Part 4 of 4
[151] Detroit Free Press (MI) December 8, 1986, 'Shake-up occurred after military memo faulted Aquino': "President Corazon Aquino's reorganization of the government last month took place after military leaders gave her an 11-page memorandum that criticized "inactivity and/or inadequacies" of her administration and demanded military and civil reforms. The top-secret document, a copy of which was made available to Knight-Ridder Newspapers, was described by one senior military official who requested anonymity as a way to "gently coerce" Aquino. "We are telling her what to do," said another military figure who also requested anonymity, "and there is an implied threat all through it about what will happen if she doesn't." The document was signed by Gen. Fidel Ramos, the armed forces chief of staff, and all six service commanders, and endorsed by then-Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile, dismissed from the cabinet after he was linked to a coup plot last month... "Ramos wrote about 60 or 70 percent of that document," said one military official who participated in several of the top- level meetings that led to the creation of the memorandum. "But he was so tense by that time that I think he didn't really know which way was up." The official spoke on condition of anonymity."
[152] September 16, 1987, Philadelphia Inquirer, 'U.S. backing for Philippine junta alleged
[153] Ibid.
[154] 1993, Brian Crozier, 'Free Agent', p. 135-136
[155] *) Mostly documented in 1999, Adam Curtis, 'The Mayfair Set' (broadcasted on BBC2). This documentary does not discuss the role of George Kennedy Young, Billy McLean and the Mossad.
*) May 1990, Issue 19, Lobster, 'The final testimony of George Kennedy Young - Introduction' (written by Young himself): "However Nasser did get his uppance. Young had already left MI6 for merchant banking when Mossad approached him to find an Englishman acceptable to the Saudis to run a guerrilla war against the left-wing Yemeni regime and its Egyptian backers. 'I can find you a Scotsman', replied Young, and over a lunch in the City introduced Colonel Neil ('Billy') Maclean to Brigadier Dan Hiram, the Israeli Defence Attache. The Israelis promised to supply weapons, funds and instructors who could pass themselves off as Arabs, and the Saudis eagerly grasped the idea. Maclean's irregulars restored the Imam's rule and Nasser pulled out his troops whose morale had been badly shaken by the Yemeni practice of sending back captured troops with their lips cut cut off in a ghastly grin."
More details in the 1001 Club article.
[156] August 11, 1991, Hartford Courant, 'Americares' success hailed, criticized charity uses clout and connections...'. Large excerpts can be found in the biography of General Stilwell in the ISGP membership list accompanying this article.
[157] Ibid.
[158] 1997, Robert Hutchinson, Their Kingdom Come, p. 355-359
[159] 1993, Brian Crozier, Free Agent, p.186: "After the first election victory but before taking office, Reagan had appointed another of his Californian friends, William A. Wilson, to liaise both with the Pinay Cercle (see Ch. XV) and with The 61." Wilson was personal representative of President Reagan to the Vatican 1981-1984 and United States Ambassador to the Vatican 1984-1986. For details on Wilson's membership in the Knights of Malta see the membership list.
[160] Ibid., p. 197: "Von Machtenberg had telephoned both reports to me, and I immediately passed them on to the appropriate authorities. They were relayed to 10 Downing Street, the White House, and the Elysée. Albertini, who had alerted the latter, also, with my encouragement, passed the intelligence on to the Vatican (always a factor in any crisis affecting Catholic Poland, birthplace of Pope John Paul II)."
[161] August 11, 1991, Hartford Courant, 'Americares' success hailed, criticized charity uses clout and connections...': "The alliance between Macauley and Ritter led to an audience with Pope John Paul II in Rome in 1982. (Ritter left Covenant House in February 1990 after accusations of sexual misconduct with some male runaways he was helping). The meeting with the pope gave life to AmeriCares. Although Macauley started AmeriCares in 1979, the organization did not go on its first relief mission until 1982, when the pope asked Macauley to send aid to his native Poland." More information in Stilwell's biography.
[162] 1997, Robert Hutchinson, 'Their Kingdom Come – Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei', p. 263-264: "P2 was formed in the late 1960s, allegedly at the behest of Giordano Gamberini, a Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy and friend of Gulio Andreotti. But he was much closer to Francesco Cosentino, who also was well introduced in Vatican circles. Either Andreotti or Cosentino, or perhaps both, were said to have suggested the creation of a small cell of trusted right-wing personalities in key national sectors, but especially banking, intelligence and the press, to guard against what they perceived as 'the creeping communist threat'. The person Gamberini chose to develop the P2 Lodge was a small-time textile magnate from the Tuscan town of Arezzo, midway between Florence and Perugia, who after two as a Freemason had risen to the Italian equivalent of Master Mason. His name, of course, was Licio Gelli. But the P2's top man, according to Calvi, was none other than Andreotti, followed in line of command by Cosentino and Ortolani[Umberto Ortolani; secret chamberlain of the Papal Household; member of the inner council of the Knights of Malta; said to be a member of Cardinal Giacomo Lercano; met with Licio Gelli, Roberto Calvi, and others in Rome in December 1969]. Andreotti always denied Calvi's allegation. But the fact remains that Calvi feared Andreotti more than Gelli or Ortolani. As for Cosentino, he died soon after the P2 hearings began."
