harkins (R) are members of WeAreChange.org who visited Chantilly, Virginia to protest against the Bilderberg Group. Photo taken on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
'WE ARE CHANGE': Luke Rudkowski (L) and John Paul Harkins (R) are members of WeAreChange.org who visited Chantilly, Virginia to protest against the Bilderberg Group. Photo taken on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
He continued, "This isn't about the federal government. This is about private interest meeting with members of the government, outside of the government, violating federal law, and the Logan Act. We are here because this is a criminal summit … These are globalists. They want one world government. They want to reduce liberty."
Alex Jones is also the producer of Endgames: Blueprint for Global Enslavement.
When asked about evidence for Bilderberg Group's influence over U.S. Presidential candidates, he said, "From our sources, they decide who they like best and they put their weight behind him. These people own the media. They own the big corporations. They've got trillions of dollars together. And when you get the nod from the big boys, you tend to get the support ... Do they have total control over society? No. Do they have total control over the candidates? No. But they're steering it. They're massively influencing it."
The Washington Post published an article on June 9 with headline, "Obama Adviser Faces Scrutiny Over Mortgage Deals." It reports that James A. Johnson, former Fannie Mae CEO, is leading Sen. Barack Obama's vice-presidential search process, and that Johnson is a member of the American Friends of Bilderberg.
Jim Tucker, co-founder of American Free Press (AFP), has been investigating the Bilderberg Group for over a quarter of a century. His research on the Bilderberg Group was highly praised by participants of the protests at Chantilly. He is the author of Jim Tucker's Bilderberg Diary (2005).
GROUP POSE: People who came to Chantilly, Virginia to protest against the secret meeting of the Bilderberg Group pose for a photo on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
GROUP POSE: People who came to Chantilly, Virginia to protest against the secret meeting of the Bilderberg Group pose for a photo on Sunday, June 8. (Du Won Kang/The Epoch Times)
Jon Ronson, author of Them, described the Bilderberg Group for CNN several years ago:
"Many members of the Bilderberg see themselves in much the same way as the conspiracy theorists see them: as shadowy figures out to influence world events. They see themselves as wise globalist centrists. Many of the anti-Bilderberg conspiracists see themselves as twigs in a tidal wave of globalization; they see themselves as nationalists. World government is what Bilderberg are into—the idea of a global community and a 'one world order.'
"The Bilderberg Group sees themselves as head hunters. They'll get an up and coming politician who they think may be President or Prime Minister one day and as globalist and industrialist leaders, they try to influence them. Bilderberg secrecy hulks back to Henry Kissenger who loves the idea of working in the shadows. The secrecy gives rise to conspiracy theories."
The CNN interview can be seen on You Tube: CNN interview with author Jon Ronson.
Free Press International offers some interesting resources on the Bilderberg Group.
These websites, owned and run by Alex Jones, show photos and videos of the Chantilly event:
http://infowars.net
http://prisonplanet.com
There appears to be a wide range of opinions about the Bilderberg Group. This report represents only the tip of the iceberg.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Obama's Office Won't Deny Senator Attended Bilderberg
Tight security around Westfields Marriott suggests Illinois Senator and Hillary Clinton met at elite confab
Senator Barack Obama's office has refused to deny that the Democratic nominee attended Bilderberg last night following reports that he and Hillary Clinton were present at "an event in Northern Virginia."
As we reported earlier today, Obama's press entourage were not informed of his secret meeting with Hillary Clinton in Northern Virginia until they were literally locked inside a plane that was taxiing down the runway on its way to Chicago.
Reporters were duped into believing that they were getting on a plane back to the campaign headquarters in Chicago with the presumptive nominee, while in reality Obama's motorcade instead sped off in secrecy to Northern Virginia, which is also the scene of this week's Bilderberg conference. The plane was stationed at Dulles International, which is less than a 20 minute drive from Chantilly Virginia as is shown below.
Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker called Obama's office today to ask if he had attended Bilderberg. A campaign spokeswoman refused to discuss the matter but would not deny that Obama had attended Bilderberg.
According to Alex Jones, security is so tight around Bilderberg that it does befit the visit of a potential future President.
Armored cars, men in suits hanging out of vehicles with guns and what looked like Marines have all been spotted in the vicinity of the Westfields Marriott.
Despite the controversy of Obama and Hillary's secret meeting and its obvious link to the ongoing Bilderberg conference, not one U.S. corporate media outlet, or any mainstream media outlet, has reported on over a hundred of the world's most powerful people meeting in secret on U.S. soil.
There was one reporter from the Fairfax Times who showed up today but they were not completely confident that any such report would make it to print.
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/june2008/060608_wont_deny.htm
Senator Barack Obama's office has refused to deny that the Democratic nominee attended Bilderberg last night following reports that he and Hillary Clinton were present at "an event in Northern Virginia."
As we reported earlier today, Obama's press entourage were not informed of his secret meeting with Hillary Clinton in Northern Virginia until they were literally locked inside a plane that was taxiing down the runway on its way to Chicago.
