Every year, the world’s richest and most powerful business
executives, bankers, media heads and politicians sit down in some luxurious and
heavily guarded venue, and discuss how to shape the world in a way that
maximizes profits for all involved, while perpetuating a status quo that has
been highly beneficial for a select few, even if it means the ongoing
destruction of the middle class. We are talking, of course, about the annual,
and always secretive, Bilderberg meeting.
And just
like last year’s meeting in Dresden, the primary topic on the
agenda of this year’s 65th Bilderberg Meeting which starts today and ends on
Sunday, is one: Donald Trump.
Ironically,
this year “the storm around Donald Trump” as the SCMP puts it, is not half way around
the world, but just a few miles west of the White House, in a conference centre
in Chantilly, Virginia, where the embattled president will be getting his
end-of-term grades from the people whose opinion actually matters: some 130 participating “Bilderbergs”.
The secretive three-day summit of the political and economic
elite kicks off Thursday in heavily guarded seclusion at the Westfields
Marriot, a luxury hotel a short distance from the Oval Office.
As of
Wednesday, the hotel was already on lockdown and an army of landscapers have
been busy planting fir trees around the perimeter, to try protect “coy
billionaires and bashful bank bosses” from prying lenses and/or
projectiles. Perched ominously at the top of the conference agenda this
year are these words: “The Trump Administration: A progress report”.
So is the
president going to be put in detention for tweeting in class? Held back a year?
Or told to empty his locker and leave? If ever there’s a place where a
president could hear the words “you’re fired!”, it’s Bilderberg.
Sarcasm aside, the White House was taking no chances, sending
along some big hitters from Team Trump to defend their boss: national security
adviser, HR McMaster; the commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross; and Trump’s new
strategist, Chris Liddell (curiously, neither Gary Cohn nor Steven Mnuchin will
be there although the controversial new Chairman of Goldman Sachs
International, Jose Barroso will be present). Could Trump himself show up to
receive his report card in person: we are confident he will tweet all about it…
which is probably why he will never be invited.
Stil, none other than Henry Kissinger, the gravel-throated
kingpin of Bilderberg, visited the White House a few weeks ago to discuss
“Russia and other things”, and certainly, the Bilderberg conference would be
the perfect opportunity for the most powerful man in the world to discuss
important global issues with Trump.
Sarcasm
aside, what are among the “Trump agenda” items to be discussed? The publicly released list is as follows:
·
The Trump Administration: A progress report
·
Trans-Atlantic relations: options and scenarios
·
The Trans-Atlantic defence alliance: bullets, bytes and bucks
·
The direction of the EU
·
Can globalisation be slowed down?
·
Jobs, income and unrealised expectations
·
The war on information
·
Why is populism growing?
·
Russia in the international order
·
The Near East
·
Nuclear proliferation
·
China
·
Current events
The US president’s extraordinary chiding of NATO leaders in
Brussels is sure to be first and foremost on the Bilderberg discussing panel.
The Bilderbergers have summoned the head of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, to give
feedback. Stoltenberg will be leading the snappily titled session on “The
Transatlantic defence alliance: bullets, bytes and bucks”. He’ll be joined by
the Dutch minister of defence and a clutch of senior European politicians and
party leaders, all hoping to reset the traumatised transatlantic relationship
after Trump’s galumphing visit.
As the Guardian puts it, the guest list for this year’s conference is a
veritable “covfefe” of big-hitters from geopolitics, from the head
of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, to the king of Holland, but perhaps the most
significant name on the list is Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the US.
According
to the meeting’s agenda, “China” will also be
discussed at a summit attended by Cui, the US commerce secretary, the US
national security adviser, two US senators, the governor of Virginia, two
former CIA chiefs and any number of giant US investors in China, including the
heads of the financial services firms the Carlyle Group and KKR. And for good
reason: as last night’s PMI numbers showed, the Chinese economy – the global
growth dynamo – is finally contracting. If China goes, the rest of the world
will follow.
