STUPID ONLINE
The Dumbest "Intelligence" News Service in the World
An online “news” service available by subscription yesterday posted their dumbest article yet on corrupt shenanigans in Monaco and the clean-up supposedly underway at Prince Albert’s direction.
Aside from incorrectly stating the facts, presumably because they are either badly misinformed or because they desire to spread French disinformation, Intelligence Online, which emanates from France, also broke a fundamental rule of journalistic ethics: They did not seek comment from at least one person prominently named in their story.
I know this because I am mentioned.
Did I receive a phone call or email seeking my perspective or comment?
No.
Backstory: Claude Palmero, the disgraced Monaco Palace accountant, and Thierry Lacoste, the disgraced lawyer to Prince Albert, have finally been excommunicated—justifiably—from Prince Albert’s inner circle of cronies many months after their highly corrupt activities spanning 17 years were exposed in their own self-incriminating emails.
As the Prince’s spymaster from June 2002 until the end of 2007, I brought evidence of their corruption directly to Albert in mid-2006.
Which means the Prince knew about it way back then.
And did nothing.
It therefore seems to me Palmero and Lacoste were cast out not because they are corrupt but because by getting caught they blemished Albert’s image.
As a result, damage-control has taken hold to try to keep the Prince at arm’s length from the crimes of his closest associates in a futile effort to hold him blameless.
The sad truth is this: Albert was either complicit in corruption or he is an ostrich whose leadership preference is hiding his head in the sand.
Even more tragic, from my firsthand experience, Albert was both: He knew, was therefore complicit, but he did not want to hear about it.
Writes Stupid Online: “In the early 2000s, [Albert] brought into his entourage Robert Eringer, a self-proclaimed US private investigator who let it be known that he had direct contact with the CIA. However, Eringer was not close to the CIA nor was he the brightest sleuth in the pack.”
Let us dispose of such nonsense:
The use of the phrase “self-proclaimed” is an old journalistic trick better used in propaganda to throw doubt on someone. When you see it, you know straight off a hatchet-job is underway.
The intelligence service I customized for Prince Albert indeed enjoyed very close contact with the CIA. I created a liaison relationship with that agency early on to assist Prince Albert with briefings and operational support. I even took Albert to visit CIA Director Porter Goss at their headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where the Prince and I were briefed in great detail on Terrorism Finance and its connection to certain Monaco personages.
Continues Stupid Online: “Nor was [Eringer] the brightest sleuth in the pack.” Yet not only did I last five years in the Prince’s employ but also managed to remain invisible for most of that time. Yet I created liaison relationships with 20 intelligence services (including the CIA, the Brits, the French, the Italians, Romanians, Bulgarians, etc.) all of which stood ready to brief Albert on any topic of his choosing (and did so), a courtesy that did not exist before my arrival on the scene. Yet I created an intelligence association of micro-European countries, including Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Malta and San Marino to form a united shield and crack down on money laundering. Beyond that, and much more, I figured out many years before anyone else that Palmero and Lacoste were corrupt and also that the man Prince Albert wanted as chief of Monaco’s justice system, Philippe Narmino, was also terribly corrupt. I tried my best to stave off Narmino’s appointment by providing the Prince with evidence of his corruption. I told Albert point-blank that if he appointed Narmino it would one day blow up in his face and tarnish his legacy. But Albert gave him the job anyway. And guess what happened? Eleven years later, Le Monde exposed Narmino for corruption and he was forced to resign in disgrace, blemishing Albert’s legacy.
Continues Stupid Online: “Albert decided to part ways with [Eringer] in 2008.” This was because Albert’s cronies, Claude Palmero and Thierry Lacoste, determined that the intelligence service I created was a threat (as it was) to their corrupt activities and so they conspired to disrupt the flow of intelligence by first attempting to terminate the Prince’s intelligence service without his authorization and, when that did not work, coaxing Albert to give up the most honest, objective and insightful source of information he ever had at his disposal. Ultimately, I terminated the service myself after Albert entered into a corrupt relationship with President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
Stupid Online goes on to babble about a case involving “a New Zealand entrepreneur in Monaco wanting to invest in Monaco… accused of being a Russian spy.” This is an extremely complicated situation in which the few “facts” reported by Stupid are incorrect, from the source of such information (in this case, Russian disinformation) to the current status of a legal case Stupid implies I am party to (I am not) and Stupid claims “ended last year” (it is ongoing).
