Le Cercle
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Le Cercle, formerly known as the Pinay Circle or the Cercle Pinay by its original French founders[1] is a deep state milieu set up in the early 1950s. It has members from around twenty-five countries and has biannual 2-4 day secret meetings on alternate sides of the Atlantic. The group's activities are little known but some inferences drawn from leaked documents and members' common interests suggest the subversion of the political process - especially Gladio-style terrorism and assassination under the banner of "anti-communism" - and the clandestine arrangement of fraudulent business transactions, especially arms deals.
Contents
Official narrative
In 2000, a single webpage at www.atlanticcircle.com was posted which described Le Cercle as "an informal group of European and American professionals - politicians, retired Ambassadors, former Generals, lawyers and active participants in banking, oil, shipping, publishing and trading companies - who are interested in preserving a positive Atlantic dialogue."[2] To the UK House of Lords, this group has been described as an "informal group meeting to discuss world affairs."[3] William Hague described it as "a political group which organises conferences." In 2007 the Washington Post termed it a "foreign policy think tank established during the Cold War that reportedly included senior politicians, diplomats and intelligence agents worldwide."[4] Inviting the banker Jean-Maxime Leveque in 1983, Monique Garnier-Lançon wrote that at The Cercle "The leaders of the free world can now examine the very grave problems which we face in order to determine together possible solutions and then to try to implement them, each in their respective sphere."[5]
Origins
Although named after a French prime minister from 1952, the real organizer of this group is believed to have been Jean Violet, a close associate of Pinay's since 1951. The group was originally French- and Euro-centric, but has over time assumed a more international flavour, especially with the involvement of Ted Shackley, under whose influence meetings were held on alternate sides of the Atlantic, with Shackley chairing the US meetings.
Leadership
- Full articles: Le Cercle/Chairman (Europe), Le Cercle/Chairman (USA)
- Full articles: Le Cercle/Chairman (Europe), Le Cercle/Chairman (USA)
The group has separate US and European chairs[6] - one for the Autumn meeting in the USA, one for the Spring meeting in Europe. The identities of the American chairman is unknown. The US chairman is less publicised, so unqualified references to "The Chairman" will very probably be references to the European chairman. European chairs include Brian Crozier (1980-1985), Julian Amery (1985 - early 1990s)[7], Christian Schwarz-Schilling (1 year), Jonathan Aitken (1993-1996), Norman Lamont (over 10 years) and most recently, Michael Ancram. Only two US chairmen are known: Ted Shackley and his successor, Richard T. McCormack.[6]
Geoffrey Tantum was named by The Telegraph as the Cercle's UK secretary.[8]
Meetings
- Full article: Le Cercle/Meetings
- Full article: Le Cercle/Meetings
The group meets biannually. Every fall, it meets in the USA (usually, perhaps exclusively Washington DC) and once in the early part of the year in an "overseas" venue, usually though not exclusively in Europe. Meetings last (3-)4 days and there are "about 70"[9] attendees, almost all male.[6] Attendees are almost all male, and sometimes bring their wives, though it is unknown to what extent (if any) they are involved in the meetings.[10]
Ideology
The group members have a clear hawkish orientation, which could be summarised as 'extreme right wing' and 'anti-communist'. Many have been closely involved in establishing a range of nominally independent institutions to research first "anti-communism" and later "terrorism". These have been used to promote cold war paranoia and lay the ideological groundwork for a "global war on terror".[11]
Attendance
Full article: Le Cercle membership lists
The identity of attendees is much less known than that of other secret society meetings such as the Bilderberg group and was a matter of great conjecture until 2011 when ISGP researcher, Joël van der Reijden obtained and published 5 guest lists for Le Cercle meetings, gleaned from from the private papers of French Cercle visitor Monique Garnier-Lancon at Stanford University. They appear genuine and correlate clearly with other sources of information about the group.[12]
These lists included a similar set of deep politicians - i.e. politicians, spooks, bankers, diplomats, deep political actors, military officers, oil experts, editors and publishers who may or may not have retired from their official functions. The participants come almost exclusively from western or western-oriented countries. Many important members tend to be affiliated with the aristocratic circles in London or obscure elements within the Vatican, and accusations of links to fascism and synarchism are anything but uncommon in this milieu.