[163] 2005, Daniele Ganser, 'Nato's Secret Armies', p. 74: "Frank Gigliotti [one-time assistant to a hypnotist; Presbyterian clergyman; worked with teenaged boys, for whom he organized a social club named the Guiseppe Mazzini Club; recruited by the OSS; active in Italy] of the US Masonic Lodge personally recruited Gelli and instructed him to set up an anti-Communist parallel government in Italy in close cooperation with the CIA station in Rome. 'It was Ted Shackley, director of all covert operations of the CIA in Italy in the 1970s', an internal report of the Italian anti-terrorism unit confirmed, 'who presented the chief of the Masonic Lodge to Alexander Haig'. According to the document, Nixon's Military adviser General Haig [later Pilgrims Society executive], who had commanded US troops in vietnam and thereafter from 1974 to 1979 served as NATO's SACEUR, and Nixon's National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger [Le Cercle] 'authorized Gelli in the fall of 1969 to recruit 400 high ranking Italian and NATO officers into his lodge'. (60)... the secretive anti-Communist P2 members list confiscated [in 1981] counted at least 962 members, with total leadership estimated at 2,500... 52 were high-ranking officers of the Carabinieri paramilitary police, 50 were high-ranking officers of the Italian Army, 37 were high-ranking officers of the Finance Police, 29 were high-ranking officers of the Italian Navy, 11 were Presidents of the police, 70 were influential and wealthy industrialists, 10 were Presidents of banks, 3 were acting Ministers, 2 were former Ministers, 1 was President of a political party, 38 were members of parliament and 14 were high-ranking judges. Others on lower levels of the social hierarchy were mayors, Directors of hospitals, lawyers, notaries and journalists."
[164]
http://www.constantinian.org.uk/. You can't link directly to the relevant pages of this site. The names mentioned in this article can be found in the history of the organization and are spread throughout reports of the order's activities.
[165] 1990, Hugo Gijssels, De Bende & Co., p. 174 (translated from Dutch to English): "Finally, Paul Vankerkhoven is also co-founder and vice chairman of 'l'Institut Européen de Développement', of which the seat is located in the castle of baron de Bonvoisin."
[166] A combination of two sources describing the same police documents.
*) 1999, Annemie Bulté, Douglas De Coninck, & Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, 'The X-Dossiers - What Belgium was not supposed to know about the Dutroux case', p. 345-346 (only available in Dutch and French and generally hard to get at the moment). This book does not give specific names (anywhere in the book) and does not mention Opus Dei.
*) The French summary of the Dutroux X-Files made by investigative reporter Jean Nicolas who at some point gained access to the Dutroux and King Albert dossiers, consisting of more than 20.000 pages and many tape recordings of witnesses. Specific file numbers: pv. 250 (Z156) of January 8, 1997 and pv. 466 (Z156) of January 16, 1997. These file numbers match those given by the investigative reporters of the book 'The X-Dossiers' who worked for mainstream newspapers as De Morgen. The French summary also gives a few more details, including Thoma's statement that he was told this was part of an Opus Dei initiation. The hints about one or two of the perpetrators given in the book 'The X-Dossiers' match those named the French document.
[167] 2001, Jean Nicolas and Frédéric Lavachery, 'Dossier Pédophilie - Le scandale de l'affaire Dutroux', p. 193. The authors have included an uncensored transcript of a meeting between Christine Doret, Jean-Claude Garot and André Pinon that was taped without the knowledge of participant/witness Doret. Other authors have reported on this tape, but censored the names. The descriptions of the persons involved match with the names given in other publications. 1990, Hugo Gijssels, De Bende & Co., p. 135 adds about Boeynants "In a May 1988 interview with Vrij Nederland [Free Holland] Congressman [now Senator] Hugo Coveliers [of Belgium] declares without any sign of doubt that Vanden Boeynants is mentioned in the Pinon dossier as one of the participants in the sex-parties. Vanden Boeynants, who has a habit of bombarding the press with demands for explanations and legal threats, lets these serious accusations blow over without response. He does not react in any way."
[168] 1990, Hugo Gijssels, De Bende & Co., p. 129-130
[169] Ibid.
[170] *)
http://www.orderofmalta.org/eur_paese.a ... =5&paese=2: "DELEGATION DE L'ORDRE AUPRES DU GOUVERNEMENT: BELGIQUE Domaine du Fuji, 21 - B 1970 Wezembeek - Oppem Tél: +322.731.30.60 - Fax: +322.782.16.00 E-mail:
jacques.jonet@skynet.be"
*) Jonet was recently raised to peerage.
http://www.ordredemaltebelgium.org/belg ... tions.html:
"Représentations diplomatiques de l'Ordre et autres organisations : Belgique Représentant (1 janvier 2002) Le Baron Jonet Domaine de Fuji, 21 - B-1970 Wezembeek-Oppem Tél.: +32.2.731.30.60 Fax: +32.2.782.16.00 E-mail :
jacques.jonet@skynet.be"
*) Jonet's wife:
http://www.ordredemaltebelgium.org/belg_org_admin.html:
"CONSEIL D'ADMINISTRATION DE L'ASSOCIATION BELGE DE L'ORDRE DE MALTE
Administrateurs membres du Comité de Direction
Le Prince Baudoin de Merode, Président
Le Baron de Barsy, Coadjuteur
Le Baron Arnoud Papeians de Morchoven, Chancelier
La Baronne Jonet, Hospitalier
Le Comte Jean-Pierre de Beauffort, Trésorier.
Administrateurs
Le Comte de Borchgrave d'Altena Merghelynck... "
[171]
http://www.nettyroyal.nl/guestlist.html.
[172]
http://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/general/friends.aspx[173] 1990, Hugo Gijssels, De Bende & Co., p. 129-130
[174] Some examples of Opus Dei's influence on the Franco dictatorship from the 1957 to the 1970:
*) February 9, 1960, The Times, 'Spanish Newspaper Ownership - Acquisitions by Opus Dei': "The acquisition of substantial holdings in Madrid and provincial newspapers is among the recent moves of Opus Dei, a Roman Catholic secular society which is becoming a force to watch in Spanish political life... Since General Franco's Cabinet reshuffle in February 1957, members of Opus Dei have penetrated into a number of key positions in the government and seats of learning."
