This weekend, the annual Bilderberg conference gets underway at a fancy hotel in Chantilly, Virginia, in the United States. You could argue that this meeting is more significant than the G8 summit and even the U.S. presidential elections, but chances are, you’ve never even heard of it.
Bilder-what?
Founded in 1954, the Bilderberg Group is the superclass of modern society, a group of the world’s most influential politicians, business owners, royalty, military leaders and media giants. Every year, over one hundred of them gather together to discuss, and possibly even plan, world events.
For an idea of just who attends these meetings, take a quick look at the list of Bilderberg attendees from previous conferences. How can this possibly avoid media attention?
Never heard of Bilderberg?
That’s not surprising. A gathering of pop stars or top athletes would almost certainly hit the front page of most newspapers, but despite the people involved, it’s rare for Bilderberg to even get a mention. In fact, so far this year, only a Portuguese newspaper has mentioned the conference.
The secrecy under which the Bilderberg Group operates gives reason to be suspicious. Are they acting as a shadow government? Conspiracy theorists often describe Bilderberg as puppeteers, pulling the strings of politicians around the world to achieve their goals of a one world government, or a New World Order.
I would prefer to believe that Bilderberg was a think tank for solving the world’s problems, but I find it more likely that whatever they discuss is intended to benefit no-one but themselves.
What’s your reaction?
If this is the first time you’ve heard of Bilderberg, I encourage you to do some research, then come back and answer this question for me.
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I’d love to hear your thoughts on Bilderberg, particularly why the media gives so little attention to the group.
If you are in Japan, you have probably already seen the bright yellow notices plastered all over the country’s cigarette vending machines. At first, I thought it was some fancy advertising campaign, but instead, they are announcing the launch of “taspo”, an ID card embedded with an IC (integrated circuit) chip containing information proving the owner is at least 20 years old (the legal age for purchasing cigarettes).
