Bilderberg Black Out

To witness the annual Bilderberg conference is to realize how the “Lords of the New World Order”—the self-chosen elite of international finance, business, and politics—are allowed to assemble in secret and conspire with the connivance of the mainstream media.

 

Exclusive to American Free Press

By Christopher Bollyn

 

Given the tumultuous events in the Middle East and the serious strains in U.S.-French relations, one would expect that an event near Paris, in which scores of key U.S. and European officials meet with the heads of international finance and business, would attract considerable media attention. However, while Bilderberg 2003 at the historic Trianon Palace at Versailles was an extraordinary gathering of the global elite, it passed with scarcely a word in the controlled press.

In the historic Trianon Palace Hotel, where the Versailles treaty was handed to the defeated Germans after World War I, the individuals who head the world’s largest oil companies and financial institutions convened during four days, in total seclusion, with selected political leaders and media owners.

Because of the near total blackout of Bilderberg in the mass media, knowledge of what was going on in the Trianon from May 15-18 was limited to those who read James Tucker’s articles in American Free Press.

The Trianon Palace is a luxury hotel immediately adjacent to the magnificent grounds of the palace of Versailles. The entry to the hotel sits near the Grille de la Reine, a gated entry to the royal park built by the 17th century French monarchs, King Louis XIII and his son Louis XIV.

Some of the well-to-do residents of the neighborhood of the Trianon, unaware of what was occurring in the hotel, were shocked to discover that their cars had been towed away early on Thursday, May 16, as Bilderberg security had demanded.

By mid-day the street leading to the hotel had been completely cleared and a security cordon set around the entire neighborhood. Local residents who lived within the security perimeter were obliged to identify themselves to Bilderberg security and armed national police at the checkpoint at the end of the Boulevard de la Reine.

‘LIKE FORT KNOX’

The hotel property was thoroughly checked for mines and every vehicle was carefully examined for explosives at a second checkpoint before being allowed to come near the hotel. Bomb sniffing dogs scoured the neighborhood.

“It’s like Fort Knox,” said Christian Ebel, the local resident whose silver Porsche had been taken away on the back of a truck the day before. Ebel said he had never seen such security measures before in France.

The people of Versailles were noticeably puzzled and upset by the security measures that prevented them from entering the park at the Grille de la Reine to which they are accustomed. Security personnel, unable to explain the reason for such intense security, failed to answer the question everyone asked: “Why can’t we go to the park?”

Standing by the security checkpoint hoping to catch the Bilderberg arrivals on film, I was able to explain to the bewildered locals what was happening in the Trianon and how they could enter the park by using the Grille du Dragon at the end of the nearby side street.

On several occasions, particularly when I was alone, officers of the CRS ordered me to stop taking photos although I presented my international press card when asked and remained on public property. When I asked by what law I was being ordered, one CRS officer said: “I don’t know by what law. I have my instructions to tell you to go away.”

Early on Friday morning, I helped a large group of school children held up at the checkpoint to get into the park.

Later in the afternoon, the group returned and I gave a short lecture about Bilderberg to a few dozen interested 10-year-olds as Bilderberg security and the French CRS riot police stood behind me.

One resident of Versailles who was aware of the power and influence of Bilderberg told me that the French press had neglected to report what was occurring at the Trianon.

“There has not been one word in any French paper about Bilderberg and there won’t be tomorrow or the next day,” he said. “The French press is not as free as the press in your country.”

Another resident told me he had seen the president of France’s national assembly, Jean Louis Debré, while jogging in the park.

While the mainstream U.S. and British press are unlikely to discuss Bilderberg in any detail, the fact that the conference was occurring in Versailles was reported on the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) news web site in a short piece titled “Elite power brokers’ secret talks” by Emma Jane Kirby on May 15.

In January, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, American Free Press had asked John Simpson and others from the BBC why the government-owned network reported extensively on the Davos event yet completely ignored Bilderberg.

Bilderberg “delegates” at the “closed meeting” of the “world’s financial and political elite” were “expected to be focusing their attention on post-war Iraq,” Kirby wrote for the BBC.

