Former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has been appointed as the new co-chair of the influential Bilderberg Group. The Bilderberg Group holds annual transatlantic policy conferences and has long been the subject of conspiracy theories over the extent of its power to shape global events.
After a tumultuous decade at the helm of the Alliance, Stoltenberg now takes over the reins of the preeminent debate forum. The forum is a highly private four-day event often attended by prime ministers, EU commissioners, bank heads, corporate CEOs and heads of intelligence agencies.
Stoltenberg's first Bilderberg return came in 2002, a few years before he became Norway's prime minister for the second time. There have been further visits during his decade as NATO Secretary-General, including delivering the keynote address at the group's Saturday night dinner in Turin in 2018. Bilderberg's appointment as co-chair cements the group's role at the heart of the transatlantic strategy.
Stoltenberg will also become chairman of the Munich Security Conference, another important defense and diplomatic symposium, in February. Stoltenberg's replacement at NATO by former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, also a Bilderberg veteran, means leadership is concentrated at the top of the Atlantic alliance at a critical time.
Stoltenberg's tenure at NATO was dominated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which began in earnest shortly before he took office in 2014. Mr Stoltenberg recently oversaw what he called “the biggest build-up of collective defense in a generation” and proudly stated: “Defense spending is on the rise across the Alliance.”
Many of Bilderberg's new colleagues are benefiting from this rise.
Several of the group's 31-member steering committee hold senior roles in the defense industry. Billionaire former Google president Eric Schmidt recently chaired the National Security Council on AI and is currently busy starting a suicide drone company aimed at the lucrative Ukrainian market. Meanwhile, billionaire Swedish businessman Markus Wallenberg is chairman of defense manufacturer Saab, which saw orders rise by 71% in the first nine months of 2024, largely due to the war with Russia. did.
Peter Thiel, a prominent technology figure and Donald Trump insider, founded the fast-growing robotics company Anduril and the fast-growing surveillance and AI giant Palantir. His loyal lieutenant, Palantir CEO Alex Karp, was voted to Bilderberg's board several years ago. Karp claims his company is “responsible for most of the targeted attacks in Ukraine” and recently told the New York Times that the United States is “very likely” to fight a trilateral war with China, Russia and Iran in the near future. It's expensive,” he said.
In some ways, today's geopolitical mood is not that different from the 1950s, when Bilderberg was born.
At the top of the agenda at the first conference in 1954 was “Attitudes toward Communism and the Soviet Union,'' and the “secret'' conference report repeatedly referred to the “communist threat.'' Seventy years later, at the latest summit in Madrid, the main threat was “Russia”, which sat firmly at the foot of the conference's agenda under “Ukraine and the World” and “The Future of War”.
In 1954, the League was facing the “emergence of communist imperialism.” In 2024, the country will face what Stoltenberg calls an “emerging axis of authoritarianism” led by Russia, China, and North Korea.
Both Stoltenberg and his successor, Secretary General Rutte, attended this summer's Madrid meeting. They were joined in the conference hall by several senior Pentagon officials as well as NATO's second-most senior military leader, U.S. Army Gen. Chris Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe. This is Mr. Cavoli's second meeting, and not the first time Mr. Satur has attended a meeting. They have been accompanying to strategize since the mid-60s.
Bilderberg has always had close ties to the military. The founders include senior members of the British and American intelligence services, and former NATO leader Lord Carrington chaired the group from 1990 to 1998.
The shameful resignation of the founding chairman, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, also had a military background. He was embroiled in the Lockheed bribery scandal in 1976, the only year (pre-COVID-19) in which the conference was canceled. And it's telling that perhaps the most dominant figure at Bilderberg over the past few decades has been the great strategist and warmonger Henry Kissinger. Kissinger is hailed by some as a foreign policy genius and despised by others as a mass-murdering war criminal.
