Bilderberg meeting in Athens 2009

The secretive Western Capitalist elite club, the Bilderberg Group, held its yearly meeting at Athens this year. The Bilderberg Group is often accused by many of being one of the pillars of the undemocratic Western Imperial government, together with the G8, Trilateral Comission and NATO. It would be some sort of influential and secretive "senate" of the hyper-rich and hyper-powerful. Unlike other imperial pillars but much like NATO, it does not seem to include members from Japan or the Pacific area but only Europe and North America. Researching and reporting on it is rather "discouraged" by the police.

An interesting English language link is within The Guardian, which tried to report on the meeting to the displeasure of Greek police. Another extensive link in Rumanian language is infoCON.ro.

Spanish language news site Rebelión reports that this year's schedule included the following topics: "the future of US economy and the dollar, unemployement in the USA: solutions and forecasts, depression or chronic stagnation? and the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon" [refurbished European Constitution].

The list of attendants this year was over the hundred, here listed by state of origin (states sorted by GDP(PPP)):

USA: Keith B. Alexander (Lieutenant General, U.S. Army, Director of the National Security Agency), Roger Altman (investment banker, former U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton), George David (Chairman and former CEO of United Technologies Corporation, board member of Citigroup), Niall Ferguson (Professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler Professor at Harvard Business School), Timothy Geithner (Secretary of the Treasury), Donald Graham (CEO and chairman of the board of The Washington Post Company), Richard Holbrooke (Obama's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan), James Jones (National Security Advisor to the White House), Vernon Jordan (lawyer, close adviser to President Bill Clinton), Henry Kissinger (former US Secretary of State and most influential conservative politician), Marie Jose Kravis (Hudson Institute), Jessica Matthews (President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Craig Mundie (chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft), Richard Perle (American Enterprise Institute), David Petraeus (Commander, U.S. Central Command), David Rockefeller (most influential banker), Dennis Ross (special advisor for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton), Barnett R. Rubin (Director of Studies and Senior Fellow, Center for International Cooperation), Lawrence Summers (economist, Director of the White House's National Economic Council), Paul Volcker (former Federal Reserve director, Chair of Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board), James Wolfensohn (former president of the World Bank), Paul Wolfowitz (former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, President of the World Bank, currently AEI scholar), Fareed Zakaria (journalist, author, and CNN host), Robert Zoellick (former managing director of Goldman Sachs, President the World Bank)

Germany: Thomas Enders (CEO Airbus), Mathias Nass (Editor of the newspaper Die Zeit), Cem Özdemir (co-leader of the Green Party and Member of the European Parliament), Jürgen E. Schrempp (former CEO DaimlerChrysler)

UK: Kenneth Clarke (MP, Shadow Business Secretary), Richard Dearlove (former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service), John Kerr - aka Baron Kerr of Kinlochard - (Deputy Chairman of Royal Dutch Shell and an independent member of the House of Lords), John Micklethwait (Editor-in-chief of The Economist), Martin Taylor (former chief executive of Barclays Bank, currently Chairman of Syngenta AG), Martin Wolf (associate editor and chief economics commentator at the Financial Times)

France: Nicholas Bavarez (economist and historian), Xavier Bertrand (politician connected to Nicolas Sarkozy), Henri de Castries (President of AXA insurances), Thierry de Montbrial (founded the Department of Economics of the École Polytechnique and heads the Institut français des relations internationales), Denis Olivennes (director general of Nouvel Observateur), Frederic Oudea (CEO of Société Générale bank)

Italy: Franco Bernabè (Telecom Italia), Mario Draghi (economist, governor of the Bank of Italy), John Elkann, Italy (Italian industrialist, grandson of the late Gianni Agnelli, and heir to the automaker Fiat), Mario Monti (economist and politician, President of the Bocconi University of Milan), Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa (banker, economist and former Minister of Economy and Finance), Romano Prodi (former Prime Minister and former President of the European Commission)

Spain: Queen Sofia, Ana Patricia Botín (President of Banesto bank), Juan Luis Cebrián, Spain (journalist of Grupo PRISA, former director of El País), José Entrecanales (construction magnate, President of Acciona), Bernardino Leon Gross (Secretary General of the Presidency), Miguel Angel Moratinos (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (conservative politician, former major of Madrid), Pedro Solbes Mira (economist, Second Vice President and Minister of Economy and Finance)

Canada: W. Edmund Clark (CEO TD Bank Financial Group), Frank McKenna (Deputy Chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank), J. Robert S. Prichard (CEO of Torstar Corporation and president emeritus of the University of Toronto), Heather M. Reisman (co-founder of Indigo Books & Music Inc.), Indira Samarasekera (President of University of Alberta, Board of Directors Scotiabank)

Turkey: Ali Babaca (Deputy Prime Minister responsible for economy), Mustafa Vehbi Koç (President of industrial conglomerate Koç Holding). See also the "unclear" section, that includes many allegedly Turkish personalities.

