Canada—terrorist hotbed or just a patsy for the rich and powerful?
Today’s Washington’s Times op-ed praises the weekend arrests of 17 Muslim men for allegdedly plotting terror attacks in Canada (note however, the authorities have provided no evidence to back these charges).
But the the right-wing paper repeats the charge that Canada’s “lenient asylum, immigration and refugee-status laws have made Canada a haven for terrorists with easy access to the United States.”
While TV comedians made hay with the alleged bomb plot, Tories and Grits were united in their condemnation of such claims from Rep. John Hostettler, who last where said Canada “hosts an abundance of terrorists and as many as 50 terrorists organizations.”
Canadian pols labeld Hostettler’s comments as “completely uninformed and ignorant remarks.”
Hostettler also lashed out at “South Toronto,” which he said was “the type of enclave that allows for this radical type of discussion to go on.” Toronto is Canada’s largest city, but there is no area known as “South Toronto.” Crimes rates in the southern part of the city — which lies on the north shore of Lake Ontario — are relatively low.
But there is certainly danger to the north this week as Ottawa hosts the super-secretive society of the rich and powerful—The Bilderberg group.
Bilderberg members include European royalty, national leaders, political power-brokers, and heads of the world’s biggest companies. The Canadian Press reports that observers of “the Bilderberg group say it got Europe to adopt a common currency, got Bill Clinton to support NAFTA, and is spending this week deciding what to do about high oil prices and that pesky fundamentalist president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.”
The Bildergroup is so secret and powerful that the Ottawa police officers standing on guard outside a dozen metal gates that serve as security checkpoints a half-kilometre from the hotel where the group is meeting have to show the their credentials to the half-dozen black-suited men working for Global Risk, a private security firm.
2006 Bilderberg participants include: David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Queen Beatrice of Holland, New York Governor George Pataki, and the CEOs of Coca-Cola, Royal Bank of Canada, and key players in the US invasion of Iraq: Richard Perle, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Ahmad Chalabi. Look here for a longer list of Bilderberg attendees.
Whose a bigger threat to the world? Those 17 young kids from Toronto or the Bilderbergers?
Monday » June 12 » 2006
Bilderberg holds secretive meeting
Canadian Press
Friday, June 09, 2006
OTTAWA (CP) — It’s like Woodstock for conspiracy theorists.
A serene suburban setting has been transformed into a four-day festival of black suits, black limousines, burly security guards — and suspicions of world domination.
On the outskirts of the nation’s capital, a tony high-rise hotel beside a golf course is hosting the annual meeting for one of the world’s most secretive and powerful societies.
It’s not the Freemasons. They’re called the Bilderberg group.
They include European royalty, national leaders, political power-brokers, and heads of the world’s biggest companies.
Those who follow the Bilderberg group say it got Europe to adopt a common currency, got Bill Clinton to support NAFTA, and is spending this week deciding what to do about high oil prices and that pesky fundamentalist president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Ottawa police officers are standing guard outside a dozen metal gates that serve as security checkpoints a half-kilometre from the hotel.
But Ottawa’s finest are clearly not in charge here.
To approach the hotel property, even these uniformed police officers are required to show their credentials to the half-dozen black-suited men working for Globe Risk, a private security firm.
“This is pretty unusual,” one Ottawa cop said.
The Bilderberg group is a half-century-old organization comprising about 130 of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people. The group is named after the Dutch hotel where it held its first meeting in 1954.
An unsigned press release, sent by fax, confirmed this year’s meeting would deal with energy issues, Iran, the Middle East, terrorism, immigration, Russia, European-American relations and Asia.
The release included a list of participants at this year’s event.
The 2006 group includes David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, Queen Beatrix of Holland, New York Gov. George Pataki, the heads of Coca-Cola, Credit Suisse, the Royal Bank of Canada, a number of media moguls, and cabinet ministers from Spain and Greece.
The group also includes a pair of prominent figures involved in planning the U.S. invasion of Iraq — Richard Perle and Ahmad Chalabi. Fellow White House power-players Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz, now head of the World Bank, have spoken to the group in the past.
The prime ministers of Britain and Canada — Tony Blair and Stephen Harper — have addressed the group before, as has the late prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
Harper spoke to Bilderberg in Versailles, France, in 2003 but his office said he would not attend this year’s conference.
Canada remains well represented, however.
The Canadian contingent at this year’s event includes Power Corp. boss Paul Desmarais, Indigo books CEO Heather Reisman, and former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna.
The Globe and Mail newspaper publisher, Philip Crawley, was also there. However, Bilderberg followers say that media moguls whose outlets report leaked details from the meetings will see themselves banned in the future.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2006
Copyright © 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
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