Many of the world's most powerful people are gathering for the annual meeting of the mysterious Bilderberg Group this week. Russia, the Trump administration and ‘The war on information’ are among key topics up for discussion.
This year’s gathering takes place in Chantilly, Virginia, less than 30 miles from the White House, and goings-on in the Oval Office are top of the agenda for the 131 people who’ve confirmed they’re attending.
Many top White House figures will be at the four-day event, including the Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, National Security Advisor HR McMaster and Assistant to the President Christopher Liddell.Other topics up for discussion include ‘Russia in the international order,’ China, ‘The Trans-Atlantic defense alliance: bullets, bytes and bucks,’ ‘The war on information,’ 'Direction of the EU’ and ‘Why is populism growing?’ This year’s event marks the 65th meeting of the infamously secretive group which has met every year since 1954. Denis Healey, Joseph Retinger, David Rockefeller and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands were the group’s founders.The group says the conference is “designed to foster dialogue between Europe and North America.”
Each year it’s attended by people from the fields of politics, industry, finance, media and academia. About two-thirds of the participants come from Europe and the rest of North America.As well of some of Trump’s top brass, other attendees this year include Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, Republican senators Tom Cotton and Lindsey Graham, and Chinese Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai. Editors, and chief commentators, from several world famous publications including Bloomberg, The Economist, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera and the London Evening Standard will also be in attendance.Notorious for the lack of information about what happens during the discussions, meetings are closed to the public and to reporting journalists.
All of the meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule, which means that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers can be revealed. Also, no minutes are taken and no report is written.
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