ERINGER

POLONIUM PUTIN'S PUSSY PROBLEM

2012-01-27T09:11:00.001-08:00

Female punk band performs anti-Putin song in Red Square : Voice of Russia

Pussy Riot на Красной площади с песней ПУТИН ЗАССАЛ - YouTube

SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS BOOK REVIEW: CLOAK & CORKSCREW

2012-01-25T08:07:00.000-08:00

CIA Operative's Bade of Honor: SAG Card

It's a marriage made in heaven--or hell, depending on which side of the bottom-line you fall: cocky, high-strung celebrity actor Josh Penner works as a secret agent for the CIA, gathering intelligence on every tin-pot dictator and megalomaniac the Third World has to offer. His liaison, the weathered OCD-suffering Charles Mulberry, works out of the Foreign Research Division in LA. His strategy, as they meet surreptitiously at hot dog carts and hotels from Oxnard to Beverly Hills, is to inflate the already colossal ego of Penner as he tackles new assignments. His latest one--making contact with Tom Richardson, an ex-spy who's written a memoir that's potentially embarrassing to the CIA--puts him on the path of retrieving the manuscript so the agency can perform their usual damage control.

As Penner sets out on his appointed task, there's the issue of American interest in the respective health problems of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba President Fidel Castro; Russian agent Igor Kuntevich sets out to liquidate some French competition; and Jennifer Jones, agent from the FBI, starts hovering over Penner's clumsy attempts at espionage. The FBI doesn't appreciate interlopers like him when it comes to ferreting out intelligence that might further their own fortune as an agency.

At one point in Montecito resident Robert Eringer's new book, "Cloak & Corkscrew," Penner gets caught and wonders why he ever agreed to become a sap for the CIA in the first place. That's about as far as his self-awareness reaches, as he mulls over his past experiences--not with any level of reflection but instead with an eye toward turning his adventures into a movie. Starring himself, of course.

The agents for the CIA; the agents for the CAA--they're essentially the same thing, brimming with contracts and protocols and hidden agendas. Change one letter of the acronym and you start an international incident. Mr. Eringer, a former News-Press columnist who worked undercover for FBI Counterintelligence for 10 years draws parallels between the turf wars between the CIA and the FBI and the battle between huge Hollywood talent agencies to best secure their power positions--one in the marketplace of diplomacy, the other in the marketplace of ideas. He also cleverly includes the wild card of dirt-digging news channel TZM, which is used as a tool by which all the respective agencies advance their schemes and plots. They're fed misinformation that makes everyone look good.. It's a plot element that's so incisively inserted that it makes one wonder if Mr. Eringer, himself a spymaster to both the FBI and the now-disbanded Monaco Secret Service, knows about some kind of bombshell just waiting to be unearthed.

With his crisp and brisk narrative gallop, Mr. Eringer's story carries with it an underlying moral resting in the shape of a question. In a world that depends on an eternally precarious labyrinth of deceit and state secrets, why on earth would anyone from that world trust a Hollywood actor? They lie for a living. In "Cloak & Corkscrew," RobertEringer skillfully proves how easy it is to lose your way when you take the easy way out.

Amazon.com: CLOAK & CORKSCREW: Where CIA Meets Hollywood (9780984587735): Robert Eringer: Books

SANTA BARBARA FORUM

2012-01-22T14:03:00.001-08:00

Robert Eringer will appear on Santa Barbara Forum

Channel 17

Monday, 23 January at 5 - 6 p.m.

Topic: His new novel, Cloak & Corkscrew

WHERE CIA MEETS HOLLYWOOD

2012-01-20T07:50:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) enjoys an intriguing relationship with Hollywood.

Most people believe that the CIA has no jurisdiction within the borders of the United States; that its mission is purely foreign intelligence collection and analysis.

However, the CIA has always legally operated within U.S. borders (outside of headquarters in Langley, Virginia), even if the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), whose national security division assumes responsibility for counter-intelligence operations on U.S. soil, stakes a large claim to such territory.

Consequently, turf wars between these rival intelligence services are not uncommon.

For decades, a division called Domestic Contacts ran the CIA’s U.S. operations. A few years ago, its name was changed to Foreign Research Division.

Today, the operatives of Foreign Research cultivate foreign nationals that attend trade shows and universities inside the U.S., recruiting them to spy in their spheres of expertise upon returning home.

Officers from this division also recruit U.S. citizens traveling abroad, using them for special "access" to people and to places of interest that are otherwise hard to reach.

Such American recruits go mostly unpaid, willing to cooperate purely for patriotic reasons.