*) July 30, 1969, Star News, 'Spanish Catholic Lay Group May Hold Key to Future': "Now that 76-year-old chief of state Francisco Franco has named Prince Juan Carlos to succeed him, one of the most stabilizing forces in the transition to a post-Franco era will be a little-known and less understood organization called Opus Dei... Though the extent of their influence is not fully known, informed sources estimate that three or four major banking chains, vast real estate holdings and several key industries are in their hands. In addition, Opus Dei people are said to control two Madrid daily newspapers, a considerable share of the provincial press, a national press agency and a broadcasting station. Opus Dei's University of Navarro the only private university in Spain, turns out some of the country's most skilled journalists... Much of .the credit for Spain's rapid economic advance during the last decade goes to Opus Dei members. At present, five or six of Franco's cabinet members are generally regarded as being in the Opus Dei camp, thereby constituting the largest minority in the cabinet. The number of lower-ranking government officials with strong Opus Dei leanings is believed to run into the hundreds."
*) August 26, 1969, The Times, ''Resign' call in Spain': "All the key economic ministries [in Spain] are controlled by Opus Dei members, or sympathizers."
*) October 30, 1969, The Times, 'Riot as Franco alters Cabinet': "The Spanish government officially announced the names of General Franco's new Cabinet tonight, and confirmed earlier speculation that members of the powerful Roman Catholic lay organization Opus Dei will dominate Spain's future... Only four of the 18 Cabinet posts are unaffected... One of the most significant changes in the appointment of Senor Gregorio Lopez Bravo [Opus Dei], the former Minister of Industry, to be Minister of Foreign Affairs... Senor Lopez Bravo is widely credited in the Spanish capital with being pro-British, pro-European and pro-American. He will therefore carry the hopes of many Spaniards for a solution to problems such as the Gibraltar dispute, entry into the European Common Market and the question of continued American use of military bases in Spain. Senor Lopez Bravo has visited Britain twice in recent months and is and is well regarded there in British business circles... There is no doubt in Madrid that most of the new non-military ministers are members of Opus Dei... At the very least it is a victory of the 48-year-old [pro-Europe] Senor Loreano Lopez Rodo, a member of Opus Dei and hitherto Minister without Portfolio, who not only retains his authority to supervise various ministries, but is also reported to have gained the post Secretary to the Presidency, equivalent in authority to that of Vice-President." Alfredo Sanchez Bello, brother of the head of Opus Dei in Spain, became Minister of Information and Tourism. Federico Silva Munoz was one of the four ministers who remained in office.
*) April 15, 1970, Winnipeg Free Press, 'Franco Tips Power To Opus Dei': "When Franco named his new government last October he broke precedent by giving the bulk of the power to a single group, the Roman Catholic lay organization Opus Dei. Public information officials of Opus Dei acknowledge that at least three members of their movement hold key spots in the cabinet... Other sources say at least 10 of the 19 cabinet ministers have close ties to Opus Dei... Opus Dei, for example, was influential in Franco's decision to name Prince Juan Carlos as his successor [through Otto von Habsburg]. But even while it was working for his selection, Opus Dei took the precaution of planting its men in the entourages of the other two pretenders to the throne; Juan Carlos' father, Don Juan, the Count of Barcelona; and Prince Hugo de Bourbon Parma. Prince Juan Carlos has had an Opus Dei priest as his confessor and by official account has studied under Opus Dei professors. Most of his advisers are reported to be Opus men."
*) October 30, 1970, The Times, 'After Franco - the question that is still unanswerable; Hugh Thomas writes that Opus Dei, the 'New Templars', control Spain': "The arrival in power of the first members of Opus Dei was soon followed by Spain's application for association with the Common Market... But the last government reshuffle, in October 1969, coincided with a new hardening of the regime in many respects - for example, press censorship."
[175] German Wikipedia article on Otto von Habsburg
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_von_Habsburg[176] February 24, 1967, Time Magazine, 'Struggle for Freedom': "The most talked-about subject in Spain last week was something that did not happen: the failure of the Cabinet to pass a bill that would at last grant a measure of religious freedom to Spain's tiny non-Catholic minority... For years, Spain's non-Catholics have almost been non-people, barred from participating in the mainstream of Spanish life. They were, in fact, not even officially recognized as having been born, married or buried—since Spain acknowledged those milestones only when they were sanctioned by the Catholic clergy... Castiella, who has championed the bill for ten years, nevertheless pressed on with his familiar argument: granting religious freedom was not only the right thing to do morally but also the right thing for Spain if it wants to become a respected member of the world community. Several of the ministers who are identified with the Opus Dei laymen's organization supported him. But the opposition quickly closed ranks. Interior Minister Camilo Alonso Vega, 77, who as Spain's top cop maintains that the Spanish are "the most unruly people in Europe", argued that religious freedom would only stir up trouble, just as the earlier measures granting workers and students more freedom resulted in the present rash of strikes and student riots. On a more philosophical level, Public Works Minister Federico Silva Munoz, 43, contended that granting religious liberty to minority sects would shatter Spain's spiritual unity. The ministers connected with the military supported the views of Vega and Munoz..."
[177] October 30, 1969, The Times, 'Riot as Franco Alters Cabinet': "The Spanish Government officially announced the names of General Franco's new Cabinet tonight, and confirmed earlier speculation that members of the powerful Roman Catholic lay organization Opus Dei will dominate Spain's future... Only four of the 18 Cabinet posts are unaffected... The new Cabinet is as follows... Public Works. - Federico Silva Munoz (unchanged)."