German guest #8 of the June 1983 Cercle meeting has a single name 'Schmidthuber' and a designation 'Minister of State of Bavaria'. This may be a reference to Peter Schmidhuber who was in the private office of Franz Josef Strauss, or this may be an alias of Strauss himself, who was indeed Minister President of Bavaria and was a regular of le Cercle.
Secrecy
Le Cercle has operated in almost complete anonymity since its creation with only a handful of articles having been written about it. The first printed reference to the group was possibly in Time Out magazine in 1975 which published leaked documents of the Institute for the Study of Conflict which referenced the "Pinay Committee", which was probably a reference to the group. No American commercially-controlled media sources are known to have mentioned the group.[13] Le Cercle was mentioned in the early 1980s by the German magazine Der Spiegel (which also published the first article on the Bilderberg group) as a result of the controversy surrounding Franz Josef Strauss, a regular attendant. In the late 1990s, Le Cercle received some more attention after a scandal broke out involving Jonathan Aitken, who was then chairman of Le Cercle [9]. Members that were contacted by newspapers refused to answer any questions about the group and sometimes simply put down the phone. It has only been briefly mentioned in the commercially-controlled media since then - internet researchers have worked hard to raise the group's profile. The most comprehensive study so far has been done by ISGP researcher, Joël van der Reijden[13], whose work prompted David Teacher to pursue his study of the group.[14]
Activities
The Langemann Papers were the first significant leak to expose the importance Le Cercle, confirming that the group was actively involved in influencing European elections. Evidence of their involvement in other matters such weapons dealing and covert military action is circumstantial, but compelling in that it makes a coherent whole and explains the composition of the group.
Support for Conservative Politicians
David Teacher reports that "throughout the 1970s the Cercle Pinay complex was active [influencing elections in the UK,] France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium." He writes that "the Cercle complex can be seen to be an international coalition of right-wing intelligence veterans, working internationally to promote top conservative politicians who would shape the world in the 1970s and 1980s."
The Langemann Papers (November 1979) quote a planning paper by Brian Crozier about a Cercle complex operation "to affect a change of government in the United Kingdom (accomplished)".[15] This may be a reference to the success of the "Shield" group which Crozier set up in 1976, probably with the express purpose of getting Margaret Thatcher elected, a year after she was invited to the Bilderberg meeting by Labour's Dennis Healey.
Many members of Le Cercle set up anti-communist organisations, such as Interdoc.
Disruption of Left Wing Governments
Le Cercle has also been accused of actively destabilizing governments which opposed a conservative economic agenda, such as Gough Whitlam's Australian government.[16][17] Cercle member Robert Gascoyne-Cecil chaired the conservative Monday Club which prepared a coup against Labour government of Harold Wilson.
Promotion of European Integration
Le Cercle (like the Bilderberg Group, to which it is often compared) is strongly focused on European integration, going back to the efforts of its early members to bring about a Franco-German rapprochement. The significant presence of Paneuropa-affiliated Opus Dei members and Knights of Malta, together with statements of the Vatican and Otto von Habsburg, suggest an agenda of creating a new "Holy Roman Empire" with borders from the Atlantic to the Black Sea and from the Baltic Sea to North Africa.[citation needed] Interestingly, the latest generation of British Cercle members, whose predecessors were keen on joining the European Union, now seem to want to keep Britain out of the emerging European superstate, perhaps having lost faith they can become a significant force within Europe. Their American associates, however, would like for them to continue the effort of breaking into the Franco-German alliance and possibly to establish a new Anglo-German alliance.
Strategy of Tension
- Full article: Strategy of Tension
- Full article: Strategy of Tension
Van der Reijden infers that Le Cercle may be connected to the Strategy of Tension. Noting the presence of Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin in the group, he remarks that "That's major news, because Baron de Bonvoisn, besides a key Belgian figure in the Strategy of Tension, is the most key name in the Belgian X-Dossiers."
