Trilateralism
Review of book by Holly SklarThe Trilateral Commission stated that "The effective operation of a democratic political system usually requires some measure of apathy and noninvolvement on the part of some individuals and groups." "...secrecy and deception...are...inescapable attributes of...government." as it tried to "solve" the "crisis" caused by an "excess of democracy" in the 1960s
To the [Trilateral Commission], efforts at economic sovereignty and self-sufficiency are throwbacks--quaint obsolete customs that obstruct progress. It favours an international division of labour. How to explain the subtle interdependence of the industrial north with the third world? In 1991 business observer Doug Henwood tried: "...each member of the Triad has gathered under itself a handful of poor countries to act as sweatshops, plantations, and mines: the US has Latin America; the EC, Eastern and Southern Europe and Africa; and Japan, Southeast Asia."
Edited by Holly Sklar (1949- ), "The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management," 604 pp, bibliography, index. Montreal: Black Rose Books 1980, $20 --Dale Wharton, December 1992
BROAD human interests are being served best in economic terms where free market forces are able to transcend national boundaries." Thus spake David Trismegistus (David thrice-greatest Rockefeller: scion of the house of Exxon, chair of Chase Manhattan Bank, comptroller of birthright billions in the trusts of kinfolk by the dozen).
So saying, to extend those economic terms (and maybe augment family values?) David begot the Trilateral Commission (TC) in 1973. Today its three sides--Western Europe, North America (USA and Canada), and Japan--put forward about 310 members: "distinguished citizens with a variety of leadership responsibilities...." Of the last four US presidents-elect, three--Clinton, Bush, and Carter--are TC alumni. (A recent roll of North American membership follows the review.)
In this reader 23 authors interpret origins, methods, and effects of the TC. They cast a whole new light on the American Century. After prolog and overview (including a 40-page who's who) the book breaks into eight sections. They focus on the tradition of corporate planning, the period after world war 2, TC's domestic imprint, placid governability or democracy (choose one), keeping the third world safe for business, economic nationalists v global corporations, challenges from within, and prospects. Separate chapters trace the TC's principal antecedents: the Council on Foreign Relations (at times more powerful than the Congress) and the Bilderberg Group (heard of it? It arranges policy decisions in private, offering them for national governments to ratify). The book's cover pictures planet Earth with bar code affixed.
EVENTS of 1973 unnerved some members of the US Establishment. The executive branch of their government almost broke: Vice President Agnew felt obliged to resign, the Paris Vietnam Conference formalized the rout of US forces, Watergate began to drip on President Nixon.
The "Nixon shocks" of 1971 had ended an era that began in 1944 at Bretton Woods NH--a golden age when goods, services, and money flowed unobstructed among nations. John Connally, Nixon's Secretary of the Treasury, electrified monetary systems by quitting the gold standard overnight. Then the US upset international trade by flouting GATT and raising a tariff against US imports. This active unilateralism by western/newmoney/cowboy/prussians left eastern/oldmoney/yankee/traders cold and nervous (would trade wars ensue?). To cap it, two legislators --Vance Hartke and James Burke--did more than whimper that liberal trade practices amounted to exporting American jobs. (It seemed to matter to them that the US faced its first trade deficit since 1893.) They sponsored bills in Congress to limit imports and to lift a tax exemption on US global corporations. This was a job for Superdave!
Rockefeller liked a suggestion of Zbigniew Brzezinski (they both vacationed in Seal Harbor ME). Zbig taught at Columbia at the time. His idea was to strengthen ties among developed nations (except socialists, of course) with a series of tripartite studies. Participants would be the Brookings Institution, Japanese Economic Research Center, and European Community Institute of University Studies. In July 1972, 17 men--Brahmins, largely--gathered at Rockefeller's Pocantico Hills estate in suburban New York. They sketched the outlines of the TC. It would recruit from the usual channels of civil power (banks, corporations, governments) and influence (media, law firms, foundations, universities, thinktanks). A labour component would help control popular isolationism and reduce the distance separating Trilats from the masses of ordinary folk.
The task of the first economic summit conference--Rambouillet 1975--was to put TC recommendations into effect, to implement policy at the highest level. What did (and do) they talk about? Ever the same: domestic economic policy, monetary arrangements, trade, energy, and north-south relations. G7 economic summits became a Directoire to which individual nation-states are largely subordinate. (According to a guest on CBC Newsworld, on 11 August 1992, 15 central banks intervened in currency markets to control a selloff of US dollars.)
To the TC, efforts at economic sovereignty and self-sufficiency are throwbacks--quaint obsolete customs that obstruct progress. It favours an international division of labour. How to explain the subtle interdependence of the industrial north with the third world? In 1991 business observer Doug Henwood tried: "...each member of the Triad has gathered under itself a handful of poor countries to act as sweatshops, plantations, and mines: the US has Latin America; the EC, Eastern and Southern Europe and Africa; and Japan, Southeast Asia."
