Theos-Talk Archives (September 2001 Message tt00159)

The Bilderberg Group
- The Invisible Power House -
With its membership selected from the power élite of Europe and North
America, many wonder if the Bilderbergers are conspiring to establish a
'new world order'.


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Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 3, #1 (Dec '95-Jan '96).
PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. editor@nexusmagazine.com
Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381
>From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com


© 1994 by Armen Victorian,
PO Box 99, West PDO,
Nottingham, NG8 3NT UK



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The conspiracy theory writers have repeatedly linked one powerful global
elite, the Bilderberg Group, with the ultimate take-over of the world.
Members of the Bilderberg together with their 'sister' organisations-the
Trilateral Commission (known also as the "Child of Bilderberg")(1) and
the Council on Foreign Relations(2)-are charged with the post-war
take-over of the democratic process. The measures implemented by this
group so far prove the control of the world economy through indirect
political means.

The constitution of several democratic monarchies of the Western Europe
bans members of their royal families from playing an active role in the
political process. However, the Bilderberg meetings provide this exact
forum and platform for them.
"This unprecedented period of European cooperation is more than a
product of simple nation-state diplomacy. One of the key institutions
that has fostered unity and cooperation with the Atlantic Community
beyond the old concepts has been the Bilderberg Group."(3)
"I tell you frankly that I am deeply alarmed today over the possibility
that a right-wing reaction may draw some sections of capital so far away
from our traditions as to imperil the entire structure of American life
as we know it."(4)

These comments by Pasymowski and Gilbert(3) two decades ago may seem out
of phase with the current events in former Yugoslavia, but, in terms of
the continued stability of the "European State", they have proven to be
largely accurate. Warfare has been removed from the intra-European
systems as a means of controlling and directing nationalistic goals and
ideas. Even in the case of former Yugoslavia, one observes that the
current state of war has resulted from Tito's and the Soviet Union's
demise. Consequently, the lid has been lifted on rivals and racial
memories which had been artificially kept in place for previous decades.
The several proto-states which make up the former Yugoslavia were not
part of the economic and social development programs which evolved in
Western Europe. As we would see, the way in which the rest of Europe
evolved and developed was very different, and for very particular
reasons.

Whether co-incidence or not, it is equally ironic that the current
Chairman of the Bilderberg, Lord Carrington, was the first UN-appointed
representative to bring peace to the war-torn Yugoslavia.

ORIGINS
The single most important personality connected with the birth and
creation of the Bilderberg Group is Joseph H. Retinger (also known as
L'Eminence-His Grey Eminence). Retinger had a colourful, lifelong career
that raised him to the top of the world power élites. At his funeral in
1960, Sir Edward Bedington-Behrens said:
"I remember Retinger in the United States picking up the telephone and
immediately making an appointment with the President, and in Europe he
had complete entrée in every political circle as a kind of right
acquired through trust, devotion and loyalty he inspired."

Retinger, as a Catholic, was viewed by many as an agent of the Vatican,
acting in liaison between the Pope and the Father-General of the Jesuit
order.

One of Retinger's renowned achievements in European politics was the
founding of the European Movement, leading to the establishment of the
Council of Europe on 5th May 1949. With its headquarters in Strasbourg,
the Council Executive Committee provided Retinger his first major
platform for his expansive ideology. From his earlier days at the
Sorbonne, Retinger believed in greater European unity, both in military
and economic terms. It was also at the same time when his interest in
the guidance of the Jesuit order manifested itself. He spent a great
deal of his time fulfilling these ambitions. He suggested to Premier
Georges Clemenceau a plan to unite Eastern Europe-involving the merging
of Austria, Hungary and Poland as a tripartite monarchy under the
guidance of the Jesuit order. Clemenceau, doubtful of the
Vatican-inspired plan, rejected Retinger's proposal outright. This plan
labelled Retinger, thereafter, as a Vatican agent.

Retinger's activities were not limited to uniting Europe. Through his
several trips to Mexico he played a key role in the creation of a trade
union movement in the 1920s. Due to his unprecedented success, and by
gaining the Mexican Government's trust, Retinger convinced them to
nationalise the US oil interest in Mexico. In the process, Retinger
conducted the secret negotiations with Washington for the Mexican
Government.