Additionally, the boss of Google Eric Schmidt, who warned in
January that Trump’s administration will do “evil things”, is expected to
attend, too. The executive chairman of Alphabet, Google’s holding company, has
just come back from a trip to Beijing, where he was overseeing Google AI’s
latest game of Go against humans. He declared it “a pleasure to be back in
China, a country that I admire a great deal”. It’s possible three days spent
chatting to the Chinese ambassador could even be good for business.
Several journalists are participating in this year’s forum,
including London Evening Standard editor George Osborne and Cansu Camlibel, the
Washington bureau chief for Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper. But per convention,
news outlets are not invited to cover the event.
“There is no desired outcome, no minutes are taken and no report
is written,” the group stated. “Furthermore, no resolutions are proposed, no
votes are taken, and no policy statements are issued.”
Ex-deputy secretary of state William Burns and former deputy
assistant secretary of defence Elaine Bunn, both Obama-era officials, will also
attend. Burns, the current president of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, has warned that Trump “risks hollowing out the ideas,
initiative and institutions on which US leadership and international order
rest.”
With one of the agenda items titled simply enough “can
globalisation be slowed down?” it is no surprise that anti-globalisation
protesters have already descended on the location of the meeting.
* * *
Below is
a full list of this year’s participants:
CHAIRMAN
·
Castries, Henri de (FRA), Former Chairman and CEO, AXA;
President of Institut Montaigne
PARTICIPANTS
·
Achleitner, Paul M. (DEU), Chairman of the Supervisory Board,
Deutsche Bank AG
·
Adonis, Andrew (GBR), Chair, National Infrastructure Commission
·
Agius, Marcus (GBR), Chairman, PA Consulting Group
·
Akyol, Mustafa (TUR), Senior Visiting Fellow, Freedom Project at
Wellesley College
·
Alstadheim, Kjetil B. (NOR), Political Editor, Dagens Næringsliv
·
Altman, Roger C. (USA), Founder and Senior Chairman, Evercore
·
Arnaut, José Luis (PRT), Managing Partner, CMS Rui Pena &
Arnaut
·
Barroso, José M. Durão (PRT), Chairman, Goldman Sachs
International
·
Bäte, Oliver (DEU), CEO, Allianz SE
·
Baumann, Werner (DEU), Chairman, Bayer AG
·
Baverez, Nicolas (FRA), Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
·
Benko, René (AUT), Founder and Chairman of the Advisory Board,
SIGNA Holding GmbH
·
Berner, Anne-Catherine (FIN), Minister of Transport and
Communications
·
Botín, Ana P. (ESP), Executive Chairman, Banco Santander
·
Brandtzæg, Svein Richard (NOR), President and CEO, Norsk Hydro
ASA
·
Brennan, John O. (USA), Senior Advisor, Kissinger Associates
Inc.
·
Bsirske, Frank (DEU), Chairman, United Services Union
·
Buberl, Thomas (FRA), CEO, AXA
·
Bunn, M. Elaine (USA), Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense
·
Burns, William J. (USA), President, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace
·
Çakiroglu, Levent (TUR), CEO, Koç Holding A.S.
