Above: The presidents and prime ministers met and discussed at the Versailles Peace Conference: (from left) Lloyd George (UK), Vittorio Orlando (Italy), Georges Clemenceau (France) and Woodrow Wilson (USA). But behind the scenes, doing the thinking and advising them were the secret societies – the Round Table, Inquiry and Council on Foreign Relations

have helped me in my study of foreign affairs.” No wonder, when he became president, Carter filled his administration with 13 TC members, including Walter Mondale who had run as his vice president. “The startling aspect of this,” say Burnett and Games, “was that the TC at the time had only 65 American members.” Interestingly, in 1980, the TC fielded two fellow members against Carter and Mondale – the Republican George Bush (Senior), who was a member of both the TC and CFR, and John Andersen, who run as an independent. Enter Ronald Reagan, a member of the Bohemian Grove, much like Richard Nixon. As Burnett and Games report, when asked who really ran America, Reagan admitted: “I think there is an elite in this country and they are the ones who run an elitist government. They want a government by a handful of people because they don’t believe the people themselves can run their lives...”

Yet when Reagan entered the White House, out of the 59 people he appointed to his administration, 28 were CFR members, 10 were Bilderbergers, and another 10 from the TC. When George Bush Senior (CFR/TC) succeeded Reagan, his top appointments was solid CFR – Condoleezza Rice (CFR), Dick Cheney (CFR), Brent Scowcroff (CFR), Colin Powell (CFR), Paul Wolfowitz (CFR). “When Bill Clinton (CFR) became president,” reveal Burnett and Games, “he brought on board even more CFR members than Bush had – 16 members of his cabinet were from CFR (including women).” In 2004, when George Bush Junior and John Kerry contested the presidency, the Skull and Bones had a field day as both were members. Kerry, additionally, held CFR membership. Though Bush is not CFR, he yet surrounds himself with CFR members. As with all secret societies, CFR membership is by invitation only. “A recent breakdown of the 4,200 membership,” write Burnett and Games, “reveals that 31% come from the corporate sector, 25% from academia, 15% from charities, 13% from government, 8% from law, 6% from the media, and 2% from other professions.” Burnett and Games continue: “The CFR prohibits its members from discussing anything that has been said within its closed meetings to outsiders. It is this confidentiality that allows controversial subjects to be discussed within the Council and which helps define the CFR as a secret society. Since Allen Dulles left his position as president of the CFR in 1950 and became the director of CIA, almost all of the subsequent CIA directors have been CFR members... “The CFR is also a breeding ground for future presidents... It has reached the point where if someone wants to exert influence in Washington, they have to pass through the doors of the CFR. Its members control the world’s banking, the world’s largest intelligence gathering apparatus, most of the media giants, and most of the dominant American-based multinational corporations.” Burnett and Games add one more vital truth: “With such a global coverage, anti-CFR press reports are unlikely to see the light of day, and that may be why the general public is unaware of its influence.”

The Bilderberg The same can be said of the European version of the CFR, the Bilderberg, founded in 1952, which is very influential on this side of the Atlantic. Unlike the CFR, the Bilderberg’s membership is open to Europeans and Americans only. For more on the Bilderberg, please see Baffour’s Beefs (NA, February, April, May, July and Aug/Sept 2004). Why none of these groups care to admit Africans is the more reason why Africa must have its own. It is the way forward for the continent. As can be gleaned from the activities of the secret societies, they really are the backbone of their countries and their place in the world. Regarding ideas for national (and even international development), they provide the raw material by doing the original thinking, the research and analysis and handing the polished ideas over to their governments for implementation. They also provide forums for their leaders to meet, fraternise, bond together, support one another, and take collective decisions. This is the good side of the secret societies that Africa must borrow and implement. Our countries are in dire need of such services, our own secret societies. We may hate the Afrikaner Broderbund secret society for what it stood for in apartheid South Africa, but it did render useful services for the twisted cause of apartheid. It has shown the way in Africa – we must get on our bikes! g NA

February 2008 NEW AFRICAN n 17