ITS SPIRIT radiates from the pages of TC documents: "The public and leaders of most countries continue to live in a mental universe which no longer exists--a world of separate nations--and have...difficulties thinking in...global perspectives...." Foreign affairs generally seem beyond the grasp of the public and elective officials. Take the US Senate, as responsible a democratic legislature as one is likely to find. Did it not demonstrate opacity in rejecting first the League of Nations in 1920 and then the International Trade Organization in 1949?
"The effective operation of a democratic political system usually requires some measure of apathy and noninvolvement on the part of some individuals and groups." "...secrecy and deception...are...inescapable attributes of...government." "The vulnerability of democratic government in the United States comes...from the internal dynamics of democracy itself in a highly educated, mobilized, and participant society." The crisis caused by an "excess of democracy" in the 1960s shows the wisdom of, for example, privatizing public entreprise and deregulating industry. How can one expect competence from hoi polloi?
Reports of the TC annual meetings carry statements from task forces, addresses, etc, some jocular in tone. Paul Volcker, past chair of the US Federal Reserve Board, says yes, he opposes regional trading blocs, but for the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement he can rise above principle. Kazuo Chiba, past ambassador to the UK, chides the US for its war dances at GATT talks and worries aloud that "...Americans and Europeans will get together [there] and stab us in the back." "...maintaining the benefits of a global economy will require even more effort (after 1990) than in the past." World without end!
Founded in 1973, this private, nongovernment organization considers a wide range of subjects--the global economy, policy coordination, governability, etc. The roster of October 6, 1992 names 311 members from the three sides:
| Japan | 81 |
| North America | 94 * |
| Europe | 136 |
"Europe" comprises Germany 23, England 21, Italy 20, France 18, Spain 15, Belgium 11, Netherlands 8, Ireland 6, Denmark 5, Portugal 4, Norway 3, Austria 1, and Luxembourg 1.
* North American members (Canada 14, USA 80) may move among business, government, and academic posts. These tables identify only one interest and affiliation for each member.
| CANADA | ||
|---|---|---|
| BLACK Conrad M | Media | Chair/CEO, Hollinger Inc |
| BOSLEY John | Politics | Member, House of Commons |
| BOUEY Gerald K | Finance | Past governor, Bank of Canada |
| COHEN Marshall A | Industry | Pres/CEO, The Molson Companies Ltd |
| DEANS Ian | Labour | Public Service Staff Relations Board |
| DOBELL Peter C | Politics | Parlmntry Centre for Foreign Affairs |
| DROUIN Marie-Josee | Ideas | Exec dir, Hudson Institute of Canada |
| EYTON J Trevor | Industry | President/CEO, Brascan Ltd |
| FORTIER L Yves | Law | Partner, Ogilvy Renault |
| GOTLIEB Allan E | Politics | Chair, Burson-Marsteller |
| HENNIGAR David J | Industry | Chair, Crownx Inc |
| MACLAREN Roy | Politics | Member, House of Commons |
| SOUTHERN Ronald D | Industry | Chair/CEO, ATCO Ltd |
| TURNER William I M Jr | Finance | Chair/CEO, Exsultate Inc |
| Former Members in Public Service | |
|---|---|
| MURRAY Lowell | Government leader in the Senate |
| WINEGARD William C | Minister of State for Science and Technology |
| U.S.A. | ||
|---|---|---|
| ALLAIRE Paul A | Industry | Chair/CEO, Xerox Corp |
| ALLISON Graham | Ideas | Faculty, Harvard University |
| ANDREAS Dwayne O | Food | Chair/CEO, Archer Daniels Midland Co |
| ARASKOG Rand V | Industry | Chair/CEO, ITT Corp |
| BERGSTEN C Fred | Ideas | Dir, Inst for International Economcs |
| BRADEMAS John | Ideas | Past president, New York University |
| BROWN Harold | Ideas | Chair, Jhns Hpkins Foreign Plcy Inst |
| BRZEZINSKI Zbigniew | Ideas | Faculty, Johns Hopkins University |
| BURKE James E | Industry | Past CEO, Johnson & Johnson |
| CALLOWAY D Wayne | Food | Chair/CEO, PepsiCo |
| CARLUCCI Frank C | Finance | Vice Chair, The Carlyle Group |
| CHAFEE John H | Politics | Senator from Rhode Island |
| CLINTON Bill | Politics | Governor of Arkansas |
| COHEN William S | Politics | Senator from Maine |
| COLEMAN William T Jr | Law | Partner, O'Melveny & Myers |
| CORRIGAN E Gerald | Finance | Pres, Federal Reserve Bank of NY |