[178] April 11, 1970, The Times, 'Resignation of Spanish Minister': "One of General Franco's "technocrat" ministers resigned today, possibly as the result of a deep ideological split in the government, reliable sources said. Senor Federico Silva Munoz, aged 46, Minister of Public Works since June, 1965, was said to have given his resignation to the General this morning... The present Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Senor Gonzalo Fernandez de la Mora, was said to have been chosen as the new Minister of Public Works. Like most of the present Cabinet, and unlike his predecessor, he is known to be a sympathizer with, if not a member of, the powerful Roman Catholic lay organization Opus Dei... [Munoz] is also thought, as a technocrat without any strong political orientation, to have been opposed to the reactionary political attitude of of Vice-President Carrerro Blanco and some other ministries." Interesting, Munoz was among the most reactionary politicians of the post-Franco government.
[179] October 11, 1976, The Times, 'Suarez regime challenged from the right as new party is launched by Franco era politicians': ";Senor Silva Munoz, now head of Campsa, the oil concern;"
[180] July 4, 1976, The Modesto Bee, 'King Juan Carlos names new premier of Spain': "A third name submitted to the monarch by the Council of the Realm, his top advisory body, was that of Federico Silva Munoz, 52, a Christian Democrat and former public works minister."
[181] Winter 1986, Issue 25, Covert Action Information, 'Knights of Darkness - The Sovereign Military Order of Malta': "Recognition of the importance of Opus Dei at the highest levels of SMOM had already been established in the summer of 1976 when King Juan-Carlos, himself a Knight of Malta, chose Adolfo Suarez, a member of Opus Dei, as new chief of government following the death of Franco. (Point de Vue, January 14, 1983; Paris.)"
[182] October 11, 1976, The Times, 'Suarez regime challenged from the right as new party is launched by Franco era politicians'. Munoz, Fernandez de la Mora, Fraga, and Rodo are mentioned as founders of Allianza Popular, together with two other anonymous ex-Franco ministers.
[183] January 10, 1979, El Pais, 'Silva Muñoz unites with the ultraright to be presented at the elections' (translated from Spanish):"Federico Silva, Gonzalo Fernández de la Mora, Raimundo Fernández Cuesta, Blas Piñar, José Antonio Girón and other political leaders have formed a coalition named Union of the Right [that] involves all political forces to the right of the coalition Fraga-Areilza-Osorio, in other words, the Derecha Democrática Española and the gathering of national forces [a reference to Pinar's New Force, which had the aim of "gathering the national forces"]." This is a rough translation (as my Spanish is very rusty) from "... Girón y otros dirigentes políticos han formado una coalición unitaria que se llamará Unión de Derechas y que agrupa a todas las fuerzas políticas situadas a la derecha de la coalición Fraga-Areilza-Osorio, es decir, la Derecha Democrática Española y las llamadas fuerzas nacionales."
[184] December 1, 1979, El Pais, 'The Constitution is a permanent factor of distortion, according to Federico Silva' (translated from Spanish): "The Constitution that was passed and that we accepted, even though we don't agree with most aspects of it, will continue be a permanent factor of distortion on the national life and of the life of the right[-wingers] in particular, says Federico Silva Munoz, promoter of Derecha Democrática Española, in a declaration to the European Press Agency. Their [political] group will celebrate their first national congress on the 8th and 9th of this month."
[185] September-October 1997, Issue 85, Razón Española (translated from Spanish): "I met Federico in the 1940s at a conference of the National Catholic Association of Propagandist to which he belonged, and from then on we were united in great friendship."
http://www.galeon.com/razonespanola/re85-sil.htm[186] Ibid (translated from Spanish): "The Balmes Foundation was founded in 1983, supported by grants made by the German Hans Seidel Foundation. Its [Balmes Foundation] main purpose was to establish the magazine Razon Espanola on October 1, 1983. Without that initial German impulse, maintained in a decreasing way, our publication, which didn't have even minimal support of the Spanish Administration, would have been impossible. The name of Federico Silva is indissolubly linked to this magazine, in which he collaborated as an objective and neutral columnist over several years."
[187] Can't get access any time soon to the sources the articles below refer to, so these will have to do for now:
*) November 1987, Issue 14, Lobster Magazine, 'US involvement in the Fiji coup d'etat': "Another foreign influence in Fijian politics has been the Hans Seidel Foundation, the foreign arm of Franz-Josef Strauss' Christian Social Union, which has an impressive building in Suva. HSF functions as a West German version of NED/PDU, works closely with the Heritage Foundation, and in Fiji has been involved in aid projects, television programming, and assistance to the Alliance Party. The foundation is regarded with considerable suspicion in Fiji. It is credited with spending millions of dollars on a Fijian grassroots cultural revival which has been thin cover for fostering the Taukei movement."
*) 1989, Issue 18, Lobster Magazine, '': ". "The Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, the political trust attached to Strauss' Christian Social Union party, is an important group in international parapolitical manipulation. Active in Latin America for the Contras,(3) supporting Mobuto in Zaire, involved in the Fiji coup in 1987, it was caught diverting state development aid from Germany into right-wing party coffers in Ecuador in the same year."
*) January 1991, International Affairs (RIIA magazine), 'Foreign Political Aid: The German Political Foundations and Their US Counterparts': "The Seidel Foundation supported the personal links established between the CSU leader, Franz Josef Strauss, and such African politicians as President Mobutu of Zaire and President Eyadema of Togo."