Weapons dealing
- Full articles: Iran-Contra, Arms-to-Iraq
- Full articles: Iran-Contra, Arms-to-Iraq
Cercle attendees John Carbaugh worked for GeoMiliTech Consultants Corporation, an arms dealing group directly involved in Iran-Contra.[18] Others such as Margaret Carlisle were aides to Iran-Contra insiders. Cercle members Paul Channon and Alan Clark are connected through their involvement in the Arms-to-Iraq affair, also to the later chairman Jonathan Aitken, who himself was involved in the Al-Yamamah arms deal as well, as was another later chairman, Norman Lamont.[19] Nadhmi Auchi is widely reported as having made a lot of money from arms deals to Saddam Hussein, amongst others.[20][21]
Covert Military Intervention
Following a Nasserite coup in Yemen in September 1962, Julian Amery (later Cercle chairman) met with King Hussein of Jordan and agreed to send Cercle attendee Neil McLean to report on the situation[22] after which Amery met with McLean, David Stirling, Col Brian Franks and UK Prime Minister Alec Douglas-Home to organise an unofficial mercenary operation.[23]
"War on Terror"
- Full article:
“War on Terror”
- Full article:
At least three members of this group (Brian Crozier, Robert Moss, Gerhard Lowenthal) gave presentations at the 1979 Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism named by Nafeez Ahmed as being seminal in the development of the establishment's "War on Terror" narrative. Many of the other speakers are closely connected to known members and may well have attended Le Cercle meetings, perhaps regularly. The group's interest in terrorism and arms dealing suggests that it may have been important in creating this narrative.
Other activities
Joël van der Reijden has suggested that Le Cercle was important in the organization of the 9/11 attacks.[24] Ted Shackley was involved in oil deals after he left the CIA in 1979, facilitated by his close friend and fellow Cercle member, Conrad Gerber and oil smuggler John Deuss.
Funding
The group states that it is "privately funded". In 1971, Shell contributed a lump sum of £30,000. The Ford Foundation also donated £20,000 over three years[When?].[25] Robin Ramsay, editor of Lobster Magazine believes the CIA funds the group, a claim that Alan Clark also makes in his diaries. Transactions such as the Al-Yamamah arms deal suggest that the group could easily be self-funded.
Related Quotations
| Page | Quote | Author | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep state actor | “Crozier himself makes the point that many of the prominent politicians invited to sit in on Cercle strategic sessions had no knowledge of their hosts' more clandestine operational activities – if only because of the "need to know" principle. Nonetheless, a stalwart multi-functionary on the Boards of several groups linked to the Cercle can be presumed to have some deeper involvement beyond just lending his name to the cause.” | David Teacher | |
| Hans Langemann | “the Circle consists of a loose gathering of various conservative and anti-Communist politicians, publicists, bankers and VIPs that meets some twice a year in various parts of the world. Its origins stem from the former French Prime Minister Antoine Pinay. The Circle, which still exists today, also invites guest speakers... One recent development is the establishment within the Circle of a command staff or of an inner circle which then works out particularly suitable means for action on current political questions.” | Hans Langemann | 1980 |
| Le Cercle/Exposure | “For instance, in the late 1970s Le Cercle supported NATO's decision to station new medium-range nuclear weapons — Cruise and Pershing II missiles — in Britain, Germany, Belgium and Holland targeted against the USSR. Le Cercle helped to discredit the European peace protest movement which emerged against the backdrop of the nuclearization of Europe through aggressive counter-intelligence, provocations and disinformation.” | Ekaterina Blinova | 8 August 2015 |
| Helmut Schmidt | “Participants at Le Cercle meetings report that a major issue has been how to bring about the demise of West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's government. This issue dominated the last biannual meeting of Le Cercle that was hosted by the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the official think tank of opposition leader Franz Josef Strauss's Christian Social Union, in Munich last May. Le Cercle's participants have been able to carry out an inside-outside job to destroy the Schmidt coalition government since then. While Strauss's CSU carried out a heavy-handed wrecking job that included an implicit alliance with the Strasserite fascist Green Party, sources report that Helmut Sonnenfeldt and Henry Kissinger took the inside track since the ouster of Secretary of State Alexander Haig, threatening, cajoling, and misleading Schmidt into his disastrous pragmatic political course.” | Helmut Schmidt Scott Thompson | 1982 |
