The Bilderbergers: The New World Order?

Since 1954 some 120 of the world's wealthiest, most powerful and influential people have been invited to an annual meeting hosted in some of the most luxurious and private hotels and resorts across Europe and North America. Their annual meetings are held completely in secret with absolutely no outside media allowed inside. In fact, despite having 100 of the world's most powerful people meeting in the same place these conferences garner almost no media attention whatsoever. The extreme secrecy surrounding the group have lead many conspiracy theorists to believe that these men and women are in fact part of the New World Order secretly controlling the world.

The organization today known as the Bilderberg Group or the Bilderbergers was formed in 1954. It is so named because the original conference was held at the Hotel de Bilderberg near Arnherm in the Netherlands. The conference was originally the brainchild of Polish political advisor Joseph Retinger, who wanted to bring together the great leaders both of Europe and the United States in hopes of generating a feeling of amity and understanding between European and North American cultures.

Little is known about what is said behind the closed doors of the annual Bilderberg conferences. It is known that world affairs are the main topic of the day, however what little has been revealed of the actual topics of conversation from those who have attended these conferences speaks only in the broadest of generalities. Attendees, who are allowed in by invitation only, are required to hold in utmost confidentiality any specifics of what goes on at the meeting. Few who attend mention the conference at all.

The extreme secrecy behind the meetings and the high profile nature of its attendees (including, just as a sampling, such notable names as Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, David Rockefeller, Margaret Thatcher, H.J. Heinz, Hillary Clinton and Rupert Murdoch over the years) has led many conspiracy theorists to believe that the true purpose of the Bilderbergers is to direct the flow of world affairs. Behind the closed doors of Bilderberger meetings the decisions are made which will shape the flow of public policy, business moves and more all in the self-interest of those at the heart of the group. The Bilderbergers are the newest incarnation of the Illuminati, secret masters of the world.

Those who are actually part of the Bilderberg Group of course oppose any such characterization. While they have made only limited comments about the nature of the Bilderberg meetings, they describe it as essentially a discussion forum allowing world leaders to talk to each other outside of the public eye of media attention. They claim that secrecy is required in order to provide a truly open forum where public leaders are allowed to speak their mind without fear of every word they speak being parsed a thousand different ways by journalists and the court of public opinion.

Due to the inherent secrecy that lies at the heart of the Bilderbergers, there is no way to know the real truth of the matter. Despite the purported innocuous nature of the Bilderberg Group, as long as their meetings are held behind closed doors they shall continue to be the target of conspiracy theories of all kinds by people throughout the world.