Perhaps CIA’s most unique domestic station is in Los Angeles. It is from their office in La-la Land that CIA officers cultivate and recruit Hollywood celebrities to spy for them abroad.

Why Hollywood celebrities?

Access.

How so?

From time to time, you read in the newspapers about how some of the world’s most ruthless dictators, such as Cuba’s Fidel Castro, and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, receive with open arms some of the best-known American names in showbiz—and then spend quality time with them over long, loquacious dinners.

The public perception is that such Americans are pro-Cuban and/or pro-Venezuelan and perhaps even anti-American.

Foreign dictators use Hollywood stars as propaganda trophies for showing off to their own people (domestic consumption), garnishing sympathy in the United States (foreign media photo ops), and also sticking it to the U.S. government.

But in some cases, these dictators have been rused.

A former CIA operations officer familiar with Hollywood revealed to me that some such visits are sanctioned, and often actually encouraged, by the CIA.

“By my calculation, about one-third of the Hollywood heavyweights who visit scummy dictators secretly report back to CIA,” my source told me. “They are able to provide details that help analysts and profilers determine the physical health and mental state of these dictators—intelligence otherwise hard to come by. Is Fidel slurring his words, perhaps the result of a stroke? This kind of intelligence, which can only be obtained through access, is invaluable to the U.S. intelligence community.”

CIA spooks operating in the shadows of tinseltown have their work cut out for them.

“The hardest part of their job,” a former senior intelligence official told me, “is stroking the egos of the movie stars who provide access for them—no small task.”

My new book--Cloak& Corkscrew: Where CIA Meets Hollywood--is a fictionalized version of how CIA operates through movie star access agents.

In my novel, Hollywood star Josh Penner meets Venezuela's Hugo Chavez as a CIA access agent.

When the Embassy of Venezuela in Washington DC sends an emissary to contact Penner on Hugo's behalf, the CIA has an obligation to inform the FBI. Thus a turf war ensues over Penner’s services and priorities.

The hapless emissary is actually a Venezuelan intelligence officer running a high-level spy in the U.S. State Department, who had been honey-trapped in Caracas years earlier.

In the midst of these entanglements, CIA has a new assignment for Penner: to neuter a rogue former CIA officer intent on revealing vital secrets. Penner must feign interest in the movie rights to the ex-spy's kiss-and-tell book to effectively prevent them being seen elsewhere—or sold to a faux Russian publisher.

Amazon.com: CLOAK & CORKSCREW: Where CIA meets Hollywood eBook: Robert Eringer: Kindle Store

Stars in their Spies: how the CIA recruits in Hollywood - my Sunday column - Nigel Nelson - People.co.uk

NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON KINDLE: CLOAK & CORKSCREW

2012-01-05T12:47:00.001-08:00

Amazon.com: CLOAK & CORKSCREW: Where CIA meets Hollywood eBook: Robert Eringer: Kindle Store

POLONIUM PUTIN'S WORLD FALLING APART

2011-12-27T16:26:00.000-08:00

Vladimir Putin's world is falling apart | Masha Gessen | Comment is free | The Guardian

CLOAK & CORKSCREW: WHERE CIA MEETS HOLLYWOOD

2011-12-25T08:59:00.001-08:00

Amazon.com: CLOAK & CORKSCREW: Where CIA Meets Hollywood (9780984587735): Robert Eringer: Books

...AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT

2011-12-24T15:34:00.001-08:00

Painting: Elsa Caselli

POLONIUM PUTIN OUT!

2011-12-24T08:45:00.001-08:00

AP News: Anti-Putin protests draw tens of thousands

Mikhail Gorbachev 'ashamed' of Vladimir Putin - Telegraph

LAST LIGHT OF AUTUMN

2011-12-22T09:23:00.001-08:00

Butterfly Beach, 4:52 p.m., December 21st

MURDEROUS MUGABE: MIGHTY MIDGET "A LOVELY MAN" (BARF)

2011-12-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

Kim Jong Il dead: Robert Mugabe says he 'was a lovely man' | Mail Online

They all stick together.

DING, DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD

2011-12-18T21:43:00.000-08:00

Good riddance

and Merry Christmas

News from The Associated Press

NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

2011-12-16T09:58:00.000-08:00

Amazon.com: Cloak & Corkscrew (9780984587735): Robert Eringer: Books

2011-12-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

POLONIUM PUTIN BLOGGER BASHED

2011-12-11T13:06:00.000-08:00

NYT: The Saturday Profile: Blogger

POLONIUM PUTIN PILLORIED

2011-12-10T08:23:00.001-08:00

Russians stage mass protests against Putin - chicagotribune.com

ZEPTER V. INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP

2011-12-07T13:17:00.001-08:00

We were deposed today by lawyers representing ICG and Philip Zepter.

