Bilderberg Group Gathers Global Elite in UK

The famed--and much derided--Bilderberg Group is meeting this week in Britain to discuss whatever it is the world's super elite discuss at their secretive annual gatherings.

Held this year at the five star Grove Hotel near Watford, England, the 61st Bilderberg Group meeting will host some of the world's most powerful individuals--including heads of banks, fossil fuel company CEOs, former heads of state, powerful government ministers and officials, academics, and media moguls.

Among certain notable attendees, IMF Chief Christine Lagarde is attending this year's meeting as well as US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, (Ret.) US Army General David Petraeus, former US Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, former Nixon adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and Bush-era neoconservative titan Richard Perle.

Long shrouded in secrecy, the Bilderberg Group has long been the focus of conspiracy theorists who look on the cadre of global elites as the puppet masters of the "new world order."

As it turns out, however, the group's likely deliberations have always been rather obvious given that the power structures and policy prescriptions of the neoliberal consensus that its attendees represent are well known to the world.

This year, though they didn't fail to double down on security efforts around the meeting, Bilderberg did set up a press office and even put out a media release.

But, as is often said when it comes to the machinations of power, the largest crimes of authority are not those hidden in dark rooms, but the ones perpetrated--without apology--in plain sight.

If one is looking for the crimes of Bilderberg, the full list of this year's attendees includes the institutions, governments, and organizations represented:

• Chairman: Henri de Castries, Chairman and CEO, AXA Group
• Paul M. Achleitner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG
• Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Board, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd
• Marcus Agius, Former Chairman, Barclays plc
• Helen Alexander, Chairman, UBM plc
• Roger C. Altman, Executive Chairman, Evercore Partners
• Matti Apunen, Director, Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA
• Susan Athey, Professor of Economics, Stanford Graduate School of Business
• Asli Aydintasbas, Columnist, Milliyet Newspaper
• Ali Babacan, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister for Economic and Financial Affairs
• Ed Balls, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Francisco Pinto Balsemao, Chairman and CEO, IMPRESA
• Nicolas Barre, Managing Editor, Les Echos
• Jose Manuel Barroso, President, European Commission
• Nicolas Baverez, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
• Olivier de Bavinchove, Commander, Eurocorps
• John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford
• Franco Bernabe, Chairman and CEO, Telecom Italia S.p.A.
• Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO, Amazon.com
• Carl Bildt, Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs
• Anders Borg, Swedish Minister for Finance
• Jean Francois van Boxmeer, CEO, Heineken
• Svein Richard Brandtzaeg, President and CEO, Norsk Hydro ASA
• Oscar Bronner, Publisher, Der Standard Medienwelt
• Peter Carrington, Former Honorary Chairman, Bilderberg Meetings
• Juan Luis Cebrian, Executive Chairman, Grupo PRISA
• Edmund Clark, President and CEO, TD Bank Group
• Kenneth Clarke, Cabinet Minister
• Bjarne Corydon, Danish Minister of Finance
• Sherard Cowper-Coles, Business Development Director, International, BAE Systems plc
• Enrico Cucchiani, CEO, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA
• Etienne Davignon, Belgian Minister of State; Former Chairman, Bilderberg Meetings
• Ian Davis, Senior Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Company
• Robbert H. Dijkgraaf, Director and Leon Levy Professor, Institute for Advanced Study
• Haluk Dincer, President, Retail and Insurance Group, Sabanci Holding A.S.
• Robert Dudley, Group Chief Executive, BP plc
• Nicholas N. Eberstadt, Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute
• Espen Barth Eide, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Borje Ekholm, President and CEO, Investor AB
• Thomas Enders, CEO, EADS
• J. Michael Evans, Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs & Co.
• Ulrik Federspiel, Executive Vice President, Haldor Topsoe A/S
• Martin S.Feldstein, Professor of Economics, Harvard University; President Emeritus, NBER
• Francois Fillon, Former French Prime Minister
• Mark C. Fishman, President, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research
• Douglas J. Flint, Group Chairman, HSBC Holdings plc
• Paul Gallagher, Senior Counsel
• Timothy F Geithner, Former Secretary of the Treasury
• Michael Gfoeller, US Political Consultant
• Donald E. Graham, Chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company
• Ulrich Grillo, CEO, Grillo-Werke AG
• Lilli Gruber, Journalist - Anchorwoman, La 7 TV
• Luis de Guindos, Spanish Minister of Economy and Competitiveness
• Stuart Gulliver, Group Chief Executive, HSBC Holdings plc
• Felix Gutzwiller, Member of the Swiss Council of States
• Victor Halberstadt, Professor of Economics, Leiden University; Former Honorary Secretary General of Bilderberg Meetings
• Olli Heinonen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
• Simon Henry, CFO, Royal Dutch Shell plc
• Paul Hermelin, Chairman and CEO, Capgemini Group
• Pablo Isla, Chairman and CEO, Inditex Group
• Kenneth M. Jacobs, Chairman and CEO, Lazard
• James A. Johnson, Chairman, Johnson Capital Partners
• Thomas J. Jordan, Chairman of the Governing Board, Swiss National Bank
• Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Managing Director, Lazard Freres & Co. LLC
• Robert D. Kaplan, Chief Geopolitical Analyst, Stratfor
• Alex Karp, Founder and CEO, Palantir Technologies
• John Kerr, Independent Member, House of Lords
• Henry A. Kissinger, Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.
• Klaus Kleinfeld, Chairman and CEO, Alcoa
• Klaas H.W. Knot, President, De Nederlandsche Bank
• Mustafa V Koc,. Chairman, Koc Holding A.S.
• Roland Koch, CEO, Bilfinger SE
• Henry R. Kravis, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
• Marie-Josee Kravis, Senior Fellow and Vice Chair, Hudson Institute
• Andre Kudelski, Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group
• Ulysses Kyriacopoulos, Chairman, S&B Industrial Minerals S.A.
• Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
• J. Kurt Lauk, Chairman of the Economic Council to the CDU, Berlin
• Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership, Harvard Law School
• Thomas Leysen, Chairman of the Board of Directors, KBC Group
• Christian Lindner, Party Leader, Free Democratic Party (FDP NRW)
• Stefan Lofven, Party Leader, Social Democratic Party (SAP)
• Peter Loscher, President and CEO, Siemens AG
• Peter Mandelson, Chairman, Global Counsel; Chairman, Lazard International
• Jessica T. Mathews, President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Frank McKenna, Chair, Brookfield Asset Management
• John Micklethwait, Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
• Thierry de Montbrial, President, French Institute for International Relations
• Mario Monti, Former Italian Prime Minister
• Craig J. Mundie, Senior Advisor to the CEO, Microsoft Corporation
• Alberto Nagel, CEO, Mediobanca
• H.R.H. Princess Beatrix of The Netherlands
• Andrew Y.Ng, Co-Founder, Coursera
• Jorma Ollila, Chairman, Royal Dutch Shell, plc
• David Omand, Visiting Professor, King's College London
• George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer
• Emanuele Ottolenghi, Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
• Soli Ozel, Senior Lecturer, Kadir Has University; Columnist, Haberturk Newspaper
• Alexis Papahelas, Executive Editor, Kathimerini Newspaper
• Safak Pavey, Turkish MP
• Valerie Pecresse, French MP
• Richard N. Perle, Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
• David H. Petraeus, General, U.S. Army (Retired)
• Paulo Portas, Portugal Minister of State and Foreign Affairs
• J. Robert S Prichard, Chair, Torys LLP
• Viviane Reding, Vice President and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, European Commission
• Heather M. Reisman, CEO, Indigo Books & Music Inc.
• Helene Rey, Professor of Economics, London Business School
• Simon Robertson, Partner, Robertson Robey Associates LLP; Deputy Chairman, HSBC Holdings
• Gianfelice Rocca, Chairman,Techint Group
• Jacek Rostowski, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister
• Robert E. Rubin, Co-Chairman, Council on Foreign Relations; Former Secretary of the Treasury
• Mark Rutte, Dutch Prime Minister
• Andreas Schieder, Austrian State Secretary of Finance
• Eric E. Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google Inc.
• Rudolf Scholten, Member of the Board of Executive Directors, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG
• Antonio Jose Seguro, Secretary General, Portuguese Socialist Party
• Jean-Dominique Senard, CEO, Michelin Group
• Kristin Skogen Lund, Director General, Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise
• Anne-Marie Slaughter, Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
• Peter D. Sutherland, Chairman, Goldman Sachs International
• Martin Taylor, Former Chairman, Syngenta AG
• Tidjane Thiam, Group CEO, Prudential plc
• Peter A. Thiel, President, Thiel Capital
• Craig B. Thompson, President and CEO, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
• Jakob Haldor Topsoe, Partner, AMBROX Capital A/S
• Jutta Urpilainen, Finnish Minister of Finance
• Daniel L. Vasella, Honorary Chairman, Novartis AG
• Peter R. Voser, CEO, Royal Dutch Shell plc
• Brad Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan Province, Canada
• Jacob Wallenberg, Chairman, Investor AB
• Kevin Warsh, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University
• Galen G.Weston, Executive Chairman, Loblaw Companies Limited
• Baroness Williams of Crosby, Member, House of Lords
• Martin H. Wolf, Chief Economics Commentator, The Financial Times
• James D. Wolfensohn, Chairman and CEO, Wolfensohn and Company
• David Wright, Vice Chairman, Barclays plc
• Robert B. Zoellick, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

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