·
Çamlibel, Cansu (TUR), Washington DC Bureau Chief, Hürriyet
Newspaper
·
Cebrián, Juan Luis (ESP), Executive Chairman, PRISA and El País
·
Clemet, Kristin (NOR), CEO, Civita
·
Cohen, David S. (USA), Former Deputy Director, CIA
·
Collison, Patrick (USA), CEO, Stripe
·
Cotton, Tom (USA), Senator
·
Cui, Tiankai (CHN), Ambassador to the United States
·
Döpfner, Mathias (DEU), CEO, Axel Springer SE
·
Elkann, John (ITA), Chairman, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
·
Enders, Thomas (DEU), CEO, Airbus SE
·
Federspiel, Ulrik (DNK), Group Executive, Haldor Topsøe Holding
A/S
·
Ferguson, Jr., Roger W. (USA), President and CEO, TIAA
·
Ferguson, Niall (USA), Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution,
Stanford University
·
Gianotti, Fabiola (ITA), Director General, CERN
·
Gozi, Sandro (ITA), State Secretary for European Affairs
·
Graham, Lindsey (USA), Senator
·
Greenberg, Evan G. (USA), Chairman and CEO, Chubb Group
·
Griffin, Kenneth (USA), Founder and CEO, Citadel Investment
Group, LLC
·
Gruber, Lilli (ITA), Editor-in-Chief and Anchor “Otto e mezzo”,
La7 TV
·
Guindos, Luis de (ESP), Minister of Economy, Industry and
Competiveness
·
Haines, Avril D. (USA), Former Deputy National Security Advisor
·
Halberstadt, Victor (NLD), Professor of Economics, Leiden
University
·
Hamers, Ralph (NLD), Chairman, ING Group
·
Hedegaard, Connie (DNK), Chair, KR Foundation
·
Hennis-Plasschaert, Jeanine (NLD), Minister of Defence, The
Netherlands
·
Hobson, Mellody (USA), President, Ariel Investments LLC
·
Hoffman, Reid (USA), Co-Founder, LinkedIn and Partner, Greylock
·
Houghton, Nicholas (GBR), Former Chief of Defence
·
Ischinger, Wolfgang (INT), Chairman, Munich Security Conference
·
Jacobs, Kenneth M. (USA), Chairman and CEO, Lazard
·
Johnson, James A. (USA), Chairman, Johnson Capital Partners
·
Jordan, Jr., Vernon E. (USA), Senior Managing Director, Lazard
Frères & Co. LLC
·
Karp, Alex (USA), CEO, Palantir Technologies
·
Kengeter, Carsten (DEU), CEO, Deutsche Börse AG
·
Kissinger, Henry A. (USA), Chairman, Kissinger Associates Inc.
·
Klatten, Susanne (DEU), Managing Director, SKion GmbH
·
Kleinfeld, Klaus (USA), Former Chairman and CEO, Arconic
·
Knot, Klaas H.W. (NLD), President, De Nederlandsche Bank
·
Koç, Ömer M. (TUR), Chairman, Koç Holding A.S.
·
Kotkin, Stephen (USA), Professor in History and International
Affairs, Princeton University
·
Kravis, Henry R. (USA), Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, KKR
·
Kravis, Marie-Josée (USA), Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
·
Kudelski, André (CHE), Chairman and CEO, Kudelski Group
·
Lagarde, Christine (INT), Managing Director, International
Monetary Fund
·
Lenglet, François (FRA), Chief Economics Commentator, France 2
·
Leysen, Thomas (BEL), Chairman, KBC Group
·
Liddell, Christopher (USA), Assistant to the President and
Director of Strategic Initiatives
·
Lööf, Annie (SWE), Party Leader, Centre Party
·
Mathews, Jessica T. (USA), Distinguished Fellow, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace
·
McAuliffe, Terence (USA), Governor of Virginia
·
McKay, David I. (CAN), President and CEO, Royal Bank of Canada
·
McMaster, H.R. (USA), National Security Advisor
·
Micklethwait, John (INT), Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg LP
·
Minton Beddoes, Zanny (INT), Editor-in-Chief, The Economist
·
Molinari, Maurizio (ITA), Editor-in-Chief, La Stampa
·
Monaco, Lisa (USA), Former Homeland Security Officer
·
Morneau, Bill (CAN), Minister of Finance
·
Mundie, Craig J. (USA), President, Mundie & Associates
·
Murtagh, Gene M. (IRL), CEO, Kingspan Group plc
·
Netherlands, H.M. the King of the (NLD)
·
Noonan, Peggy (USA), Author and Columnist, The Wall Street
Journal
·
O’Leary, Michael (IRL), CEO, Ryanair D.A.C.
·
Osborne, George (GBR), Editor, London Evening Standard
·
Papahelas, Alexis (GRC), Executive Editor, Kathimerini Newspaper
·
Papalexopoulos, Dimitri (GRC), CEO, Titan Cement Co.