*) 1995, Catholics for a Free Choice, 'Opus Dei: The Pope's Right Arm in Europe': "The Hanns-Seidel Foundation, based in Germany, is accredited with and receives funding from the European Union. The foundation is linked with the CSU (the Bavarian Christian Democrat) party of the late Fritz Pirkl, who was in the European Parliament and served on the boards of directors of Hanns-Seidel and the Rhine-Danube Foundation. Together with Limmat, Hanns-Seidel has funded Opus Dei’s extensive operations in the Philippines, including the Centre for Research and Communication. The centre’s "self-declared task is to form the future economic and political elite of the country," writes Opus Dei critic Peter Hertel.[38] "Under President Corazon Aquino, Opus members have put a decisive stamp on the country’s Constitution."[39]"
[188] May 30, 1980, The Times, 'A Strauss Profile', reply from Brian Crozier.
[189] November 2, 1982, Brian Crozier in The Times, 'Is democracy such a good thing?': "We all have our intellectual assumptions, and the prevailing assumption in the West is that party democracy is necessarily good and dictatorship necessarily bad... The cause of relief was that the fragile flower of Spanish democracy was being saved - the important thing being the salvation of party democracy, not whether party democracy is necessarily good for Spain or will necessarily solve Spain's problems, which is at least open to doubt if hard facts mean anything. Since Franco died in 1975, inflation and unemployment have soared in Spain. So have terrorism and non-political crime. Moreover, the politicians have saddled their country with an unworkable constitution..."
[190] November 1988, Issue 17, David Teacher for Lobster Magazine, 'The Pinay Circle and Destabilisation in Europe'
[191] February 5-6, 2004, European Navigator/Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe, Otto von Habsburg in an interview with European Navigator replies to the question what he thinks were the key players in European integration (translated from French): "Charles de Gaulle in the first place. Certainly one of the big visionaries of Europe... There are a lot of difficulties with the French, but we cannot make it without them. They are an essential element to us and without De Gaulle... France would have collapsed completely."
[192] Paneuropa Jugend Bayern, 80 Jahre Paneuropa (translated from German):
"At the 1973 general meeting in Straßburg [Austria], Otto von Habsburg was finally elected as international president [of the Paneuropa Union] at the suggestion of French president and excited Paneuropean Georges Pompidou after he [Otto] had occupied the office temporarily for a year."
http://www.paneuropajugend-bayern.de/80 ... europa.pdf[193] *) August 1984, Issue 5, Jonathan Marshall for Lobster Magazine, 'Brief Notes On The Political Importance Of Secret Societies': "[Opus Dei] was said to have influenced Robert Schumann, Antoine Pinay and Paul Baudoin, former President of the Banque de L'Indochine and Vichy Foreign Minister. Above all, however, Opus Dei made inroads through Baudoin's protege Edmond Giscard, who shared a variety of colonial enterprises with the BIC group. Edmond, father of Valery, was President of the Banque des Interets Francais (BIF), of which minority control rested with Opus Dei's Banco Popular Espanol. Another Opus Dei connection was forged through the treasurer of Valery Giscard d'Estaing's Independent Republican Party, the Prince Jean de Broglie. De Broglie was President of a Luxembourg firm, Sodetex S.A., an affiliate of the Spanish textile firm Matesa, which was at the centre of an enormous Opus Dei-linked financial scandal that rocked the Spanish government in the late 1960s. There is evidence that the Opus Dei-Matesa network siphoned off money for the campaign of Giscard..."
*) Additional: 1994, R.T. Naylor (Professor of Economics at McGill University), Hot Money and the Politics of Debt, p. 267: "Pinay was installed by Bobby Leclerc in 1969 as president of the Compagnie de Guarantie des Investissements Industriels et Financiers in Geneva, which used Pinay's name to attract French funds. Leclerc also had good relations with... Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Not least important of Leclerc's activities was his role, with Prince Jean de Broglie, cofounder of Giscard's Independent Republican party, in the administration of Sodatex, the Luxembourg-based holding company through which the principals of the notorious MATESA were looting Spanish government subsidy money in the 1960s... After the MATESA scandal broke,... came charges that Sodatex was the center of a huge arms- and drug-dealing operation across the French-Luxembourg border. All this assured that, when de Broglie was gunned down in a Paris street in 1976, the subsequent exposure of links to Sodatex set off a run on Bobby Leclerc's bank." Original source of Naylor is: 1982, Jesus Ynfante, 'Une Crime sous Giscard'.
[194] December 14, 1981, Time Magazine, 'The Rothschilds are roving': "Banque Rothschild is being nationalized by the socialist government of French President François Mitterrand, along with the country's other major banks and holding companies... Unaffected by the nationalization are the nonbank personal holdings of Baron Guy and Cousins Baron Alain and Baron Elie, including New Court Securities, a U.S. investment firm based in New York City, which will now receive more of the family's attention and money. And beginning Jan. 1, 1982, New Court will change its name to a more golden sounding sobriquet: Rothschild Inc. Founded with $2 million in 1967, New Court today manages a portfolio worth more than $1 billion, including funds from such corporate clients as General Foods, TRW and Hughes Aircraft... That bullishness on America's prospects is shared by Co-Chairman Guy, who has been commuting monthly since last June between Paris and New Court's offices in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Guy will not move permanently to the U.S., and Cousin Elie's son Nathaniel, 34, a graduate of the Harvard Business School, is a prime candidate to direct U.S. operations eventually. Says Guy: "My great-grandfather sent one of his sons, my grandfather Alphonse, to America in 1848. After returning to France, Alphonse pleaded with his father that the U.S. was the coming country and that there should be a House of Rothschild there. It's an enormous pity that my grandfather's advice was not heeded. As far as I'm concerned, we should have had a Rothschild bank in the U.S. since the middle of the 19th century. Our involvement in America now is really 100 years late in arriving.""