T'was a lovely affair...

POLONIUM PUTIN: VOTE-RIGGING REVEALED

2011-12-06T16:01:00.000-08:00

AP News: An insider's account of vote rigging for Putin

CONTENTMENT

2011-12-06T08:25:00.001-08:00

Lulu & Belli

SMOKE, MIRRORS & SNAKE OIL

2011-11-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

On 3 July 2011, The Sunday Times (UK) published a story by Matthew CAMPBELL entitled Curse of the Grimaldis, subtitled, The Full Monte--behind a fairy tale wedding in Monaco lie rumours of murky money, abuse of power and a reluctant bride.

Shortly thereafter, Monaco's judicial director, Philippe NARMINO, threatened a lawsuit over these comments about himself:

Albert did not hesitate to promote Philippe Narmino, a former magistrate, to chief of the justice department despite a police report investigating links with dubious dealings. Narmino had been in charge of the Monaco Red Cross when a €1m painting by Miro, the Spanish artist, that had been donated to the organisation “disappeared” only to turn up later for sale in an art gallery.

The Sunday Times presented NARMINO's lawyers with documents provided by ERINGER, including the Monaco police reports to which CAMPBELL referred.

NARMINO retreated.

But then on 22 August 2011, Prince Albert of Monaco and his wife, Charlene, brought a lawsuit before the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris claiming "defamation" and calling the article "hateful."

To the best of our knowledge--and we know an awful lot--everything written by CAMPBELL rings true.

We have been asked by The Sunday Times to support their defense.

Campbell wrote:

"How bad is it? Robert Eringer, a former FBI agent who was hired by the prince as an intelligence adviser to help him root out corruption, recalled that after an initial interest the prince 'seemed to prefer go-karting and gallivanting'.
"

We are delighted to oblige.

And we intend to keep readers fully updated.

Here is Matthew CAMPBELL's piece in two parts:

ERINGER: (UK) SUNDAY TIMES: CURSE OF THE GRIMALDIS

ERINGER: (UK) SUNDAY TIMES: CURSE OF THE GRIMALDIS (PART II)

We highly recommend it as an accurate depiction of what is going on in Monaco under an inept, corrupt prince.

TOGETHER, READY FOR ANYTHING

2011-11-30T07:11:00.001-08:00

Morning light

LULU: THE ENFORCER

2011-11-29T08:17:00.001-08:00

REILLY: THE BRAINS OF THE OPERATION

2011-11-28T22:55:00.000-08:00

And the world's only Siamese Dog.

CLOAK & CORKSCREW

2011-11-28T07:59:00.001-08:00

Stars in their Spies: how the CIA recruits in Hollywood - my Sunday column - Nigel Nelson - People.co.uk

(UK) PEOPLE: STARS IN THEIR SPIES

2011-11-26T11:32:00.000-08:00

Stars in their Spies: how the CIA recruits in Hollywood - my Sunday column

BY NIGEL NELSON ON NOVEMBER 26, 2011 5:36 PM IN

Hollywood is not just a hotbed of hot beds, but also a hotbed of spies.

Big names in the movie business are apparently working secretly for the CIA.

Film stars can be anywhere in the world on location without arousing suspicion so they make perfect "access agents" for the CIA's Foreign Research Division.

And they report back to their spymasters on the health and state of mind of foreign leaders they meet.

Actors are keen to adopt a real Bourne Identity because they enjoy the intrigue and excitement.

You can imagine what they might say after a Royal premiere with the Queen. "Nice old biddy in good nick, but that husband of hers wants to blow up wind farms."

I know this because an American spy I know called Robert Eringer told me although I didn't know he was a spy when I first knew him.

We go back 25 years since working together to expose an anarchist plot to disrupt Prince Andrew's wedding to Sarah Ferguson.

I always had suspicions about Eringer. His undercover skills were too polished for the jobbing hack he purported to be and his contacts were remarkable.

Through him I got to know swashbuckling CIA adventurer Miles Copeland, a drinking buddy of double-agent Kim Philby, and MI6 legend Nicholas Elliott who confronted Philby with his treachery.

Eringer even found a Deep Throat to give us the high-level lowdown on the anarchists - a senior Tory politician still a household name.

Eventually Eringer, 57, admitted in his memoirs he'd been a contract agent for FBI foreign counter-intelligence.

