Big Shots Jump at Bilderberg’s Oil Orders By James P. Tucker Jr. Issue # 26, June 30, 2008
Powerful world leaders ran like dogs to the whistle to champion Bilderberg’s decree (AFP June 23, 2008) to put a lid on surging oil prices. Meanwhile, Bilderberg’s world government project suffered another severe setback when Irish voters killed the latest version of the European Constitution. Just three days after Bilderberg concluded its annual secret meeting, on June 11, a top energy bureaucrat said average gasoline prices would likely peak at $4.35 a gallon, contradicting previous predictions that the costs would soon exceed $5 a gallon Guy Caruso, head of the federal Energy Information Administration, made this prediction at a congressional hearing on energy prices and the future of oil. Gasoline prices are likely to remain close to or at $4 a gallon through 2009, he said. UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said on June 15 that the king of Saudi Arabia had promised to lower oil prices. Ban spoke with reporters after meeting with King Abdullah in the port city of Jidda during a visit to the world’s largest oil producer. “The king believes that the current oil prices are abnormally high, and he is ready to restore prices to their appropriate levels,” the official Saudi News Agency quoted Ban. The New York Times reported on June 14—six days after receiving its marching orders at Bilderberg—that unnamed analysts and oil traders briefed by Saudi officials said a production increase of about 500,000 barrels per day is planned “Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer, is concerned that sustained high oil prices eventually will slacken the world’s appetite for oil, affecting the kingdom in the long run,” Associated Press reported. This precisely reflects what Bilderberg said in Chantilly. A Bilderberg speaker from Europe had said: “Are we reaching the point of diminishing returns? People who switch from gas hogs to fuel-efficient, small cars are not going to do an instant about-face. And those who convert to public transportation, many of them, are going to stick with the train or bus. We have seen many middle-class families, who grudgingly accepted $3 a gallon, choose to stay home instead of driving to the beaches or mountains. They’re presently calling them ‘staycations.’ We all take the long view of history. Will forcing gasoline prices even higher increase profits in the long term? Ford has already shut down production of big cars and has many SUV-types it can’t give away. Ford will not retool overnight.” Finance ministers from the Group of Eight weighed in at their meeting in Japan, issuing a joint statement calling for lower oil prices. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Jr., who had just left the Bilderberg session, called for oil-producing countries to allow more investment in oil exploration and production. In another blow to Bilderberg’s global ambitions, Irish voters rejected a treaty to make the European Union a superstate by a decisive 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent. A “European Constitution” had been rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005. To take effect, all European Union states must approve. After the “constitution” was rejected, European leaders came up with a shorter version providing for the same envisioned superstate but called it a “treaty.” As a “treaty,” France and the Netherlands did not have to submit it for a vote. But Ireland’s constitution required a referendum and Irish voters chose national sovereignty over a European superstate. “It’s a very sad day for the country and for Europe,” said Justice Minister Brian Lenihan. “It is a great day for Irish democracy,” said Declan Ganley, a businessman who led the anti-treaty forces.” This is democracy in action . . . and Europe needs to listen to the voice of the people.” Responding to those seeking a way around the Irish rejection, British Foreign Secretary David Milliband said: “The rules are absolutely clear. If all 27 countries do not pass the Lisbon Treaty it cannot pass into law.” Establishing a European Union superstate is a crucial plank in Bilderberg’s program for a world government. Similar efforts to establish an “American Union” in the Western Hemisphere have likewise bogged down. Bilderberg is on the ropes. AFP correspondent James P. Tucker Jr. has spent many years as a member of the “elite” media in Washington. Since 1975 he has won widespread recognition, here and abroad, for his pursuit of on-the-scene stories reporting the intrigues of global power blocs such as the Bilderberg Group. Tucker is the author of Bilderberg Diary: One Man’s 25-Year Battle to Shine the Light on the World Shadow Government. Bound in an attractive full-color softcover and containing 272 pages—loaded with photos—the book recounts Tucker’s experiences over the last quarter century at Bilderberg meetings. $25 from AFP. No charge for S&H in U.S. http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/bilderberg_s_oil_orders_141.html --- AFP Reporter Grills Dan Rather on Bilderberg By Mark Anderson Issue # 25, June 23, 2008 AFP grilled former CBS News anchorman Dan Rather and former CNN Commentator Catherine Crier, among others, about the Bilderberg Group during the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, June 6-8. Bilderberg was meeting in Chantilly, Va. at the same time. Rather denied even having heard of the Bilderberg Group when asked about this matter by AFP during a June 7 press conference attended by 25 other reporters. Despite gestures from a moderator to keep the questions for Rather brief, AFP pressed on to concisely describe Bilderberg to Rather as the very thing he had just mentioned when he answered a previous question and noted that media representatives often are corrupted by rubbing elbows with the corporate elite. Bilderberg meetings have been going on for decades, AFP informed Rather. Rather only speculated that perhaps media members who attend elite gatherings like Bilderberg might glean some useful information or establish worthwhile connections, but he acknowledged that if the decisions that attendees make at such gatherings remain secret, that is a problem. He would not elaborate. Massachusetts reporter Michelle Fahey of Spare Change, while exiting this press conference, felt that Rather was not