[195] 1993, Brian Crozier, 'Free Agent', p. 217-218: "At the Cercle meeting in Washington in December 1980, Georges Albertini had brought along a quiet Frenchman named Francois de Grossouvre. This was an impressive example of his foresight. De Grossouvre, a physician, was the closest friend and confidant of the Socialist leader and presidential candidate Francois Mitterrand. For many years, Grossouvre had carried out special missions for Mitterrand. By nature and training, he was self-effacing. He played no part in our debates, but listened carefully, taking notes. Five months later, Francois Mitterrand narrowly defeated Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in France's presidential elections. One of his first actions was to appoint de Grossouvre as his coordinator of security and intelligence. Shortly after, having obtained his direct line from Albertini, I went to see him in his modest office in the Elysée Palace."
[196] 2005, Daniele Ganser, 'NATO's Secret Armies', p. 101: "[The SDECE's] name changed to Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure (DGSE) and Admiral Pierre Lacoste became its new Director. Lacoste continued to run the secret Gladio army of the DGSE in close cooperation with NATO..." Ganser, p. 90: "Maybe the most famous member of the French secret anti-Communist Rose des Vents [French Stay Behind/Gladio] army was Francois Grossouvre who in 1981 became the adviser of Socialist President Francois Mitterand for secret operations."
[197] October 6, 1985, New York Times, 'Greenpeace ship reaches test site': "The Greenpeace flagship has arrived off the coast of the French nuclear test site in the South Pacific, where it joined another protest ship from the organization... The Greenpeace replaced the Rainbow Warrior, which was blown up on July 10 by French agents in New Zealand's Auckland harbor... Meanwhile, the largest opposition newspaper in Paris, Le Figaro, reported Friday that Mr. Mitterrand must have known of plans to sink the Rainbow Warrior, which was preparing to lead the Mururoa protest. Mr. Mitterrand's Socialist Government acknowledged secret service responsibility for the sinking last month. Defense Minister Charles Hernu and Adm. Pierre Lacoste, the head of the secret service, resigned because of the scandal. Le Figaro, without citing its sources, said the decision to mine the Rainbow Warrior was made in June in a meeting at the Elysee Palace attended by Mr. Hernu, Admiral Lacoste and the presidential adviser, Francois de Grossouvre. It was ''not believable'' that Mr. de Grossouvre failed to inform Mr. Mitterrand of the sabotage plans, Le Figaro contended."
[198] July 14, 2004, Bloomberg News, 'France's Chirac Pledges Referendum on EU Constitution': "At the EU leaders summit in June when the constitution was agreed, Chirac said he views the U.K. referendum as a final test of whether Britain's allegiances are to Europe, the U.S. or its former empire. He also floated the idea in April of forcing any country that rejects the constitution to leave the EU."
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a_IiyRfhymT4&refer=top_world_news
[199] April 15, 2005, BBC, 'Chirac makes case for EU treaty': "President Jacques Chirac has taken part in a live TV debate in France to try to persuade its people to vote in favour of the proposed EU constitution... Mr Chirac warned a No vote against the new constitution - designed to streamline institutions to make decision-making easier in an enlarged union of 25 countries - would be a disaster for Europe... It would halt the European project in its tracks, and pave the way to an unregulated, uncontrolled free-market world, dominated by the United States. He said it would be in the interest of Anglo-Saxon countries or the US to stop "European construction" and that France would be weakened if it voted No."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4442823.stm[200] June 16, 2005, BBC, 'EU: What kind of club?': "It is startling for example that Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the grandee who chaired the convention that wrote the constitution, now says it was mistake to send a copy of the 448-page document to every French home. He told the New York Times that he had begged President Chirac not to do this. "It is not possible for anyone to understand the full text," he pronounced."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4096334.stm[201] February 28, 2006, speech at the London School of Economics entitled 'The Political Future of Europe'
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/LSEPub ... AndEvents/pdf/20060228-GiscarddEstaing.pdf
[202] 2005, Ausgabe 2-3, Eurojournal pro management, p. 14, committee member Otto von Habsburg: "The original wording of the Constitution draft by Giscard d'Estaing was quite short and comprehensible. So why did it fail to convince the voters? This is plain: a campaign launched with the help of a book thick with legal terminology which, the bureaucrats hoped, voters would read and comprehend. Much money was spent, but nothing was gained. A Commission full of aged politicians to work on the draft which spoilt it just as "too many cooks spoil the broth". Giscard d'Estaing knew what would happen with his initial draft, and later photographs show the expression of a man in desperation who knew that should this revamped version fail, then he would be responsible anyway... No attempt was made to reach out to future generations as did the late pope John Paul II or as Pope Benedict XVI now does; two old men who somehow managed and manage to enthuse the masses. It is therefore no wonder that the battle was lost; the idea however still lives on, but we need new politicians to bring the idea home to voters."
[203] The following documents are accessible through the Henry Jackson website.
*) September 29, 2005, Marko Attila Hoare for the Henry Jackson Society, 'Turkey, the EU and the Armenian Genocide': "Turkey is at a delicate stage in the transition to democracy, which it is the duty of democratic Europe to assist. Yet this may require some commensurate reform of consciousness on the part of Western Europe. Turkey needs the EU to help it reform its consciousness; but for the same reason, the EU needs Turkey."
*) June 10, 2005, Hendrik Puschmann for the Henry Jackson Society, 'Five Reasons Why Europe Needs Anglo-German Leadership': "The defeat of the Constitutional Treaty in France has caused great damage to French leadership potential in Europe, which arguably has been at the heart of the European project from the outset... now that France has effectively propelled herself out of the driving seat, this will have to change if the European Union is to be safeguarded against the danger of disintegration. We believe that the only way to do so is to replace the Franco-German axis, the quasi-proverbial 'motor' of European integration that broke down on 29th May, with an Anglo-German one...