He had tried to lure the CIA defector Edward Lee Howard away from Moscow by posing as a book publisher so the FBI could snatch him.

The mission was aborted, and Howard later broke his neck falling down the basement stairs of his Russian dacha.

Eringer reckons he was bumped off by the same spooks who poisoned Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London.

The American went on to set up an intelligence service for Prince Albert of Monaco.

Now he has fictionalised his latest claims in 'Cloak & Corkscrew: Where CIA Meets Hollywood' to be published in January.

"The CIA has no problem recruiting celebrities," Eringer tells me. "The hard part of the job is stroking their egos."

Stars in their Spies: how the CIA recruits in Hollywood - my Sunday column - Nigel Nelson - People.co.uk

ERINGER: PUBLICATION: 5 JANUARY 2012

A FACELIFT FOR POLONIUM PUTIN?

2011-11-23T07:17:00.001-08:00

JFK, NOVEMBER 22, 1963

2011-11-21T23:01:00.000-08:00

Two score and eight years ago, on this day, the United States began its descent from glory.

ERINGER: THE COLUMNS: JFK: WHO DIDNT HAVE A MOTIVE?

POLONIUM PUTIN BOOED IN MOSCOW

2011-11-20T22:00:00.001-08:00

Moscow martial arts fans greet Putin with catcalls - CBS News

NOVEMBER SUNSET

2011-11-19T21:21:00.001-08:00

PUBLICATION: 5 JANUARY 2012

2011-11-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

Famous Hollywood actor Josh Penner works secretly as an “access agent” for the CIA, collecting intelligence on foreign dictators.

The biggest problem facing Charles Mulberry, an officer with CIA’s Foreign Research Division in Los Angeles, is stroking his celebrity agent’s ego, compounded by a turf war with the FBI over Penner’s evolving activities.

A new assignment for Penner, to neuter a rogue spy intent on revealing vital secrets, complicates matters significantly as cloaked characters converge into a surprise ending.

FORBES (ISRAEL)

2011-11-16T09:21:00.001-08:00

CLOAK & CORKSCREW: WHERE CIA MEETS HOLLYWOOD

2011-11-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

A Novel by Robert Eringer

Publication date: January 5th, 2012

2011-11-15T06:47:00.000-08:00

HOT DOG

2011-11-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

WORLD ON THE RUN

2011-11-11T22:16:00.000-08:00

Lulu: "Is dinner ready yet?"

Farouche Fighter | Jo Lee Magazine

In this era of hypocritical orthodoxy, one man stands out as unabashed in his quest for transparency and integrity. Meet Robert Eringer.

Eringer is a wordsmith and the man most known to have challenged his former employer, Monaco’s Prince Albert. Eringer is no stranger to subterfuge nor showmanship; he grew up in Hollywood. He is the product of his time, of American pop culture, with Beatnik creds on the side.

Some people think he’s a man with a bone. His beloved dogs, Lulu & Reilly hope so. Others in the confines of Monaco appreciate the pressure valve he affords them in the anonymity of his Formspring Q&A. Their freedom of speech oppressed daily by stringent laws that see a vociferous drunken man gets 6 days in jail for insulting Prince Albert, it’s no wonder they stick to the bon ton expected of them. Nevertheless, they can’t idly stand by especially when witnessing transgressions and inequities or when getting force-fed the Palace spin.

Arguably, Eringer’s contribution to Monegasque society has now exceeded his first role as its intelligence chief from 2002-2007. Since his unceremonious dismissal after forging valuable ties and webs of cooperation that saw Monaco get off the grey list of tax havens, among other things, Eringer’s later calling has been to act as a catharsis for the Monegasque people. On his blog, he listens to every idea whether a backwash of suspicions or actual insider information, and sits back as any good therapist does. Ultimately, it’s the typical American candor they crave.

Monaco is made up of an overwhelming amount of foreign residents. Its own indigenous population is tiny by comparison but kindred to the French and Italian, both who have a tradition for outspokenness. Living under an absolutist system – one where every similitude of democracy masks a caveat returning the final word on progress to one ruler – has acted as an inhibitor of a national identity that’s on the decline.

Outsiders like the formidable Grace Kelly have been rare, with an insurmountable task of infusing fresh air in a politically stale system. In spite of having shed blood, sweat and tears, her work of modernizing Monaco today is rejected by an old reflex of perverting the rules and subverting the truth.

Judging by the Q&A’s following, Monaco craves an ethical overhaul of the order that reverted back to brazen larceny of the ruler’s power after they folded Eringer’s Monaco Intelligence Service. “Praeverto, Perspicienta, Intellectus” (the MIS motto) are words not yet to take root in Monaco but that decidedly have a foothold in the virtual world.

