Did Members of the Bilderberg Group Plot World Domination This Weekend?

Astir Palace, site of this weekends Bilderberg gathering

To be honest, I can't say for sure. In fact no one can say for sure, since the meeting is closed to all outsiders except those who have a very exclusive invitation which include top politicians, bankers and business leaders. My hunch however is probably they made no plot for world domination.

Between May 14 - 17 the annual Bilderberg meeting took place, this year in Athens, Greece amidst very tight security surrounding every inch of the Astir Palace, a luxury hotel in the suburban resort of Vouliagmeni. The group meets annually at luxury hotels or resorts throughout the world — normally in Europe, and once every four years in the United States or Canada. It has an office in Leiden in the Netherlands.

Dozens of police kept the press and public at bay. According to reports: "A Greek navy launch and boats carrying elite divers could be seen a few meters off the coast of the peninsula where the hotel stands." Greek newspapers said the group had also asked for the protection of two F-16 warplanes and a police helicopter.

Though there is no official disclosure as to who attended this meeting, reporters claim to have spotted the following elite: Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis; U.S. State Department number two James Steinberg; U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; the director of the U.S. National Economic Council, Larry Summers; the Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke; World Bank President Robert Zoellick; European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso; European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet; Queen Sofia of Spain and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Old time staples such as Henry Kissinger was there also, as well as a newcomer, Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The guest list usually includes about 130 people.

The Associated Press reports that the meeting this weekend met with several dozen Greek demonstrators outside the Astir Palace. According to the report: "The demonstrators, from Greece's right-wing Popular Orthodox Rally party, shouted slogans and held a large banner saying 'Bilderberg Unwelcome' outside the hotel...One demonstrator was arrested when the group tried to break through a police cordon. 'We came here to protest this anti-Greek meeting,' Argyris Sideris, a regional party secretary, told the Associated Press. 'We need to do something to protect our country.' Outside the hotel on Friday, Greek Communist Party members conducted a peaceful demonstration against the Bilderberg Group.

Why all the fuss about a meeting with top politicians and business people?

The Biderberg Group has its origins in 1954 when Polish political adviser Joseph Retinger, former Belgian prime minister Paul van Zeeland and former Unilever chief executive Paul Rijkens organized the first meeting at the Hotel Bilderberg in the Netherlands to unite European and U.S. elites amid growing transatlantic tensions. The success of the meeting led the organizers to arrange an annual conference inviting the most influential people of Europe and America on the political and business level.

The participants talk about a variety of global issues - economic, military, and political. According to the group rules, the members talk on one specific subject for 7 minutes, and comments, additions or questions may be introduced by the rest within 1 minute. Their only obligation is not to publish or disclose anything discussed. A record is then made of the discussions in which, however, the name of the speaker is never published. The official language is English, and the conversation notes are later published in a book.

Officially the meeting is private to "encourage frank and open discussion". An informal "steering committee" is supposed to pick the 130 or so attendees who are said to be invited solely for their knowledge, experience and standing and "with reference to the topics on the agenda".

What sets Bilderberg apart from other high-powered get-togethers, such as the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), is its mystique. Because of its secrecy and refusal to issue news releases, the group is frequently accused of secretive and nefarious world plots and conspiracies.

But "privacy, rather than secrecy", is key to such a meeting says Financial Times journalist Martin Wolf, who has been invited several times in a non-reporting role. "The idea that such meetings cannot be held in private is fundamentally totalitarian," he says. "It's not an executive body; no decisions are taken there."

"There's absolutely nothing in it", says Dennis Healey, one of the original four founders of the Biderberg Group. "We never sought to reach a consensus on the big issues at Bilderberg. It's simply a place for discussion."

Former Bilderberger Jack Sheinkman, chairman of the Amalgamated Bank in the US, has admitted: "Yes, in some cases discussions do have an impact of world affairs, such as when the group discussed a single European currency before it was policy".

Since the Bilderberg Group only meets once a year over a period of just a few days, is it reasonable to suggest that this elite group plots world domination by making decisions that will influence all of us with no democratic control in such a short period of time? To me it seems irrational to suggest such a thing since no hard evidence has come forward over all these years to prove such a theory.

In fact, attendees have included those who are not quite on the same page as the alleged Bilderberg "consensus," who presumably would have been well-placed to "blow the whistle" on a conspiracy if it, in fact, existed. "These are carefully selected people of influence, who have been openly critical of globalisation. Examples are Jonathan Porritt (Bilderberg 1999) and Will Hutton (Bilderberg 1997) but there are many others. Most of these kinds of participants are happy to speak about the conference afterwards, and may even be refreshingly critical."

A good question to ask is where is the evidence of this global rule. The self-acknowledged chairman of Bilderberg in 2005, Viscount Etienne Davignon, told the BBC: "Bilderberg does not try to reach conclusions - it does not try to say 'what we should do'. Everyone goes away with their own feeling and that allows the debate to be completely open, quite frank - and to see what the differences are."

As one commentator writes: "So we have a 'conspiracy' that routinely double-crosses its members, like Gates/Microsoft and Shapiro/Monsanto. It also advocates transparent financial and international relations. It includes people from diametrically opposed viewpoints in real life like George Soros and George Bush Sr. as well as European socialists and European free market advocates. So either the entire world as it can be empirically observed is an illusion or the unsubstantiated and illogical notion that there is a secret group of Bilderberg elite that rule the world is bogus. Tough choice?"

However I will not be so bold to say that nothing significant happens at the Bilderberg meeting. I prefer to be a bit more middle of the road. I see no reason to disbelieve the participants merely exchange ideas of relevance. But why such secrecy? What kind of oath do they have to make to keep this meeting secret? It seems unjustified. Even illegal.

The legality of such meetings can be questioned according to United States law. The Logan Act forbids unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. In his website, Senator Ron Paul says: "Are U.S. officials violating the "Logan Act" if they attend the current Bilderberg meeting in Athens? Would the "Freedom for Information Act" give reporters/citizens access to flights or cost associated with attending? Thereby proving any U.S official presence?" I have to admit, the Senator brings up a valid question.

This years meeting does seem a bit more exposed however. Some details can be read here. What I found most surprising was that a third of the participants invited didn't even show up this year, citing security reasons.

Is the Bilderberg meeting about discussion or domination? Maybe its just a little bit of both.

To conclude I would just like to add some food for thought - Isn't it odd that the Bilderberg meeting this year took place on a weekend when Europe is distracted by its Eurovision contest and America is distracted by the movie release of Angels & Demons which illustrates the ridiculousness of conspiracy theories such as world domination and the notorious Illuminati (who some claim lead the Bilderberg Group)? Maybe I'm fueling the fire of conspiracy, but it's only a question.

A video which fuels speculation regarding the intentions of the Bilderberg Group in Athens