Prompted by a reader’s question, I decided to look into whether any of the 2016 presidential candidates are members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), based in Washington, D.C., is believed by some to be part of the New World Order. But the organization describes itself as:
“an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher. Each of these functions makes CFR an indispensable resource in a complex world.”
Certainly Wikipedia‘s description of the CFR as promoting “globalization, free trade, reducing financial regulations on transnational corporations, and economic consolidation into regional blocs such as NAFTA or the European Union, and develops policy recommendations that reflect these goals” gives ample reasons for one to think of the CFR as both a proponent and integral part of the New World Order.
CFR has two types of membership:
- Term membership that lasts for 5 years and is available to those between 30 and 36. Only U.S. citizens (native born or naturalized) and permanent residents who have applied for U.S. citizenship are eligible.
- Life membership must be nominated in writing by at least one CFR member and seconded by a minimum of three others. That suggests both the CFR’s elitist and establishment nature, as only a person who is perceived as being a “main stream” player who poses no threat to the establishment would be nominated and seconded.
CFR has a current membership of more than 4,900 — in New York, Washington, D.C., across America and abroad — including “top government officials, renowned scholars, business executives, acclaimed journalists, prominent lawyers, and distinguished nonprofit professionals.”
To my surprise, no 2016 presidential candidate is on the CFR’s membership roster as of March 2, 2016. However, two candidates arguably are CFR members in spirit:
- Hillary Clinton: Though she herself is not a CFR member, her proxies Bill (husband) and Chelsea (daughter) are.
- Ted Cruz: Shrewdly, Ted’s wife Heidi Cruz’s name is not on the CFR current membership roster. However, Wikipedia lists Heidi Cruz as a “historical member” of the CFR. Significantly, Heidi Cruz was a member of the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force on the Future of North America, launched in October 2004. The Task Force advocates a greater economic and social integration between Canada, Mexico, and the United States as a North American region.
Isn’t it interesting and noteworthy that Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz precisely are the preferred candidates of their respective party élites and big campaign donors?
As I scrolled through the 4,900 names on the CFR membership roster, I found some CFR members of interest:
- Madeleine Albright, Bill Clinton’s secretary of state
- Zoë Baird, lawyer whom Bill Clinton nominated to be attorney general.
- Warren Beatty, actor.
- Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York.
- Richard Blum, husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
- Sidney Blumenthal, former aide to Bill Clinton & longtime confidant of Hillary Clinton.
- John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to UN.
- Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court justice.
- Tom Brokaw, retired NBC News anchor.
- Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser.
- Tory Burch, fashion designer.
- Thomas Daschle, former U.S. senator (D-SD).
- George Clooney, actor.
- Katherine (Katy) Couric, Yahoo!News anchor.
- Monica Crowley, Fox News political commentator.
- Lynn de Rothschild, CEO of EL Rothschild holding company.
- Joan Didion, novelist.
- Christopher Dodd, former U.S. senator (D-CT).
- Elizabeth Drew, political journalist & New Yorkercontributor.
- Richard Dreyfuss, actor.
- Ezekiel Emanuel, bioethicist proponent of universal health care & brother of Rahm Emanuel.
- Dianne Feinstein, U.S. senator (D-CA).
- Henry Gates (not sure if he’s the black prof Henry Louis Gates with a permanent smirk on his face),
- Robert Gates, Obama and George W. Bush’s secretary of defense, George HW Bush’s CIA director.
- Timothy Geithner, former Obama treasury secretary.
- Richard Gephardt, former congressman (D-Missouri).
- David Gergen, CNN senior political analyst, former adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan & Clinton.
- Georgie Geyer, journalist & columnist.
- Ruth Ginsberg, Supreme Court justice.
- Chuck Hagel, former Obama secretary of defense.
- Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Obama’s secretary of state John Kerry.
- Bobby Inman, retired U.S. admiral and director of various intelligence agencies.
- Jesse Jackson (not sure if it’s race-hustler Rev. Jesse Jackson).
- Angelina Jolie, actress.
- Vernon Jordan, adviser to Bill Clinton.
- Mickey Kantor, Bill Clinton’s secretary of commerce.
- Bob Kerrey, former governor of Nebraska and U.S. senator (D).
- Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon’s secretary of state.
- Charles Krauthammer, columnist & political commentator.
- Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist.
- Jim Lehrer, retired PBS news anchor.
- Jacob Lew, Obama treasury secretary.
- Winston Lord, former U.S. ambassador to China.
- Robert McFarlane, Reagan’s national security adviser.
- Andrea Mitchell, NBC correspondent & wife of former Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan.
- Walter Mondale, former U.S. Vice President (Carter admin.).
- Janet Napolitano, former Obama DHS director, now president of University of California system.
- Peggy Noonan, former speechwriter for George HW Bush.
- Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform that opposes all tax increases; co-founder of the Islamic Free Market Institute.
- Sam Nunn, former U.S. senator (D-GA).
- Michael Ovitz, former president of Walt Disney Co.
- David Petraeus, former Obama CIA director; retired (disgraced) 4-star general.
- Daniel Pipes, political commentators; expert on Middle East.
- Colin Powell, former George W. Bush secretary of state; retired general.
- Penny Pritzker, billionaire heiress & Obama big donor, currently Obama’s secretary of commerce.
- Dan Rather, disgraced CBS anchor.
- David Remnick, writer & editor of New Yorker.
- Condoleezza Rice, George W. Bush’s secretary of state.
- Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser & former UN ambassador.
- John Roberts, Supreme Court chief justice.
- David Rockefeller, chairman & CEO of Chase Manhattan; oldest living member of Rockefeller family.
- James Sasser, former U.S. senator (D-TN).
- Diane Sawyer, TV news anchor.
- Joe Scarborough, MSNBC show host.
- Bob Schieffer, CBS newsman & anchor.
- Brent Scowcroft, retired USAF Lt. Gen., adviser on national security to Presidents Ford, GHW Bush, GW Bush & Obama.
- George Shultz, Reagan’s secretary of state.
- Olympia Snowe, former U.S. senator (R-Maine).
- George Soros, international financier and mischief-maker.
- George Stephanopoulos, ABC newsman, former Bill Clinton adviser.
- Lawrence Summers, Clinton’s treasury secretary.
- James Taylor (pop musician?).
- Maurice Tempelsman (Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s last lover).
- Marc Thiessen, political commentator; George W. Bush’s speechwriter.
- Jeffrey Toobin, CNN legal analyst.
- Barbara Walters, TV news anchor & personality.
- John Warner, former U.S. senator (R-VA) and one of Elizabeth Taylor’s husbands.
- Margaret Warner, PBS News reporter.
- Rick Warren (Christian megachurch pastor?).
- Brian Williams, disgraced former NBC News anchor.
- Paul Wolfowitz, former president of World Bank.
- Judy Woodruff, PBS news anchor.
- Daniel Yankelovich, public opinion analyst & pollster.
- Janet Yellen, Obama’s Federal Reserve chair.
- Andrew Young, Carter’s UN ambassador.
- Paula Zahn, former TV news anchor.
- Fareed Zakaria, CNN host,Time editor-at-large.
- Robert Zoellick, former World Bank president & managing director of Goldman Sachs; George W. Bush’s deputy secretary of state.
- James Zogby, pollster & managing director of Zogby Research Service; founder-president of Arab American Institute.
Click here for the CFR’s membership roster.
~Eowyn
No comments:
Post a Comment