Reporters were duped into believing that they were getting on a plane back to the campaign headquarters in Chicago with the presumptive nominee, while in reality Obama's motorcade instead sped off in secrecy to Northern Virginia, which is also the scene of this week's Bilderberg conference. The plane was stationed at Dulles International, which is less than a 20 minute drive from Chantilly Virginia as is shown below.
Bilderberg sleuth Jim Tucker called Obama's office today to ask if he had attended Bilderberg. A campaign spokeswoman refused to discuss the matter but would not deny that Obama had attended Bilderberg.
According to Alex Jones, security is so tight around Bilderberg that it does befit the visit of a potential future President.
Armored cars, men in suits hanging out of vehicles with guns and what looked like Marines have all been spotted in the vicinity of the Westfields Marriott.
Despite the controversy of Obama and Hillary's secret meeting and its obvious link to the ongoing Bilderberg conference, not one U.S. corporate media outlet, or any mainstream media outlet, has reported on over a hundred of the world's most powerful people meeting in secret on U.S. soil.
There was one reporter from the Fairfax Times who showed up today but they were not completely confident that any such report would make it to print.
http://prisonplanet.com/articles/june2008/060608_wont_deny.htm
GLOBAL AFFAIRS
They Rule the World
A shadowy organization is in power, and it's made up of the very, very rich.
By Reviewed by Anne-Marie Slaughter
Sunday, May 25, 2008; Page BW02
SUPERCLASS
The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making
By David Rothkopf
Farrar Straus and Giroux. 376 pp. $26
Go to www.theyrule.net. A white page appears with a deliberately shadowy image of a boardroom table and chairs. Sentences materialize: "They sit on the boards of the largest companies in America." "Many sit on government committees." "They make decisions that affect our lives." Finally, "They rule." The site allows visitors to trace the connections between individuals who serve on the boards of top corporations, universities, think thanks, foundations and other elite institutions. Created by the presumably pseudonymous Josh On, "They Rule" can be dismissed as classic conspiracy theory. Or it can be viewed, along with David Rothkopf's Superclass, as a map of how the world really works.
In Superclass, Rothkopf, a former managing director of Kissinger Associates and an international trade official in the Clinton Administration, has identified roughly 6,000 individuals who have "the ability to regularly influence the lives of millions of people in multiple countries worldwide." They are the "superclass" of the 21st century, spreading across borders in an ever thickening web, with a growing allegiance, Rothkopf argues, to each other rather than to any particular nation.
Rothkopf's archetypal member of the superclass is Blackstone Group executive Stephen Schwarzman, who is not only fabulously wealthy, but also chairman of the Kennedy Center, a board member of the New York Public Library, the New York City Ballet, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the New York City Partnership. These boards, along with the over 100 businesses Blackstone has invested in, the other business councils and advisory boards he sits on, and his Yale and Harvard education, mean that Schwarzman is only one or two affiliations away from any center of power in the world. Rothkopf actually traces the "daisy chain" of Schwarzman's connections through his board memberships -- linking him to Ratan Tata, one of India's richest men, former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo and many others. It is these links that create access that translates to influence and determines how the levers of power are pulled.
ad_icon
Fame alone doesn't get you into the global power elite: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are out while Angelina Jolie and Bono are in. High office is generally enough for politicians and even their spouses, but membership in the superclass can be fleeting -- Mikhail Gorbachev and Cherie Blair are now out, while Henry Kissinger and Bill Clinton are still in. Rothkopf harps on the Pareto principle of distribution, or the "80/20 rule," whereby 20 percent of the causes of anything are responsible for 80 percent of the consequences. That means 20 percent of the money-makers make 80 percent of the money and 20 percent of the politicians make 80 percent of the important decisions. That 20 percent belongs to the superclass.
On closer inspection, however, Rothkopf has no actual methodology for determining who is in and who is out. Each chapter identifies individuals who are said to count in a field, conclusions backed up by trendspotting and anecdotes about Rothkopf's encounters at Davos and New York dinner parties that make the reader feel vaguely voyeuristic. When Rothkopf ventures away from his core expertise in politics and finance, and into such subjects as asymmetrical warfare, mega-churches and freemasonry, the pastiche-like quality of his research becomes evident.
Still, Superclass is often thought-provoking. For one thing, it is as much about who is not part of the superclass as who is. As I read Rothkopf's chronicles of elite gatherings -- Davos, Bilderberg, the Bohemian Grove (all male), Fathers and Sons (all male) -- I was repeatedly struck by the near absence of women. Fortune magazine's annual Most Powerful Women Summit, the only elite gathering I know of that is restricted to women, didn't even rate a mention. And indeed, when Rothkopf summarizes "how to become a member of the superclass," his first rule is "be born a man." Only 6 percent of the superclass is female.
Superclass is written in part as a consciousness-raising exercise for members of the superclass themselves. Rothkopf worries that "the world they are making" is deeply unequal and ultimately unstable. He hopes that the current global elite will use their power to do more than egg each other on to high-profile philanthropy. Elites in radically unequal countries such as Chile, for instance, might decide to open their cozy circles of power to allow the emergence of a genuine middle class. New York bankers might realize that they can no longer peddle loans to developing countries in good times but then pressure the U.S. Treasury and the International Monetary Fund to bail out those same governments when they suddenly default on their debts (ensuring, of course, that the bankers get paid). The agribusinesses that reap billions from domestic subsidies in developed countries might consider the longer-term value of trade rather than aid for countries at the bottom of the global food chain.