- A World on the Run Original

PRINCE ALBERT OF MONACO WITH PHILIP ZEPTER

2011-11-10T11:18:00.001-08:00

From...

Philip zepter

Albert is an even bigger fool than we ever knew.

LITTLE LULU

2011-11-10T07:45:00.001-08:00

Photo: Marcus Boyle

Asleep in my arm

IN MEMORY, SUZANNE WOOD

2011-11-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

Another angel in heaven

BIG BEACH, BUTTERFLY

2011-11-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

Little Lulu

ERINGER: SURREAL BOUNCE: 2. MONTECITO MELLOW

THE ART OF ELSA CASELLI

2011-11-06T12:49:00.001-08:00

ELSA CASELLI

ZEPTER V. INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP

2011-11-04T12:07:00.000-07:00

Lawyers acting for Monaco-based Philip ZEPTER contacted us last year with reference to ZEPTER's seven-year-old lawsuit against a think-tank called International Crisis Group (ICG).

In a 2003 report, ICG called ZEPTER...

"An arms dealer, money launderer and crony of brutal Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic."

ZEPTER is suing ICG for reporting that he is an arms dealer.

Imagine that.

ERINGER: ZEPTER

We declined to cooperate.

So ZEPTER's attorney subpoenaed documents in ERINGER's possession.

ERINGER: ZEPTER SUBPOENAS ERINGER DOCUMENTS

Big mistake.

A case of be careful what you wish for.

Consequently, attorneys representing ICG have requested ERINGER's deposition.

We are delighted to oblige.

And we intend to keep readers fully updated.

COMING SOON...

2011-11-03T13:11:00.001-07:00

Famous Hollywood actor Josh Penner works secretly as an “access agent” for the CIA.

A new assignment for Penner, to neuter a rogue spy intent on revealing vital secrets, complicates matters significantly as cloaked characters converge into a surprise ending.

POLONIUM PUTIN: WIFE-BEATER

2011-11-02T22:55:00.000-07:00

Typical traits of a bully/coward

Vladimir Putin 'a wife beater and philanderer', documents allege - Telegraph

Judge William Adams beats daughter for using the internet

2011-11-02T22:42:00.000-07:00

Someone should pay this "judge" a visit.

I may visit him myself.

WAITING FOR DINNER TO HATCH

2011-11-02T17:38:00.000-07:00

ON ALL SAINTS DAY...

2011-11-01T13:05:00.000-07:00

Our favorite

St. Dymphna

(Patron saint of lunatics)

ERINGER: SURREAL BOUNCE: 30. THE DYMPHNA LEGEND

DEVIL & ANGEL

2011-11-01T07:22:00.000-07:00

Photo: Thomas Van Stein

HALLOWEEN 2011

2011-10-31T21:12:00.000-07:00

Feeling devilish?

HALLOWEEN 1958

2011-10-31T07:01:00.001-07:00

SKY DRAGON OVER SANTA BARBARA

2011-10-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

LULU ON THE LOOKOUT

2011-10-30T08:35:00.001-07:00

HALLOWEEN WEEKEND

2011-10-29T08:24:00.001-07:00

CHESTER

2011-10-28T08:17:00.001-07:00

One of the last book readers in America

iLulu

2011-10-27T07:58:00.000-07:00

THE EMBRACE

2011-10-26T10:17:00.001-07:00

Bill Dalziel

ERINGER: SURREAL BOUNCE

Welcome to DalzielArt

AND THEN THERE'S REILLY (ACE OF SPIES)

2011-10-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

A handsome devil.

Thinks he's a chihuahua.

But actually part weasel, part coyote and part bat.

Needless to say, he has the life...

SURREAL BOUNCE

2011-10-22T08:09:00.001-07:00

ERINGER: SURREAL BOUNCE

WEEPING ANGEL OF AMIENS

2011-10-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

Plundered from Amiens Cathedral by Nazis during World War II

Liberated by American GIs

Found abandoned in a junk shop on Nantucket island, summer of '96

LITTLE DEVIL LULU

2011-10-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

UPON AWAKENING

2011-10-19T22:10:00.001-07:00

Petit Valentien

La Arcada, Santa Barbara

Where Upon Awakening begins and ends

Amazon.com: Upon Awakening & Sentience: Two Novellas eBook: Robert Eringer: Kindle Store

CHIHUAHUA, IN NATURAL HABITAT

2011-10-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

VANQUISHING EVIL

2011-10-16T09:51:00.001-07:00

LULU

2011-10-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

Small and fragile

But happy to take on Dobermans, Rottweilers and Pit bulls

MONTECITO MOON

2011-10-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

YET ANOTHER SPECTACULAR DAY ON THE AMERICAN RIVIERA

2011-10-11T16:27:00.000-07:00

Butterfly

POLONIUM PUTIN: NO SHAME HE

2011-10-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

MADE IN NEBRASKA...