Much more will soon come out about corruption in Monaco and Prince Albert’s complicity.
But don’t expect Stupid Online to keep you reliably informed.
Well done, most illuminating, indeed!
However, truly, I don't see how there would be a problem commending my 4 UN Resolutions to the attention of His Highness, Albert, through Her Excellency his UN Ambassador, Isabelle Picco!
A little more about Her Excellency, with a nice photo of her at the most important desk at the UN!
https://mission-un-ny.gouv.mc/The-Ambassador-Permanent-Representative
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Seems like you would still be in the pristine good graces with Prince Albert!
My problem with that since-1297 "regime" is that terrible story about pilgrims pounding on the Palace Door during a storm, then being let in, only to kill every single person, and take power in that manner, which I will just have to get over one of these days soon, when I finish communications with all of the other very interesting Permanent Representatives at the UN and their Health and Justice Ministers about the continuing harm from their citizens naively consuming Aspartame/methanol/formaldehyde and diketopiperazine (a proven cause of brain tumors and glioblastomas), Donald Rumsfeld's curse upon the world as Rumsfeld's Plague when he forced FDA approval for Aspartame in 1981, in the already massively corporate usurped FDA, overturning the findings of two boards of inquiry that wanted to indict several lawyers for Fraud, but the Lawyers quit and went to work for the PR firm for the Aspartame patent holder, G.D. Searle of Chicago.
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As you know very well, Robert Eringer! The Grimaldis' occupation of their palace is unusual because, unlike other European ruling families, the absence of alternative palaces and land shortages have resulted in their use of the same residence for more than seven centuries. Thus, their fortunes and politics are directly reflected in the evolution of the palace. Whereas the Romanovs, Bourbons, and Habsburgs could, and frequently did, build completely new palaces, the most the Grimaldi could achieve when enjoying good fortune, or desirous of change, was to build a new tower or wing, or, as they did more frequently, rebuild an existing part of the palace. Thus, the Prince's Palace reflects the history not only of Monaco, but of the family which in 1997 celebrated 700 years of rule from the same palace.
Legend relates that in January 1297 François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, sought shelter at the castle. On obtaining entry he murdered the guard, whereupon his men appeared and captured the castle. Thus the fortress became the stronghold of the Grimaldi. This event is commemorated by a statue of François Grimaldi in the precincts of the palace (Illustration 6) and in the arms of the House of Grimaldi where François is depicted wielding a sword while in the garb of a monk (Illustration 2).
Charles I, who ruled from 1331 to 1357, and was the son of François Grimaldi's cousin Rainier I, significantly enlarged the fortress by adding two large buildings: one against the eastern ramparts and the second looking out over the sea. This changed the appearance of the fortress, making it appear more of a fortified house than a fortress.
The fortifications remained very necessary, for during the next three decades the fortress was alternately lost and regained by the Grimaldi to the Genoese. In 1341 the Grimaldi took Menton and then Roquebrune, thus consolidating their power and strength in the area. Subsequently, they strengthened not only the defences of the harbour but also their fortress on the Rocher. The Grimaldi's stronghold was now a power base from which the family ruled a large but very vulnerable area of land.
For the next hundred years the Grimaldi defended their territory from attacks by other states which included Genoa, Pisa, Venice, Naples, France, Spain, Germany, England and Provence. The fortress was frequently bombarded, damaged, and restored. Gradually the Grimaldi began to make an alliance with France which strengthened their position. Now more secure, the Grimaldi lords of Monaco now began to recognize the need not only to defend their territory, but also to have a home reflecting their power and prestige.