Bilderberg thrives on careful diplomacy, elite networking, and intelligence. Sir John Sowers, the former head of MI6, was a member of the group's steering committee, as was the current director of the CIA, William Burns, until he quietly resigned when he took office. .
But Stoltenberg's appointment could signal a big change. It's a big-name appointment, following the recent selection of high-profile CNN interviewer Fareed Zakaria to the group's steering committee, perhaps signaling a move out of the shadows for publicity-shy people. It might be. group.
Mr. Bilderberg hasn't held a press conference in decades, but Mr. Stoltenberg, an urbane politician, is a close friend of Dutch economist and Goldman Sachs adviser Victor Halberstadt, who died in September. He is much more accustomed to media conferences and question-and-answer sessions than he is.
In fact, Mr. Stoltenberg has already issued a statement to the press about his new role, telling Norwegian newspaper Dagens Nöringsliv that Mr. Bilderberg is “in conjunction with the Munich Security Council… “This is a good platform for cooperation between business and social leaders.” Academia”.
If Mr. Stoltenberg wants to steer Mr. Bilderberg toward a bit more engagement with the press, he will need to hear from co-chairman Marie-Josée Kravis, who sits on the board of Publicis, one of the world's largest public relations firms. You may wish to obtain assistance. Telecommunications company.
However, there is a good chance that Kravis himself will step down soon. She has been an avid Bilderberger since the late 80's. While younger billionaires in the inner circle, especially the Silicon Valley crowd, tend to feel more comfortable speaking into microphones, others in the group's governing body, such as politician Stacey Abrams and Starbucks board member Melody Hobson, people are competent. public speaker.
We will have to wait until Mr. Stoltenberg's first meeting as Bilderberg co-chairman to find out whether he will shake up the group's publicity policy. Naturally, this takes place in Sweden. During his tenure at NATO, Stoltenberg welcomed four new members into the alliance. Sweden was the most recent member state.
Sweden's chief negotiator for NATO membership, Oskar Stenström, was spotted wandering around this year's Bilderberg conference in Madrid. He is helping organize next year's summit in Stockholm on behalf of his new boss, billionaire Wallenberg. The Wallenberg family conveniently owns the venue, the grand Grand Hotel, which will be locked down in mid-June for the event.
What we do know for sure is that in his new role, Mr. Stoltenberg will focus on strengthening transatlantic ties, like one of Mr. Schmidt's kamikaze drones. is. With Trump back in the White House and US foreign policy back in the hands of the president, this may not be entirely simple. An “America First” agenda.
Stoltenberg wrote in the Financial Times last month that Trump's “campaign comments have raised legitimate concerns about Europe's security efforts.” That said, Stoltenberg knows that no matter how difficult things get with President Trump, he has a hotline to the White House through Peter Thiel. Vice President-elect J.D. Vance worked for Mr. Thiel at Mithril Capital and is a healthy handful of Mr. Thiel's engineers. Members of the network are in key positions in the second Trump administration.
But that's what makes Bilderberg so bipartisan. No matter who wins, they always have someone on the inside.
For example, Mr. Karp, Mr. Thiel's CEO at Palantir, was a big supporter of Kamala Harris. Looking down on the steering committee, Nadia Shadlow is President Trump's former vice national security adviser, and Abrams is a prominent Democratic politician and activist. Writing in the Financial Times last month, Mr. Stoltenberg emphasized the bipartisan nature of the transatlantic alliance, saying, “Support and pride in the most powerful military alliance the world has ever seen is based on politics.'' “It remains strong across the board.”
The former NATO chief had cautiously welcomed Trump 2.0. What is his strategy? Simply that “we need to invest more in defense” to “remind the incoming administration that the transatlantic relationship is not a burden, but a critical strategic asset in this era of great power competition.” is.
So all the high finance high rollers invited to Stoltenberg's Bilderberg can expect to get a hard sell on military and defense investments. Now is the time for Jens to network and jive on his transatlantic wings to keep the war going, strengthen alliances, and keep billions of dollars of military technology flowing.