Germany would have to abandon her focus on Franco-German cooperation, enshrined as a de facto doctrine since the foundation of the Federal Republic. Britain would have to undergo much greater transformation even. She would have to commit once and for all to a strong Europe, and that means a final devotion to the pooling of sovereignty... an Anglo-French alliance would suffer from both countries’ strongly developed international ambitions and military potential. By comparison, a London-Berlin axis looks like a natural symbiosis. Britain clearly would be senior partner, much as France was of old, but the weights would not be quite so crassly off balance... Post-war Germany has historically been an Atlanticist nation, standing firmly by the side of the United States and the United Kingdom. Recent anti-American moves by the Berlin government, most prominently the denial of even token support for Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (or TELIC) and the subsequent transformation of Iraq, were primarily motivated by domestic factors, that is, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (unlike Tony Blair) playing to public opinion in order to secure his re-election."
[204] According to Catherine Griggs in her 6+ hour videotaped interview of about 1998.
[205] Sen. John DeCamp, 'The Franklin Cover-Up,' second edition, p.387-388 (Feb. 2006 edition)
[206] July 29, 1997, The Times, 'Secret members of the Other Club'. Gave a list of members as of January 1994. Apparently there are about 90 members in total.
[207] See reference 27.
[208] November 20, 2002, Der Standard, 'Das Pentagon ist heute eine jüdische Institution'
http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=1136970. The English Wikipedia article on Otto von Habsburg has taken over the quote.
[209] September 2, 2005, ePolitics interview with Jonathan Aitken.
http://www.epolitix.com/EN/Interviews/2 ... 46f9-a47f-4db3234c49ac.htm
[210] June 12, 1999, The Tablet, 'Jonathan Aitken says Sorry': "Earlier he had given an assistant editor of The Tablet access to a revealing text in which he bares his soul. "I am a man of unclean lips." The speaker is Jonathan Aitken, and he is referring quite explicitly to his perjury, for which he was sentenced on Tuesday to eighteen months in prison... The trouble with Jonathan Aitken is that the public will never take him seriously again. He held a press conference to launch his libel action against the Guardian and Granada television with these words, "I will cut out the cancer of bent and twisted journalism with the simple sword of truth", only to be impaled upon his own sword. The Guardian were able to uncover evidence to prove that he had lied over the question of who had paid his hotel bill in Paris. It might seem a small matter, but on it hung allegations of taking secret commission for multi-million-pound arms dealings, over which Aitken had lied not only to the press but also apparently to his own Government. The deceit even involved the corruption of Aitken's own daughter, 13 at the time of the hotel incident, whom he had persuaded to sign a false statement saying she was in Paris. Corruption of the young, and self-enrichment from arms dealings, are commonly put high on the list of mortal sins. How do you emerge from a reputation as a mega-liar?... he has been a church-goer for years. It is a surprise, however, to hear that he has done the Alpha course, not once but three times, graduating from a humble student to a helper who pours coffee. Even more astonishing, he has done Ignatian retreats. His first experience was in the Westminster retreats in daily life, for MPs and others working at Westminster, and in due course he went away to the Coach House in Inverness to make an individually directed eight-day retreat with the Jesuit Gerry W. Hughes... stripped as a bankrupt of his Rolex watch, still able to draw from an unspecified source living expenses of 11,400 [pounds] a month."
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/pages/jonathanaitken[211] June 29, 1997, The Independent, 'Aitken dropped by the Right's secret club'
[212] 1993, Alan Clark, 'Diaries', p. 369 (About Clark's 1991 experience with Le Cercle): "There is a distinguished attendance list, and Jonathan Aitken, who knows absolutely everybody in the world has, amusingly and indiscreetly, guided me through it."
[213] 2005, Lamont's comment on the rejected European Constitution for the Bruges Group.
http://www.brugesgroup.com/mediacentre/ ... ticle=8757[214] July 2, 1995, Sunday Times, 'Rothschild rues its blues under the bed': "Last week it started to look as if Rothschild was planning to make a bid to become the government itself when John Redwood, a former Rothschild fund manager, launched his campaign to become the Tory party leader with Norman Lamont, a Rothschild director, at his side. But Rothschild's position as the hotbed of Tory Euro-sceptic activity is understandably raising some eyebrows both within the bank and outside... And whatever the political views of some in the bank, to project a Europhobic image while trying to win business from all over Europe is a far-from-brilliant marketing concept. Lamont's appointment, more than any other of the political refugees to appear on the Rothschild board, was made despite the opposition of senior Rothschild corporate financiers. Sir Evelyn, however, is renowned for making these sort of appointments without reference to anyone. "
[215] September 22, 2002, Sunday Times, 'Rothschild bankrolls Mandelson think tank'
[216] September 1, 2001, Karina Robinson for The Banker, 'A hard nut to crack': "Karina Robinson talks to NM Rothschild's chairman Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and finds a man reluctant to give much away... The next hour (actually, the next 40 irritating minutes since I did not last the hour) was spent being told that everything is "going well," "doing well" and "with our name we can get in anywhere"... the meeting was set up by the bank's public relations firm. It seems an odd strategy to push forward someone who appears disinterested in communicating." Journalist Karina Robinson gave Sir Evelyn de Rothschild the award of being the 'most condescending' person she interviewed in recent times.