Retinger also had an active war career. He was the political aide to
General Sikorski, and served for the London-based Polish
Government-in-exile. In addition, at the age of 58, he parachuted into
German-occupied territory outside Warsaw for some sabotage missions.

Due to his high-profile career, in the 1950s he was able to create
contacts with numerous high-ranking military officials and political
leaders. His main aim was to unite the world in peace. His peace
dividend was to be under the control of supernational, powerful
organisations. He believed that such organisations would be immune from
short-term ideological conflicts erupting between governments. To
Retinger, it was insignificant what dominated the economic ideology of a
country. He believed these differences could be brought into line by
powerful multinational organisations dictating and applying powerful
economic and military policies, thereby creating a union and a bond
between the nations.

Retinger's personal 'left-wing' views from his heady days convinced him
that many leaders of newly born socialist and communist nations would be
prepared to talk to him. Additionally, his Church background gave him an
arena for dialogue with people from the middle-ground connections in
international relations.

Nevertheless, Retinger knew that control of the world affairs cannot be
achieved without US participation. In pursuit of this ideology, he began
a campaign for the creation of an Atlantic Community. This would make
the development of Europe an important political aim for the American
politicians, thereby preventing their retreat into political isolation.

Retinger, with this in mind, set out his carefully calculated move by
involving one of his close and powerful friends, Prince Bernhard of the
Netherlands. Prince Bernhard, at the time, was an important figure in
the oil industry and held a major position in Royal Dutch Petroleum
(Shell Oil), as well as Société Générale de Belgique-a powerful global
corporation. 

In 1952 Retinger approached Bernhard with a proposal for a secret
conference to involve the NATO leaders in an open and frank discussion
on international affairs behind closed doors. The meeting would allow
each participant to speak his mind freely because no media
representative would be permitted inside; nor would there be any news
bulletin about the meeting or the topics discussed. Furthermore, if any
leaks occurred, the journalists would be discouraged from writing about
it.

Prince Bernhard fully supported Retinger's proposal for an international
meeting. Consequently, they formed a committee to organise a plan. In
1952, Bernhard approached the Truman administration and briefed them
about the meeting. Despite a positive reception, it was not until the
Eisenhower administration when the first American counterpart group was
formed. The two key role-players in the US group were General Walter
Bedell Smith (Director of the CIA) and C. D. Jackson. Both
(European-American) groups working interactively set out to fulfil
Retinger's initial plan. From the outset, the American group was heavily
influenced by the Rockefeller family, the owners of Standard
Oil-competitors of Bernhard's Royal Dutch Petroleum. From then on, the
Bilderberg business reflected the concerns of the oil industry in its
meetings.

According to Bilderberg's draft document of 1989:
"Bilderberg takes its name from the Bilderberg Hotel in Oosterbeek,
Holland, where the first meeting took place in May 1954. That pioneering
meeting grew out of the concern expressed by many leading citizens on
both sides of the Atlantic that Western Europe and North America were
not working together as closely as they should on matters of critical
importance. It was felt that regular, off-the-record discussions would
help create a better understanding of the complex forces and major
trends affecting Western nations in the difficult post-war period."(5)

Retinger's main aim in creating Bilderberg had other more important,
inherent aspects than an informal gathering of a group of the world's
élite. It has been suggested that Bilderberg meetings ultimately would
have implemented group dynamics techniques in the shape of a low- key
international thinking group with the purpose of sensitising the less
enlightened of its membership towards the new transitional diplomacy of
the Cold War.

The first meeting witnessed the gathering of ideologies, poles apart.
The issue of McCarthyism was reaching its peak in the United States.
European participants, exasperated with the McCarthy propaganda, saw in
their American counterparts a clear political shift towards an
ultra-right-wing fascist state. Memories of World War II still fresh in
their minds, the Europeans found the concept rather repulsive.

C. D. Jackson (a member of the CFR), in an attempt to regain the
international delegates' confidence, stated:
"Whether McCarthy dies by an assassin's bullet or is eliminated in the
normal American way of getting rid of boils on body politics, I prophesy
that by the time we hold our next meeting he will be gone from the
American scene."(6)

Nevertheless, McCarthyism proved to be a source of embarrassment for the
US delegate.

OTHER GROUPS
The concept of Bilderberg was not new. Although similar groups were
already in existence at the time, none attracted and provoked global
myths the way Bilderberg has.

Groups such as Bohemian Grove, established in 1872 by ...