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Bilderberg 2010: How political and business leaders are going to save the world – in secret

A huge agenda of global issues was crammed into four days of 'secret' meetings by a mysterious group of power brokers. But who elected them and why are we paying for them?

In the spirit of secret cloaks being ripped away, it seems reasonable to ask: does the secretive "private meeting" of Bilderberg, which takes "one-third" of its participants "from government and politics", have any effect at all on our domestic and international policies? Does this fantastically media-shy group that has our brand new lord chancellor, Kenneth Clarke QC MP, on its inner steering committee, does this four-day conference, with its agenda and its lanyards and its side-meeting seminar rooms, does it serve to influence the way our country is run? Or is that a bit like asking: Does Amy Winehouse like a drink?

Explicitly top of Bilderberg's agenda this year is "financial reform". Present at this year's conference: Paul Volcker, chairman of Obama's economic recovery advisory board. Just after Bilderberg, Obama warns of massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters. Also present was Portugal's finance minster, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos. Portugal has just voted through an emergency package of tax hikes and public spending cuts. Was any of this discussed in the financial reform sessions? If not, what was discussed?

If Bilderberg doesn't influence public policy, then why is it four days long, and why does it spend €10m protecting the sanctity of its discussions? Why hold it at all? What a waste of busy people's time! And if it does influence public policy, then by what twisted logic is public money being spent keeping it secret? And why, in this publicly protected secrecy, should Klaus Kleinfeld (disgraced former CEO of Siemens AG) and Dieter Zetsche (the chairman of Mercedes-Benz), and James A Johnson (board member of Goldman Sachs, member of the trilateral commission, member of the Council on Foreign Relations), have the ear of our politicians?

Cameron wants us to have the answers to these questions. As he says: "It's your money, your government, you should know what's going on." So we ask: How much British public money has been used to police Bilderberg? Who's putting the request in to MI5? Who's paying for the watermelons? Does the Bilderberg Group have an accounts book? Could we see it? Could someone ask Ken Clarke for a copy? Isn't it about time the Daily Telegraph got involved? Are taxpayers paying for the riot vans? Or are corporations hiring police forces as private armies to stand guard over a private meeting?

Link:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/jun/14/charlie-skelton-bilderberg-2010