2011-10-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

Found in Scottsdale, Arizona

STILL LIFE

2011-10-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

By Liv Brooke

BUTTERFLY BEACH, MID-MORNING

2011-10-04T07:54:00.001-07:00

LAZY SUNDAY AFTERNOON

2011-10-03T07:45:00.001-07:00

The view from Via Vai

MIRAMAR BEACH, MORNING

2011-10-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

SANTA BARBARA'S PREMIER ART EVENT

2011-09-29T12:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 1st, 11 a.m to 4 p.m.

18th Annual Mental Health Arts Festival - Santa Barbara, CA

POLONIUM PUTIN BECOMING A PRETTY BOTOX BOY?

2011-09-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

Has Putin had plastic surgery? | World news | The Guardian

POLONIUM PUTIN: POLITICAL OPPONENT'S BANK RAIDED

2011-09-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

Police raid Moscow bank linked to liberals - FT.com

LITTLE LULU

2011-09-24T12:15:00.000-07:00

POLONIUM PUTIN'S INTIMIDATION CAMPAIGN

2011-09-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

Russian spy agency targeting western diplomats | World news | The Guardian

"A BABCOCK MOMENT"

2011-09-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

Painted with Babcock pinot noir

by Thomas Van Stein

Celebrate art & wine at Piatti

Saturday, 24 September, 6-10 p.m.

THOMAS VAN STEIN EXHIBITION

2011-09-20T10:27:00.001-07:00

Piatti, Montecito

Saturday, 24 September, 6-10 p.m.

ERINGER: SURREAL BOUNCE

THOMAS VAN STEIN || ARTIST

MOVING FORWARD

2011-09-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

It is almost two years since this site began.

It started with this...

ERINGER: MONACO SPYMASTER RULES

Since then, we have chronicled corruption and criminality in Monaco, along with Prince Albert's inability to clean up, or even lead, his small country.

It is now down to Monegasques to determine the destiny of their principality.

CONTEST WINNER

2011-09-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

Two down, many to go.

Our caption

Two French windbags:

The opportunist and the flatulent colonialist.

SUNDAY FUNNIES

2011-09-17T13:49:00.001-07:00

Tubby joins the band

PIATTI: T.C. BOYLE

2011-09-16T11:54:00.001-07:00

ERINGER: SURREAL BOUNCE: PIATTI END OF DAYS: T.C. BOYLE

MONTECITO JOURNAL: LEGAL WOE WITH MONACO

2011-09-14T11:47:00.000-07:00

(Click image to enlarge)

CHEAP PR STUNT?

2011-09-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

From Monaco Today

Gambler wins €1,000,008 on one-armed bandit

The Société des Bains de Mer announced yesterday afternoon that a regular visitor to the Casino of the Café de Paris won the €1 million jackpot on Sunday.

The machine is a 20 cents device.

The winner, a lady from the region, said she wanted to remain anonymous, adding that she knows all the casinos in France, but likes Monte-Carlo best.

"I come to Monaco for the ambiance and sophistication, friendliness of the staff and the consideration shown to us, whether you are a big or a small player. This is the only Casino in the world that does not give the impression of being a factory.” She added that she loves the adrenaline rush that comes from gambling, which is much more enjoyable than a cruise. “I have an annual budget for gambling that others use for travel.”

Does this sound like BS--or what?

LETTER FROM MILENA RADOMAN OF MONACO HEBDO TO DAVID FRISTEDT OF BIMCAM

2011-09-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

(Click image to enlarge)

What makes Milena RADOMAN believe anyone would cooperate with a reporter and magazine possessing so blatant disregard for the truth?

ERINGER: LETTER TO MILENA RADOMAN OF MONACO HEBDO

(Needless to say, still no response from RADOMAN after 44 days.)

ERINGER: MONACO HEBDO: "ERINGER ALSO"

ERINGER: MONACO'S UNFREE PRESS

ERINGER: MONACO HEBDO: DECONSTRUCTING ALBERT

Stolen jewellery in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Recherche bijoux volés à Monaco.