Employee on Wikispooks
| Employee | Job |
|---|---|
| Geoffrey Tantum | Le Cercle/UK secretary |
Known members
281 of the 318 of the members already have pages here:
| Member | Description |
|---|---|
| James Abrahamson | U.S. Air Force general responsible for space imaging and the Strategic Defence Intiative. Abrahamson later directed Stratesec, a company which had unparalleled access to the World Trade Center prior to 2001. He was a member of the deep state intelligence coordinating conference Le Cercle. |
| Konrad Adenauer | German (deep?) politician, CDU leader |
| Jonathan Aitken | UK deep politician, Cercle chair, convicted perjurer |
| Georges Albertini | French deep state operative. Man-behind-the-scenes for many politicians. |
| Alfredo Alcaino | Chile born Cercle visitor, deep state connected lawyer |
| Rupert Allason | Writer of books and articles on the subject of espionage. Attended Le Cercle. |
| Richard Allen | US National Security Advisor, Cercle, Iran-Contra... |
| Julian Amery | MI6, deep politician who chaired Le Cercle for several years. |
| Hooshang Amirahmadi | Iranian American spook who attended Le Cercle. |
| Michael Ancram | Likely took over from Norman Lamont as European chair of Le Cercle. |
| Bruce Anderson | UK pro-torture spooky journalist, Le Cercle, attended a "terrorism" related conference chaired by Harold Elletson in 2009. |
| Robert Anderson | Le Cercle, Bilderberg, |
| Giulio Andreotti | "The ultimate insider of Italian political life", who as Italian Prime Minister publicly confirmed the existence of Operation Gladio |
| Magdeleine Anglade | French member of Le Cercle who took over the role of Monique Garnier-Lançon |
| Richard Armitage | "A sophisticated member of the top echelons of the U.S. government" |
| Kaúlza de Arriaga | Portuguese soldier politician who attended a November 1977 meeting of Le Cercle with his aide |
| Bernard Asso | Spooky French lawyer |
| Nadhmi Auchi | Cercle-connected fraudster |
| Shaukat Aziz | Tri-national Citibank executive with "close ties" to the US deep state. Parachuted in to become Prime Minister of Pakistan. Cercle member. |
| Franz Josef Bach | A leading German member of the Cercle, who organised the 1982 meeting in Wildbad Kreuth. |
| Norman Bailey | Spooky economist who taught "Economics for Foreign Policy Makers." Admitted on the record that the PROMIS database and search application has been given to the NSA |
| John Barron | A spooky journalist who wrote on the evils of the KGB. |
| Margaret Beckett | UK foreign secretary, Le Cercle attendee |
| Alfredo Sánchez Bella | Spanish spook and possible deep politician |
| Erik Bennett | A secretive UK military advisor in Oman and a Cercle attendee. |
| Jeff Bergner | Cercle attendee. Project for the New American Century. German Marshall Fund. Hudson Institute |
| Wayne Lee Berman | US Businessman with deep political connections. |
| Benazir Bhutto | Prime Minister of Pakistan. YGL. Assassinated in 2007. |
| John Biggs-Davison | UK politician who attended Le Cercle |
| Brian Binley | Ex-conservative MP. Le Cercle. |
| W. Michael Blumenthal | US/Secretary of the Treasury in the 1970s, Bilderberg, Le Cercle, CFR |
| Crispin Blunt | Sandhurst, Le Cercle, MP, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee |
| John Bolton | Neocon US deep state operative who was Trump's National Security Advisor until September 2019 |
| Benoît de Bonvoisin | "A key Belgian figure in the Strategy of Tension", as well as the most key name in the Belgian X-Dossiers. Member of Le Cercle. His father attended the first Bilderberg. |
| Cornelis Bossers | Le Cercle. Major businessman in the Philips group. |
| Pik Botha | South African deep state operative |
| Colonel Botta | Very little known Cercle visitor. |
| Raymond Bourgine | French journalist and editor who attended Le Cercle. |
| Paul Bremer | Executive of Marsh & McLennan, a company whose offices were hit by a plane on 9/11, "Coordinator for Counterterrorism", Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority of Iraq ... |
| Harold Brown | United States Secretary of Defense. |
| John Browne | Spooky UK businessman, Morgan Stanley, Le Cercle, Chatham house ... |
| Aristide Brunello | Little known Cercle visitor. Vatican prelate and spy for the BND under Reinhard Gehlen. Attended a meeting of the Le Cercle.<a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a> |