·
Petraeus, David H. (USA), Chairman, KKR Global Institute
·
Pind, Søren (DNK), Minister for Higher Education and Science
·
Puga, Benoît (FRA), Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor and
Chancellor of the National Order of Merit
·
Rachman, Gideon (GBR), Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, The Financial
Times
·
Reisman, Heather M. (CAN), Chair and CEO, Indigo Books &
Music Inc.
·
Rivera Díaz, Albert (ESP), President, Ciudadanos Party
·
Rosén, Johanna (SWE), Professor in Materials Physics, Linköping
University
·
Ross, Wilbur L. (USA), Secretary of Commerce
·
Rubenstein, David M. (USA), Co-Founder and Co-CEO, The Carlyle
Group
·
Rubin, Robert E. (USA), Co-Chair, Council on Foreign Relations
and Former Treasury Secretary
·
Ruoff, Susanne (CHE), CEO, Swiss Post
·
Rutten, Gwendolyn (BEL), Chair, Open VLD
·
Sabia, Michael (CAN), CEO, Caisse de dépôt et placement du
Québec
·
Sawers, John (GBR), Chairman and Partner, Macro Advisory
Partners
·
Schadlow, Nadia (USA), Deputy Assistant to the President,
National Security Council
·
Schmidt, Eric E. (USA), Executive Chairman, Alphabet Inc.
·
Schneider-Ammann, Johann N. (CHE), Federal Councillor, Swiss
Confederation
·
Scholten, Rudolf (AUT), President, Bruno Kreisky Forum for
International Dialogue
·
Severgnini, Beppe (ITA), Editor-in-Chief, 7-Corriere della Sera
·
Sikorski, Radoslaw (POL), Senior Fellow, Harvard University
·
Slat, Boyan (NLD), CEO and Founder, The Ocean Cleanup
·
Spahn, Jens (DEU), Parliamentary State Secretary and Federal
Ministry of Finance
·
Stephenson, Randall L. (USA), Chairman and CEO, AT&T
·
Stern, Andrew (USA), President Emeritus, SEIU and Senior Fellow,
Economic Security Project
·
Stoltenberg, Jens (INT), Secretary General, NATO
·
Summers, Lawrence H. (USA), Charles W. Eliot University
Professor, Harvard University
·
Tertrais, Bruno (FRA), Deputy Director, Fondation pour la
recherche stratégique
·
Thiel, Peter (USA), President, Thiel Capital
·
Topsøe, Jakob Haldor (DNK), Chairman, Haldor Topsøe Holding A/S
·
Ülgen, Sinan (TUR), Founding and Partner, Istanbul Economics
·
Vance, J.D. (USA), Author and Partner, Mithril
·
Wahlroos, Björn (FIN), Chairman, Sampo Group, Nordea Bank,
UPM-Kymmene Corporation
·
Wallenberg, Marcus (SWE), Chairman, Skandinaviska Enskilda
Banken AB
·
Walter, Amy (USA), Editor, The Cook Political Report
·
Weston, Galen G. (CAN), CEO and Executive Chairman, Loblaw
Companies Ltd and George Weston Companies
·
White, Sharon (GBR), Chief Executive, Ofcom
·
Wieseltier, Leon (USA), Isaiah Berlin Senior Fellow in Culture
and Policy, The Brookings Institution
·
Wolf, Martin H. (INT), Chief Economics Commentator, Financial
Times
·
Wolfensohn, James D. (USA), Chairman and CEO, Wolfensohn &
Company
·
Wunsch, Pierre (BEL), Vice-Governor, National Bank of Belgium
·
Zeiler, Gerhard (AUT), President, Turner International
·
Zients, Jeffrey D. (USA), Former Director, National Economic
Council
·
Zoellick, Robert B. (USA), Non-Executive Chairman,
AllianceBernstein L.P.
Naturally, the secretive nature of the group has given birth to
conspiracy theories. Some have claimed that the Bilderberg is a group of rich
and powerful kingmakers seeking to impose a one world government. Whether that
is true remains in the eye of the beholder, however one thing is clear: as the
graph below shows, the members are connected to virtually every important and
relevant organization, media outlet, company and political entity in the world.