NEW YORK POST: CINDY ADAMS

2011-09-13T07:56:00.000-07:00

OY. Rumors, gossiping, lousy vibes out of Monaco’s palace. His Serene Highness Prince Albert, heir to the throne of that tiny princedom, which was headed by his late parents, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace Kelly, was recently married, right? She’s South African, a beautiful slim blond Olympic swimmer who doesn’t speak French or the Monégasque language. Careful not to rattle the teacup before marriage, now that she nailed him this princess is becoming quite queenly.

They’re saying she’s not P.C. Princess Charlene. Palace staff refers to her as C.C. Commoner Charlene. She’s ruffling Albert’s close people so much that he’s replacing long-standing employees. She posed for a magazine in garb she was not supposed to wear. Other ensembles, laid out painstakingly by a trusted staffer, she refused.

To continue the royal line, this not-so-Serene Highness better deliver a baby soon is the whisper.

Actress’ career takes off - NYPOST.com

FILED: NOTICE TO APPEAL

2011-09-12T15:30:00.001-07:00

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Brigham RICKS, attorney for Robert ERINGER, today filed a Notice of Appeal in the case Robert Eringer vs. Principality of Monaco.

SARKOZY RECEIVED CORRUPT CASH

2011-09-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

Nicolas Sarkozy 'received cash from West African leaders'

Nicolas Sarkozy received cash from West African leaders, it has been alleged, following claims that Jacques Chirac and his Dominique de Villepin received an estimated $20 million stuffed into briefcases over eight years.

The scandal has cast fresh light on France's historically murky ties to African dictators, who for decades allegedly doled out dirty petrodollars to French politicians in exchange for diplomatic and military support in a set-up known as "Françafrique".

Nicolas Sarkozy 'received cash from West African leaders' - Telegraph

(UK) MAIL: "PUGACHEV HELPED BRIBE PRINCE ALBERT"

2011-09-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

"There were allegations that Pugachev, 47, helped bribe Prince Albert of Monaco to secure his vote for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia."

Viscount Linley goes cold on his Russian business pal Sergei Pugachev | Mail Online

ERINGER: MONACO'S PRINCE ALBERT: IOC BREACH, IN SUM

ERINGER: FULL TEXT OF IOC COMPLAINT AGAINST PRINCE ALBERT OF MONACO

ERINGER: IOC COMPLAINT: ERINGER'S AFFIDAVIT

ERINGER: ALBERT'S MONACO RED CROSS "GUEST OF HONOR" A BANKRUPT FRAUDSTER

REQUITAL (NOVEL): GNOMES OF BILDERBERG

2011-09-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

The gnomes of Bilderberg had spent Friday afternoon arriving from their various spheres of influence and registering at the elegant Hotel Negresco. They settled into their rooms and took refreshing walks along the Promenade des Anglais before a welcoming cocktail reception in the ornate Louis XIV Room followed by a sumptuous banquet in Le Chantecler, the hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant.

The conference began next morning, 9:30.

Niggedy-bu had managed to get a member of his team hired by the hotel as a room-service busboy, and this individual used a pay-as-you-go mobile phone to report updates.

It was late in the afternoon, when all the movers and shakers were in one room--the Salon Massena, a large conference room at the rear of the hotel’s ground floor with only one way in and out--when Niggedy-bu decided to make his move.

They, the Bilderberg participants, would be winding down and tired while he and his team would be on full throttle.

The entry point for Niggedy-bu and two of his men was La Rotonde, a Negresco restaurant with a carousel theme and its own corner entrance. An L-shaped corridor led past the entrance to Le Chantecler to the Salon Royal, a large oval-shaped atrium at the center of the hotel. This is where private security officers in suits attempted a formidable presence for deflecting outsiders.

One of them stepped forward to block Niggedy-bu’s stride.

Big mistake.

Read on at...

ERINGER: REQUITAL

(UK) MAIL: VISCOUNT LINLEY GOES COLD ON PUGACHEV

2011-09-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

Image: Aaron Ernst

To Viscount Linley it must have seemed the answer to all his dreams when the stratospherically wealthy Russian oligarch Sergei Pugachev offered to take a multi-million-pound stake in his bespoke furniture business.

For the deal would allow him to expand an interest that already stretched to upholstery, yacht design and interior decoration into global markets.

But after three years of sharing the equivalent of a corporate four-poster, the Queen’s nephew and the tycoon known as ‘Cashier to the Kremlin’ seem to have gone their separate ways.

Pugachev, I learn, is no longer a director of David Linley & Co, the furniture-maker’s company. And while a Linley aide confirms the termination of the directorships of Pugachev and his two older sons, Alexander and Victor, no one is explaining why.