| Zbigniew Brzezinski | A central US Deep politician, Cercle, Bilderberg, ... |
| Maurice Brébart | Belgian right-wing newspaper owner who attended Le Cercle in the 1970s. |
| Francisco Bulnes | Cercle member active in the 1973 coup against Salvador Allende |
| David Burnside | Northern Ireland politician |
| Ian Butterfield | Spooky MICC consultant, Le Cercle |
| Peter van der Byl | Spooky Rhodesian politician |
| Umberto Cappuzzo | Senior Italian military leader and Le Cercle attendee. |
| John Carbaugh | Cercle attendee linked to political double dealing, arms deals and Iran-Contra. |
| ... further results | |
Events Planned
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia/1975 coup d'état | 15 October 1975 | 11 November 1975 | Australia Canberra | A UK/US deep state-backed covert "constitutional coup" to remove Gough Whitlam whom they saw as a loose cannon. |
| Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism | 2 July 1979 | 5 July 1979 | Israel Jerusalem | The birthplace of the "War on Terror" doctrine, "a major international forum for the movement against détente". |
Related Documents
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:Circle of Power | article | 1999 | David Guyatt | |
| Document:The Pinay Circle | article | 1989 | David Teacher | |
| Document:The Secret Society That Rules The World | Article | 7 November 2018 | Bas Spliet | In his 1999 campaign autobiography, President George W. Bush mentioned his membership in passing: "My senior year I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society, so secret I can’t say anything more." |
| File:Rogue Agents (3rd edition, 2011, full).pdf | book | 2011 | David Teacher | A book about the activities of the covert European groupings responsible for the realisation of the European Union between the end of World War II and the mid 1990's. |
| File:Rogue Agents (4th edition, 2015, full).pdf | book | 2014 | David Teacher | A book about the activities of the covert European groupings responsible for the realisation of the European Union between the end of World War II and the mid 1990's |
| File:Rogue Agents - the Cercle and the 6I in the Private Cold War 1951 - 1991 by David Teacher (5th edn, 2017).pdf | book | 2017 | David Teacher | A book about the activities of the covert European groupings responsible for the realisation of the European Union between the end of World War II and the mid 1990's. |
Ratings
10 April 2016 Robin A good summary of a hugely under-reported deep state milieu.Le Cercle is a good deal more secretive than the Bilderberg, and is still very little known. This page showcases the excellent work of Joël van der Reijden in exposing this group.
References
- ↑ A 2003 obituary in the Observer established this equivalence
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20001017205434/http://atlanticcircle.com/
- ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/standards-and-interests/register-of-lords-interests/register-of-interests-of-lords-members-staff/?letter=L
- ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/10/AR2007091002436.html
- ↑ Adrian Hänni's Ph.D.
- ↑ a b c http://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/McCORMACK,%20Richard%20T.toc.pdf p.112
- ↑ http://www.isgp.nl/2010_Le_Cercle_update
- ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/aitken-dropped-by-the-rights-secret-club-1258522.html
- ↑ a b Aitken dropped by the Right's secret club
- ↑ http://www.isgp.nl/Le_Cercle_membership_list
- ↑ Note, for example the connections to the 1979 JCIT; at least 3 Cercle members gave presentations, and many started groups focusing on "terrorism research".
- ↑ http://www.isgp.nl/2011_10_First_ever_documents_of_Le_Cercle
- ↑ a b http://www.isgp.nl/Le_Cercle
- ↑ Rogue Agents
- ↑ http://www.cryptome.org/2012/01/cercle-pinay-6i.pdf
- ↑ Document:The Pinay Circle
- ↑ http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_lecercle04.htm
- ↑ http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=geomilitech_consultants_corporation
- ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2003/mar/06/uk.iraq
- ↑ https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Nadhmi_Auchi
- ↑ April 6, 2003, The Observer, 'So, Norman, any regrets this time?';
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6, Touchstone 2002, p.679.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6, Touchstone 2002, p.684.
- ↑ http://www.isgp.nl/911_WTC_part_2_who_did_it
- ↑ Teacher, David (2008-01-06). Rogue Agents: The Cercle Pinay complex 1951-1991. p. 233.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