With Iraqi oil high on the agenda there was no surprise in seeing Peter Sutherland, chairman of British Petroleum, attending David Rockefeller’s Bilderberg conference along with Queen Beatrix of Holland and Queen Sophia of Spain. Photographs of the limousines with darkened windows indicate that King Juan Carlos of Spain also attended.

“By anyone’s standards, it is a bit of a mystery,” the BBC’s Kirby wrote about Bilderberg. With its meetings “cloaked in secrecy” it is unclear what Bilderberg actually does, she wrote, adding that it is “an extremely influential lobbying group with a good deal of political clout on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Two journalists from BBC radio, Simon Cox and Richard Vadon, interviewed Tucker during his daily 5 p.m. press conference at a nearby hotel. The “Club Class” program on Bilderberg is scheduled for July 3 on Radio 4 in Britain.

Two Turkish reporters also covered Bilderberg 2003, as did a couple from Norway’s leading business daily, Dagens Næringsliv.

Tony Gosling of Britain, who publishes the web site Bilderberg.org filmed the arrival of conference attendees and their Saturday afternoon excursion to the Chateau of Versailles. It was during this excursion, when some 70 Bilderberg participants rode a tourist train from the hotel to the chateau, that I was able to photograph the attendees and meet David Rockefeller in the park with his bodyguard.

During the Bilderberg conference, two of Turkey’s largest newspapers, Hurriyet and Zaman, reported that, despite Muslim opposition, Turkey’s Treasury Minister Ali Babacan was attending with a handful of state bureaucrats.

Zaman wrote: “ ‘This, the first serious en counter between the new Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and the “Lords of the New World Order,” which have been following Turkey closely for years, is truly significant,’ says researcher Aytunc Altindal.

“ ‘Some demands will be made of the AKP there,” Altindal said. ‘If they satisfy the demands, they will feel free in foreign and internal politics, otherwise they will find themselves in a very tough situation indeed.’ ”

The Norwegian journalists were interested in two key Norwegians who were attending: the head of Nor way’s state bank and the chairman of Norway’s largest energy and chemical company, Norsk Hydro.

A comprehensive article on Bilderberg is due to be published in Dagens Næringsliv a week after the conference.

Apart from a few local college students, no other journalists or photographers were seen covering the Bilderberg confab in Versailles.

In a May 16 article on WorldNetDaily.com titled “World government in action,” Joseph Farah asked: “Do you believe there are powerful people who conspire together annually to solidify their grip on world domination? Do you believe all of this happens in secret, with the quiet complicity of the world media?”

“There really are conspiracies at work. There really are powerful people plotting world domination,” Farah wrote about the Bilderberg gathering in Versailles.

“And they really operate in near-total secrecy as the world press sits on its collective duff.”

On May 20, American Free Press asked David Oakley, news editor at London’s Financial Times, why Britain’s leading business daily did not cover the Bilderberg conference, while others did.

“We are very, very busy,” Oakley said. “We would write about it, even put it on the front page,” he said, “if we could find out what they are talking about.” To write about it otherwise, Oakley said, “does not move the news agenda along.”

On May 21, Financial Times published a feature article mentioning Bilderberg by Martin Wolf.

WALL STREET JOURNAL

But the Wall Street Journal, which is always represented by Paul Gigot, editorial page editor, is standing fast to its pledge of secrecy.

AFP called Gigot at WSJ’s New York office. He was “unavailable” said his secretary, identified only as “Marianne.”

She sounded surprised by the question but acknowledged that Gigot was at the Bilderberg meeting in Versailles.

Why does WSJ never report on Bilderberg?

“He’s a participant, not a reporter,” she said. “Participants don’t report on this.”

“But it is a major story being ignored,” AFP said.

“Why is it a story?” she challenged.

“When you have 120 world leaders in international finance, political leaders, including heads of state and high officials of the U.S. government, how can that not be a story?” AFP asked.

A pause followed, then AFP added:

“Bilderberg meetings are sealed off, reporters are not allowed in.”

“That’s their problem.”

“And Mr. Gigot will report nothing?”

“I told you, he is a participant and participants don’t report on these meetings.”

In fact, “participants” are ordered to give no interviews and report nothing on what transpires.

“When your paper, The Washington Post and all three major networks participate and promise to not report, is this not a conspiracy?”

“I told you, you have to ask them,” she said, terminating the conversation.