1 - Yes, we have no idea who Satoshi is and he does not want to be known.
And it doesn't matter.
2 - We know who Satoshi "friends" are. Some are proven criminals, others are still in close relations with such crimnals. ALL are speculators.
Bitcoin is bigger than the Bitcoin Foundation, so your conspiracy theories, even if true, have little weight.
3 - Yes, the code can be changed at will by people included above.
Yes, it can. It can also be changed by a trained monkey. But only the users can decide to use the new code.
In particular, most core developers have nothing to do with the Foundation.
4 - While people people here denies it until death, it is proven that bitcoin price was manipulated to the value it is nowadays by Satoshi Friends Foiundation. If you analyze the top accounts from leaked MT Gox databse one of the largest accounts would only buy at very high prices and only sell at very low prices. Another large one was dedicated only to large purchases for years, never sold anything. Bitstamp belongs to the same foundation.
So if someone (person/organization) only bought bitcoins at an exchange, this is evidence that the price is manipulated? I guess what you call "manipulation" is what I call "market forces".
And even if there's a grand conspiracy by some people other than those who created Bitcoin... So? Conspiracies only last so long, long-term the value of bitcoins will depend mostly on fundamentals, and this has little impact on Bitcoin's merits.
Interesting indeed.
We do have too much faith in BTC's code. But provided it is safe now I doubt someone can change the code at will.
This person would've to change the code AND persuade nodes and users to change software, otherwise it would be only a fork, isn't it?
I'm not sure...
Does anybody has a better grasp on this matter?
You are correct.
In practice most people don't review the code themselves so they place some trust in people who do, but if some egregious change is made it will be well known and cause resistance.
I'll be happy to see CCP condone Bitcoin (e.g. selling ETC for BTC, at least through an official reseller), and I hope next time Dr. Gudmundsson talks with someone about Bitcoin, it will be one who can explain Bitcoin's bigger vision.