being honest when he claimed he has never heard of Bilderberg. Anthony Jasa of infowars.com, who filmed AFP’s exchange with Rather, said he did not buy it either. AFP also raised the specter of Bilderberg at a spirited, more crowded panel discussion that included Ms. Crier and Jeff Cohen, founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College. Crier, whose prior news jobs included positions at Fox News and ABC, did not raise her hand when she and the other panelists were asked during the discussion whether they had at least heard of the Bilderberg Group. Cohen, however, raised his hand. He surmised that the upper-crust corporate interests at Bilderberg hold so much control over major-media advertising that they probably would threaten to pull the financial plug if any major U.S. media were to consider reporting on the Bilderberg meetings. Afterwards, Crier—a former Texas judge considered to be an inquisitive reporter—commented to AFP that she may look into the Bilderberg matter. Cohen, the only conference participant questioned by AFP who openly acknowledged the Bilderbergers, told independent writer Sheila Casey of Rock Creek Free Press that he did not believe that the 9-11 tragedy was an inside job, having heard a debate between producers of the popular independent documentary Loose Change and two Popular Mechanics writers. Casey demanded to know why the “progressive media” represented at the Minneapolis conference—which postures as a real alternative to the corporate press—still seems to ape the corporate media in ignoring various compelling insights on what really happened on 9-11-01, thereby towing the government line by default. She did not get a solid answer to that question. AFP also questioned well-known television personality and documentary news maker Phil Donahue on the issues of depleted uranium (DU) and 9-11 after a showing of his new film, Body of War, which documents the life of Kansas City soldier Tomas Young. The young man was shot just five weeks into his Army service in Iraq; an AK-47 bullet severed his spine and paralyzed him from the chest down. He had ventured to the Mideast to “kick some butt” after 9-11. Donahue said he had heard of the DU issue but indicated that it was beyond the scope of his inquiry. He brusquely thanked this reporter for bringing it to his attention, after DU was basically described to him as an armor-piercing weapons component that leaves radioactive aerosols, residues and fragments and sickens combatants and non-combatants alike, and that it is strongly implicated as a common factor in causing various mysterious illnesses in soldiers whose primary wounds (from bullets, shrapnel, etc.) do not always explain all their symptoms. As for looking into explanations besides the government’s tale about the events of 9-11-01, Donahue—whose recent Public Television appearances with PBS fixture Bill Moyers showed him as a determined critic of the Bush regime for fooling America into the current war on the basis of lies—told AFP that looking into other 9-11 explanations is wasteful. “This kind of rabbit-chasing gives fodder to the war-makers,” Donahue remarked, after 9-11 researcher and activist Kevin Barrett told him that a growing number of professors and retired military and intelligence personnel doubt the government’s conspiracy theory that 19 “flying Muslims” with box cutters commandeered airliners with such murderous precision. “I don’t believe we should waste our time when people are coming home in pine boxes,” Donahue added, seeming to dismiss the idea of examining the actual basis of why the soldier he profiled in his film went to war in the first place. Even impeachment was not an option to Donahue, who, despite his strong misgivings about the current Oval Office regime, nevertheless believes it’s too late and unwise to impeach the Grand Decider. “If you impeach this president, you’re going to earn even greater wrath,” Donahue cautioned, even as some New Hampshire state Democrats continue pushing House Resolution 24 to urge the U.S. Congress to impeach Bush as a matter of principle for the same war-related reasons that Donahue cited. This media reform conference hit on many valid concerns, cited disturbing examples of media malpractice and provided insight on how regulatory improvements could curb consolidation. Independent media is making a difference, but there was still considerable reluctance among the high profile attendees and several others to tackle three of the most fundamental issues of the day that are consistently covered by AFP: the Bilderbergers, depleted uranium and alternative views of 9-11. Impeachment and the proposed North American Union also seemed to be non-issues in terms of panel topics, although the Zionist-Israeli lobby’s meddling in U.S. affairs was acknowledged by the Cohen-Crier panel. “Sadly, the Fourth Estate has become the fifth column of democracy, colluding with the powers that be,” Moyers stated in his speech at the conference, unwittingly describing the big media-Bilderberg collaboration. He added that U.S. media employment is at a 15-year low and conglomerate owners such as Sam Zell of the Tribune Company want to cut up to 500 pages a week out of the many newspapers the company owns, fire reporters and editors, and rely instead on canned statistics, lists and charts. Moyers encouraged attendees to forge ahead and break the big media monopoly. Moyers, FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein and others outlined several good points and strategies, such as battling FCC regulations that allow entire media markets (radio, TV, newspapers) to be gobbled up by single owners. Keeping the internet free and independent also was trumpeted. But AFP detected uninterest among those leading the media reform movement in tackling specific hot-button issues such as Bilderberg that might risk their social standing or career status. Others in the movement may not share this reluctance, but until they correct this flaw, genuine media reform may prove elusive. Mark Anderson can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/afp_reporter_grills_dan_rather.html ------ BILDERBERG 2008 REPORT Bilderberg 2008 (PDF) Bilderberg 2008 (Zip format - smaller file for donwload - must have Winzip installed) To find out more about the this shadowy international group, please see our Bilderberg page.