Perhaps. But it's likely to take more than exhortation. In the words of former Navy Secretary John Lehman, "Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat." Why would the superclass want to give it up?·
Anne-Marie Slaughter is dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton and author of "The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052203380.html
They Rule the World
A shadowy organization is in power, and it's made up of the very, very rich.
By Reviewed by Anne-Marie Slaughter
Sunday, May 25, 2008; Page BW02
SUPERCLASS
The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making
By David Rothkopf
Farrar Straus and Giroux. 376 pp. $26
Go to www.theyrule.net. A white page appears with a deliberately shadowy image of a boardroom table and chairs. Sentences materialize: "They sit on the boards of the largest companies in America." "Many sit on government committees." "They make decisions that affect our lives." Finally, "They rule." The site allows visitors to trace the connections between individuals who serve on the boards of top corporations, universities, think thanks, foundations and other elite institutions. Created by the presumably pseudonymous Josh On, "They Rule" can be dismissed as classic conspiracy theory. Or it can be viewed, along with David Rothkopf's Superclass, as a map of how the world really works.
In Superclass, Rothkopf, a former managing director of Kissinger Associates and an international trade official in the Clinton Administration, has identified roughly 6,000 individuals who have "the ability to regularly influence the lives of millions of people in multiple countries worldwide." They are the "superclass" of the 21st century, spreading across borders in an ever thickening web, with a growing allegiance, Rothkopf argues, to each other rather than to any particular nation.
Rothkopf's archetypal member of the superclass is Blackstone Group executive Stephen Schwarzman, who is not only fabulously wealthy, but also chairman of the Kennedy Center, a board member of the New York Public Library, the New York City Ballet, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the New York City Partnership. These boards, along with the over 100 businesses Blackstone has invested in, the other business councils and advisory boards he sits on, and his Yale and Harvard education, mean that Schwarzman is only one or two affiliations away from any center of power in the world. Rothkopf actually traces the "daisy chain" of Schwarzman's connections through his board memberships -- linking him to Ratan Tata, one of India's richest men, former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo and many others. It is these links that create access that translates to influence and determines how the levers of power are pulled.
ad_icon
Fame alone doesn't get you into the global power elite: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are out while Angelina Jolie and Bono are in. High office is generally enough for politicians and even their spouses, but membership in the superclass can be fleeting -- Mikhail Gorbachev and Cherie Blair are now out, while Henry Kissinger and Bill Clinton are still in. Rothkopf harps on the Pareto principle of distribution, or the "80/20 rule," whereby 20 percent of the causes of anything are responsible for 80 percent of the consequences. That means 20 percent of the money-makers make 80 percent of the money and 20 percent of the politicians make 80 percent of the important decisions. That 20 percent belongs to the superclass.
On closer inspection, however, Rothkopf has no actual methodology for determining who is in and who is out. Each chapter identifies individuals who are said to count in a field, conclusions backed up by trendspotting and anecdotes about Rothkopf's encounters at Davos and New York dinner parties that make the reader feel vaguely voyeuristic. When Rothkopf ventures away from his core expertise in politics and finance, and into such subjects as asymmetrical warfare, mega-churches and freemasonry, the pastiche-like quality of his research becomes evident.
Still, Superclass is often thought-provoking. For one thing, it is as much about who is not part of the superclass as who is. As I read Rothkopf's chronicles of elite gatherings -- Davos, Bilderberg, the Bohemian Grove (all male), Fathers and Sons (all male) -- I was repeatedly struck by the near absence of women. Fortune magazine's annual Most Powerful Women Summit, the only elite gathering I know of that is restricted to women, didn't even rate a mention. And indeed, when Rothkopf summarizes "how to become a member of the superclass," his first rule is "be born a man." Only 6 percent of the superclass is female.
Superclass is written in part as a consciousness-raising exercise for members of the superclass themselves. Rothkopf worries that "the world they are making" is deeply unequal and ultimately unstable. He hopes that the current global elite will use their power to do more than egg each other on to high-profile philanthropy. Elites in radically unequal countries such as Chile, for instance, might decide to open their cozy circles of power to allow the emergence of a genuine middle class. New York bankers might realize that they can no longer peddle loans to developing countries in good times but then pressure the U.S. Treasury and the International Monetary Fund to bail out those same governments when they suddenly default on their debts (ensuring, of course, that the bankers get paid). The agribusinesses that reap billions from domestic subsidies in developed countries might consider the longer-term value of trade rather than aid for countries at the bottom of the global food chain.
Perhaps. But it's likely to take more than exhortation. In the words of former Navy Secretary John Lehman, "Power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat." Why would the superclass want to give it up?·
Anne-Marie Slaughter is dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton and author of "The Idea That Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/22/AR2008052203380.html
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