| CROWE William J Jr | Politics | Past chair, Joint Chiefs of Staff |
| CURTIS Gerald L | Ideas | Faculty, Columbia University |
| DEUTCH John M | Ideas | Faculty, MIT |
| EINHORN Jessica P | Finance | Vice president, World Bank |
| FEINSTEIN Dianne | Politics | Past mayor, San Franciso CA |
| FELDSTEIN Martin S | Ideas | Faculty, Harvard University |
| FOLEY Thomas S | Politics | Speaker, House of Representatives |
| FRIEDMAN Stephen | Finance | Partner, Goldman, Sachs & Co |
| GARDNER Richard N | Ideas | Faculty, Columbia University |
| GERGEN David | Media | Ed-at-large, US News & World Report |
| GERSTNER Louis V Jr | Food | Chair/CEO, RJR Nabisco Holding Corp |
| GOLDSCHMIDT Neil | Politics | Past secy, Dept of Transportation |
| GORMAN Joseph T | Industry | Chair/CEO, TRW Inc |
| GRAHAM Katherine | Media | Chair, The Washington Post Co |
| GREENBERG Maurice R | Industry | Chair/CEO, Americn Interntnl Grp Inc |
| GUTFREUND John H | Finance | Past chair, Salomon Inc |
| HAAS Robert D | Industry | Chair/CEO, Levi Strauss & Co |
| HAMILTON Lee H | Politics | Member, House of Representatives |
| HORMATS Robert D | Finance | Vice chair, Goldman Sachs Internatnl |
| HOUGHTON James R | Industry | Chair/CEO, Corning Inc |
| JOHNSON Samuel C | Industry | Chair/CEO, S C Johnson & Son Inc |
| JOHNSON W Thomas | Media | President, CNN |
| JORDAN Vernon C | Law | Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, &c |
| KEOUGH Donald R | Food | President/CEO, The Coca-Cola Co |
| KISSINGER Henry A | Ideas | Chair, Kissinger Associates Inc |
| LABRECQUE Thomas G | Finance | Chair/CEO, The Chase Manhattan Bank |
| LEACH Jim | Politics | Member, House of Representatives |
| LEWIS Flora | Media | Columnist, The New York Times--Paris |
| LORD Winston | Politics | Past ambassador to China |
| MACMILLAN Whitney | Food | Chair/CEO, Cargill Inc |
| MAZUR Jay | Labour | Pres, Internatnl Ladies' Garment W U |
| MCNAMARA Robert S | Finance | Past president, World Bank |
| MURRAY Allen E | Industry | Chair/CEO, Mobil Corp |
| KEOHANE Nannerl O | Ideas | President, Wellesley College |
| NYE Joseph S Jr | Ideas | Faculty, Harvard University |
| OKSENBERG Michel | Ideas | President, East-West Center--Hawaii |
| OWEN Henry | Ideas | Fellow, Brookings Institution |
| PUTNAM Robert D | Ideas | Faculty, Harvard University |
| RANGEL Charles B | Politics | Member, House of Representatives |
| RAYMOND Lee R | Industry | President, Exxon Corp |
| RIDGWAY Rozanne | Politics | Past ambassador to German Dem Rpblc |
| ROBB Charles S | Politics | Senator from Virginia |
| ROCKEFELLER David | Ideas | Founder, The Trilateral Commission |
| ROCKEFELLER John D IV | Politics | Senator from West Virginia |
| ROSOVSKY Henry | Ideas | Faculty, Harvard University |
| ROTH William V Jr | Politics | Senator from Delaware |
| RUCKELSHAUS William D | Industry | Chair/CEO, Browning-Ferris Indstries |
| SHALALA Donna E | Ideas | Chancellor, University of Wisconsin |
| SHANKER Albert | Labour | Pres, American Federatn of Teachers |
| SCHULTZ George P | Ideas | Fellow, Hoover Institution |
| SMITH Gerard C | Politics | Past ambas-at-large/nonproliferation |
| SPERO Joan Edelman | Finance | Exec VP, American Express Co |
| STERN Paula | Politics | President, The Stern Group |
| STOCKMAN David | Finance | Partner, The Blackstone Group |
| TALBOTT Strobe | Media | Editor-at-large, Time |
| TARNOFF Peter | Politics | Pres, Council on Foreign Relations |
| THUROW Lester C | Ideas | Faculty, MIT |
| TUNG Ko-Yung | Law | Global Prctce Grp, O'Melveny & Myers |
| VOLCKER Paul A | Ideas | Faculty, Princeton University |
| WATTS Glenn E | Labour | Past pres, Communcatns Wrkrs America |
| WENDT Henry | Industry | Chair, SmithKline Beecham |
| WHITMAN Marina v N | Ideas | Faculty, University of Michigan |
| WILLIAMS Karen Hastie | Law | Partner, Crowell & Moring |
| WINTERS Robert C | Finance | Chair, Prudential Insurance Co |
| Former Members in Public Service | |
|---|---|
| BUSH George H W | President of the United States |
| DARMAN Richard C | Director, Office of Management and Budget |
| EAGLEBURGER Lawrence S | Acting Secretary of State |
| GREENSPAN Alan | Chair, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve Sys |
| HILLS Carla A | Trade representative |
| RICE Donald B | Secretary of the Air Force |
| SCOWCROFT Brent | Asst to the Pres for National Security Affairs |
Transcribed and edited by Dale Wharton
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