[217] April 24, 2006, Bloomberg News, 'Opus Dei, Vilified in 'Da Vinci Code,' Runs Global MBA Schools': "Opus Dei is seeking more high-powered members by funding pizza parties and seminars on embryonic research, physician- assisted suicide and evolution near U.S. Ivy League campuses. And it's targeting lawyers and bankers through monthly meetings at St. Mary Moorfields church in the City of London financial district... Some members, such as Eduardo Guilisasti, chief executive officer of Santiago-based Vina Concha y Toro SA, Latin America's biggest winery, advance the effort by giving their entire paycheck to help run Opus Dei's more than 100 technical and management schools from Spain to Mexico, to Vietnam, Guilisasti says... In the basement of a six-story concrete building on the outskirts of Rome, young men and women in suits scurry around a simulated office, fetching documents from laser printers and hashing out business presentations. The fake corporate environment has a name: Junior Consulting. Along with the Centro ELIS trade school upstairs, it's the brainchild of Opus Dei... Cisco...; Vodafone Group...; Nokia... all sponsor courses at Centro ELIS... Centro ELIS has received about 800,000 euros ($990,000) in Italian government funds to spawn at least 16 similar schools in China, Ecuador, Uruguay, Vietnam and other countries, says Pierluigi Bartolomei, director of Centro ELIS's technical school... Opus Dei also keeps a low profile at its IESE Business School. The school, which has campuses in Madrid and Barcelona, is a branch of the University of Navarra. Escriva founded the Pamplona, Spain-based university in 1952. Some executives say they had no idea they were associated with Opus Dei's activities. "I know nothing about the Opus Dei connection,"says Peter Sutherland [Pilgrims Society], chairman of both Goldman Sachs International and BP Plc, Europe's biggest oil company, who is a member of IESE's international advisory board... Like Centro ELIS, IESE is cultivating corporate connections. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP... Nissan Motor Co... Alcatel SA... and Banco Santander Central Hispano SA, Spain's biggest bank, also provide funding, according to IESE's Web site. Citigroup Inc., the world's biggest financial services company, and Morgan Stanley, the third-biggest U.S. securities firm by market value, are listed as "supporting companies.'' The school says such support helps develop research programs, train faculty and finance scholarships and construction. Citigroup has sponsored student activities and backed events in IESE's MBA program, says Eric Weber, IESE's associate dean for executive education and an Opus Dei supernumerary." There are many other articles like, but few named indicidual businesses.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... Ovr0&refer=culture
[218] See reference 22.
[219] 1993, Alan Clark, 'Diaries', p. 373 (About Clark's 1991 experience with Le Cercle): "This entire outing is a right-wing think (or rather thought) tank, funded by the CIA, which churns Cold War concepts around."
[220] 2002, David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs', p. 412-413: "Members of the Pesenti Group were all committed to European political and economic integration, but a few - Archduke Otto of Austria, the head of the house of Hapsburg and claimant to all the lands of the Austro-Hungarian empire; Monsignor Alberto Giovanetti of the Vatican and a prominent member of Opus Dei, the conservative Catholic organization; and Jean-Paul León Violet, a conservative French intellectuel - were preoccupied by the Soviet threat and the inexolerable rise to power of the Communist parties of France and Italy."
[221] Ibid.: "Bilderberg overlapped for a time with my membership in a relatively obscure but potentially even more controversial body known as the Pesenti Group. I had first learned about it in October 1967 when Carlo Pesenti... took me aside..."
[222] February 24, 1967, Time Magazine, 'Struggle for Freedom'
Cercle references in books (click for relevant excerpts)
[1] 1990, Xan Fielding, 'One Man in His Time - The life of Lieutenant-Colonel NLD ('Billy') McLean, DSO'
[2] 1993, Alan Clark, 'Diaries', p. 369-374
[3] 1993, Brian Crozier, 'Free Agent', p. 99; p. 186; p. 190-194; p. 217-218; and p. 241
[4] 1997, Robert Hutchinson, 'Their Kingdom Come – Inside the Secret World of Opus Dei', p. 153-158
[5] 2002, David Rockefeller, 'Memoirs', pages 412-413
Cercle references in newspaper or magazine articles (Lobster Mag. articles not reproduced)
[1] June 29, 1997, The Independent, 'Aitken dropped by the Right's secret club'
This is basically the news story that got the word out about Le Cercle in a mainstream British newspaper, more than 40 years after it was established. This article disappeared in the Independent's archives without any discussion in the public (internet) domain.
[2] July 10, 1997, An Phoblacht/Republican News
[3] May 2001, Punch Magazine, 'Spooks in the House' (thanks to Lobster Magazine)
[4] April 6, 2003, The Observer, 'So, Norman, any regrets this time?'
[5] June 18, 2004, Chancellery of HRH Crown Prince Alexander II of Yugoslavia, Reception in honor of the "Le Cercle" conference
[6] September 5, 2004, Sunday Times, 'Le Cercle of the elite'
[7] June 21, 2005, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia - London / Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 'Ambassador talks to major foreign policy-security group'
A question to the Embassy for additional information was ignored.
More references
[1] Known historical Cercle meetings (these days it meets one a year in Washington and once a year at an overseas location)
[2] Known historical Cercle participants
Special thanks to the four Davids
David X: Too much of a liability, as most of his claims are ridiculous. Just the first I heard to bring up the name, even though he didn't provide any details.
David Teacher: For all his early work on Le Cercle that was published in Lobster. In 1991, Lobster announced that David would soon publish a book on Le Cercle in France, soon to be followed by a book in English. Unfortunately, that was the last we heard from David, a translator at the EU in Brussels. The names he mentioned in Lobster have been crucial in putting together this article.
David Guyatt: For his article 'Circle of Power' and for one of his emails going around the net in which he mentioned that author Robert Hutchinson (briefly) adressed Le Cercle in his book 'Their Kingdom Come'.
David "88": For giving unlimited and free access to a variety of databases. David's databases were crucial in making this article as extensive as it is now.
And finally, let's not forget an email from April 19, 2006 with the advice to look at David Rockefeller's biography. This kickstarted a second, and far more detailed, look into Le Cercle.