Government officials from across the Western world are meeting with business leaders and academics in Madrid at the 70th Bilderberg summit this weekend. Behind closed doors and out of reach of the press, the attendees are scheduled to discuss “Ukraine,” “Russia,” and “The future of warfare.”
Held every year since 1954, the Bilderberg Meeting brings together the wealthy and powerful from Europe and North America to discuss – according to most reports – how to more closely align their economies and policies.
Participation is for invitees only, no official statements or communiques are released, and according to the limited details available on the Bilderberg group’s website, participants take part as “individuals” and are “not bound by the conventions of their office or by pre-agreed positions.”
This year’s meeting, which is being held in Madrid, began on Thursday and concludes on Sunday. Among those attending are US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Deputy National Security Advisor Jonathan Finer, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, European Council President Charles Michel, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, as well as the prime ministers of the Netherlands and Estonia, the foreign ministers of Spain, Ukraine, Sweden, and Poland, and the deputy prime minister of Ireland.
From the world of business, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, BP CEO Murray Auchincloss, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt will take part, along with several AI executives from Google, Microsoft, and Anthropic PBC.
According to the Bilderberg website, this year’s key topics include the “state of AI,” the “future of warfare,” “Ukraine and the world,” and “Russia.”
Despite Russia featuring as a topic of discussion, none of the 131 attendees named on the website are Russian.
The inherent secrecy of the Bilderberg Meetings has given rise to conspiracy theories from both ends of the political spectrum. Leftists see the Bilderberg club as an instrument of capitalist power, while right-wingers view the meetings – along with those of the Trilateral Commission and World Economic Forum – as planning sessions for a totalitarian one-world government, or ‘New World Order’.
“To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair,” Denis Healey, a founding member of the group, told The Guardian in 2001. “Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn’t go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing.”
“Various conspiracy theorists have expressed wild allegations about the purpose of the gatherings,” the Bilderberg website states. “While these claims lack any and all merit, we regret to see that many continue to flourish online and in social media groups.”