The WTO gave the back of its hand to Caribbean nations in the recent banana dispute. It ruled that Britain would have to dump agreements with former colonies and allow bananas from Central America's low wage, US-owned plantations. And debt-ridden African nations are forced to put agricultural products on the global supermarket while their own people go hungry.

According to La Resistance, reported by Independent Media, secret talks continued over the weekend at the University of Washington. Seen were many State Department and Secret Service agents, along with WTO delegates riding in government vans. You have to wonder how many Caribbean and African delegates attended. They were all-but-ignored in the main ring of the circus.

There is talk of where the next WTO meeting will be. Geneva has been mentioned. But I would make a modest proposal: How about China? After all, China wants to become a member of the big boys club. It could demonstrate its suitability by hosting the next meeting. And you can bet there will be no unruly protesters in Tiananmen Square.

But whatever happens to the WTO, the world ruling class will not go away. They can do without the WTO. Maybe the WTO, with its 135 members, was insufficiently focused on the real goal - bigger profits for the big boys.

The big boys have been doing their thing for years, long before the WTO. They have all kinds of organizations at their disposal - corporate, government, and military organizations, and propaganda outlets. And they often get together to size up the global scene to figure out their next moves.

One such organization is the Bilderberg group. It's named after a hotel in Europe where the first meeting was held after World War Two. Unlike the WTO, the Bilderberg group meets in secret. Unlike the WTO, its membership is much more restricted. Here are some of the members:

Henry Kissinger, World Bank president James Wolfensohn, David Rockefeller, former War Secretary William Perry, Martin Taylor of Barclays Bank, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, IMF Director Stanley Fisher, and Canadian media mogul Conrad Black. Its meetings have been chaired by Lord Peter Carrington, former British and NATO war secretary.

The Bilderbergs are always looking for new talent. British Prime Minister Tony Blair attended when he was just an opposition leader, and Bill Clinton in 1991 before he announced he would run for president.

According to Will Hutton, editor in chief of The London Observer, The Bilderberg conference is one of the key meetings of the year. The consensus established there is the backdrop against which policy is made worldwide.

Last June they met in Sintra, Portugal. Their secret summit came just before the elections for European parliament and the more public G7 and G8 summits. At the top of their agenda, says Will Hutton, was globalization.

Beneath that over-arching topic were these other items as reported by The Portugal News. Progress on an Asian economic bloc under Japan's leadership, similar to the European Union.

An economic union of the Americas, and what was reported as the scheduled break-up of Canada.

Kosovo and the formation of a greater Albania. Also the further break-up of Yugoslavia, with its northern region going to NATO-member Hungary;

Replacing NATO with a West European army. This would free the U.S. military for action elsewhere in the so-called global community.

A global taxation scheme to finance the United Nations.

Some of these agenda items are underway. Others are being talked about. Consider this a check list of things to watch for in the future. And we now hear that the Multilateral Agreement on Investment is not dead after all. It's only been parted out and stuck into some other global scheme.

So while we celebrate a victory by the protesters in Seattle, let's keep our eyes and ears open, and be ready for the next battle wherever it may be.

Editors note: There is much more to the Bilderbergs than what you have just read. See at least one future edition of True Democracy (La verdad sobre Ia democracia en Español) for more on this elite organization.

Robert B. Zoellick, George W. Bush's advisor, is a member of the Bilderbergs too just as he is a newer member of the Trilateral Commission. Hilary Rodham Clinton visited the Bilderbergs before running for the senate. That's why she changed to advocate the death penalty and more than likely why she won.

Jon Corzine, the new Senator for New Jersey visited the Bilderbergs before running thereby making himself accountable to them instead of his constituents.

Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) are members also.

Reference