Netherlands: Queen Beatrix, Prince Constantijn, Victor Chalmperstant (Leiden University), Ernst Hirsch Ballin (politician, minister of Justice in the fourth Balkenende cabinet, member of the Christian Democratic Appeal), Jaap De Hoop Scheffer (Dutch politician and current NATO Secretary General), Neelie Kroes (European Commissioner for Competition), Jeroen van der Veer (CEO of Royal Dutch Shell), Nout Wellink (Chairman of De Nederlandsche Bank, Board of Directors, the Bank of International Settlements), Hans Wijers (CEO of the multinational corporation AkzoNobel)

Belgium: Prince Philippe, Etienne Ntavinion or Étienne, Viscount Davignon, (former vice-president of the European Commission), Philippe Maystadt (President of the European Investment Bank), Guy Verhofstadt (former Prime Minister)

Sweden: Carl Bildt (former Prime Minister of Sweden, oil magnate with interests in Russia and Sudan), Jacob Wallenberg (chairman of Investor AB and former chairman of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken), Marcus Wallenberg (CEO of Investor AB, former chairman of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken)

Greece: Georgios A. Arapoglou (Governor of National Bank of Greece), Odysseas Kyriakopoulos (Group S & B) (?), Dimitrios Th.Papalexopoulo (Managing Director of Titan Cement Company SA), Peter Thiel (Clarium Capital Management LCC, PayPal co-founder, Board of Directors: Facebook), Dora Bakoyannis (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Anna Diamantopoulou (Member of Parliament for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement), Yannis Papathanasiou (Minister of Finance), George Alogoskoufis (former Minister), George A. David (businessman, president of Coca-Cola)

Switzerland: Josef Ackermann (CEO of Deutsche Bank), Christoph Blocher (industrialist, Vice President of the Swiss People's Party), Daniel L. Vasella (Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer at Novartis AG)

Norway: Egil Myklebust (Chairman of the board of SAS Group, Scandinavian Airlines System), Eivint Reitan (economist, corporate officer and politician for the Centre Party)

Portugal: Francisco Pinto Balsemão (former Prime Minister), Manuela Ferreira Leite (Portuguese economist and politician), Manuel Pinho (Minister of Economy and Innovation)

Denmark: Eldrup Anders (CEO Dong Energy)

Finland: Jyrki Katainen (Minister of Finance, leader of the Finnish National Coalition Party), Matti Taneli Vanhanen (Prime Minister)

Ireland: Peter Sutherland (Chairman, BP and Chairman of Goldman Sachs International)

Unclear (misspelt, not found in searchs): January Bgiorklount (Swedish Education minister Jan Bjïorklund?), Alexander Bompar, France (Bompard?), Luc Cohen, Belgium (?), Isintro phenomena casket (speculated by Rebelión to be Isidro Fainé, President of La Caixa), Ntermot convergence, Ireland (AIV Group) (?), Robert Keigkan, United States (? - possibly Robert Kagan, neocon historian), Roland GT, Germany (?), Sami Cohen, Turkey (Journalist) (?), Michael Rintzier, Czech Republic (?), Susan Sampantzi Ntintzer, Turkey (?) Guler Sabanci, Turkey, President of Sabanci Holdings (?), Rountol Solten, Austria (?), Sampatzi Saraz, Turkey (banker) possibly Süreyya Serdengeçti (former Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey) (?) , Sanata Seketa, Canada (University of Canada) (?), Agan Ourgkout, Turkey (?)

List mostly from PeaceReporter.

I find particularly interesting the low profile of the German "delegation" (only 4 people in spite of being the second largest Atlantic economy) and also the relatively high number of "journalists", who are obviously there not to report but to take directives on how to sow disinformation and brainwash the public. Another noticeable item is the high presence of US military and Middle East "proconsuls", including Richard Holbrooke, suggesting that, beyond the official schedule, hot issues like Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq have been surely also included.
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