Viscount Linley goes cold on his Russian business pal Sergei Pugachev | Mail Online

ERINGER: THE SPYMASTER OF MONTE CARLO 56: PULLING THE PLUG ON THE PUG

ERINGER: MONACO RED CROSS GALA: RED MAFIA IS GUEST OF HONOR

ERINGER: ALBERT'S MONACO RED CROSS "GUEST OF HONOR" A BANKRUPT FRAUDSTER

We warned Prince Albert a long time ago.

MONACO: THE GREAT NOODLE SELL-OUT

2011-09-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

From...

Welcome to monaco247.com

Non-stop noodles threaten Monte-Carlo landmark

If the SBM has its way the Sporting d’Hiver building on Casino Square will soon make way for a shopping centre for Chinese tourists.

In the company’s latest results statement, the SBM’s president of the board of directors, Jean-Luc Biamonti, said that a decision on the future of the Art Deco building is likely to be announced by the end of this year.

Although one of the uses to which the replacement building could be put would be as an up-market shopping centre for Asian visitors, according to previous statements from SBM, given the latest indications from the company it might be used as a 24-hour gambling hall, with noodles.

The SBM has said it is not currently able to attract Asian, and particularly Chinese, visitors. We need to welcome them and enable them “to satisfy their gambling impulses,” Mr Biamonti said, adding that snacks such as noodles, “Of which they are very fond,” should be made available 24 hours a day.

Although many voices have been raised against the demolition of the Sporting d’Hiver, a move that has also been criticised in the National Council, the Government seems determined not to intervene…

Sounds noodle-brained to us.

MONACO FOOTBALL: "A NIGHTMARE"

2011-09-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

From Monaco Today

Footballers go from bad to worse - ‘a nightmare’

Monaco were thoroughly beaten at home on Friday night 3-1 by Angers.

According to the Monaco fan website, the visitors deserved to win. The home team is now languishing in 17th place in France’s Ligue 2, which it joined earlier this summer having fallen out of Ligue 1.

Club President Etienne Franzi said after the match: “It was like a nightmare.”

From Nightmare Wedding to Football Nightmare

WIDESPREAD CORRUPTION AT VERY TOP IN FRANCE

2011-09-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

Jacques Chirac 'regularly received cash from African leaders'

Jacques Chirac, the former French president, and Dominique de Villepin, the former prime minister, regularly received suitcases stuffed with millions of francs from a string of African leaders, the lawyer who said he carried the cases alleged on Sunday.

Robert Bourgi, widely reported to be an unofficial "adviser" to President Nicolas Sarkozy, said he shuttled between African countries including Burkina Faso, the Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Senegal for more than 25 years.

Each time he would bring back up to 15 million francs (£1.5 million) in cash. Mr de Villepin yesterday strenuously denied the allegations, saying they were part of a "smokescreen" to deflect attention from allegations that Mr Sarkozy – his rival – was involved in illegal party funding via kickbacks from arms sales.

In an explosive interview with Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, Mr Bourgi claimed he transported "tens of millions of francs" each year, with the amounts going up in the run-up to French presidential elections – an intimation the cash was used to fund Mr Chirac's political campaigns. "I saw Chirac and Villepin count the money in front of me," he said.

Jacques Chirac 'regularly received cash from African leaders' - Telegraph

FORBES: THE PRINCE AND THE BLOGGER, PAGE ONE

2011-09-11T13:06:00.001-07:00

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REQUITAL (NOVEL): HOTEL NEGRESCO

2011-09-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Soon after his operation in London, Niggedy-bu made it to Damascus, Syria, where he spent three weeks whooping it up in nightclubs, enjoying his media-elevated status as The World’s Deadliest Terrorist. He enjoyed watching videos of the news media’s coverage of his most daring escapade.

The Financiers wanted Niggedy-bu to lay low for at least a year, maybe two.

But after six weeks of partying, and news recaps, Niggedy-bu needed another fix. The aftermath of extinguishing a human life was like no other drug the terrorist had ever experienced. Not to mention the newspaper ink, the notoriety, the celebrity.

But he had done school kids. What could top that?

It took Niggedy-bu a full month to research the proposition.

And although The Financiers were reluctant to give Niggedy-bu a hearing, they finally relented and allowed their ego-driven prize terrorist to deliver a presentation at a safe house on the outskirts of Beirut, Lebanon.

It was perfect in its simplicity: Take the Bilderberg Group hostage.

Bilder…what?

Read on...

ERINGER: REQUITAL: 4. HOTEL NEGRESCO