SPY WAY OF LIFE

AZERBAIJAN 23/09/2022

From the Hyatt to the Landmark: hotels of choice of financiers on Azerbaijani oil and gas quest

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online visits the Landmark Hotel, an establishment highly prized by investors wanting to rub shoulders with Caspian oil and gas executives. [...]

CHINA UNITED STATES 16/09/2022

The King Cole Bar at the St. Regis Hotel, a hotbed of intrigue on Fifth Avenue

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online visits the luxurious King Cole Bar in New York, the birthplace of the Bloody Mary where celebrities, spies and occasionally sparring politicians like to meet. [...]

HONG KONG 09/09/2022

Yat Lok, Chinese spies' Michelin-starred Hong Kong hangout

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online visits Yat Lok restaurant in Hong Kong, where security officers meet their local and foreign sources, and devour some of the best glazed geese in the city. [...]

FRANCE 02/09/2022

Café Max, cherished hangout of French corporate security directors, changes ownership

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online visited Café Max, a favourite Parisian haunt of retired spies and senior police officers now running the security departments of France's largest companies, or working as corporate investigators. [...]

BAHRAIN UNITED KINGDOM 26/08/2022

Bahrain Rugby Club, a hub of British beer and influence in the Gulf

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores an institution inherited from the time of British presence in the country, the Bahrain Rugby Club. [...]

Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa with Bahrain Rugby Club players.

GERMANY 19/08/2022

In Berlin, spies are back and seeking an ideal meeting place

All over the world, spies like to meet in favourite spots where discreet conversations and chance meetings can occur. This week Intelligence Online visits the emblematic Einstein UdL in Berlin, a city where spying is making something of a comeback. [...]

Einstein café at Unter den Linden, Berlin, Germany.

UNITED KINGDOM 29/07/2022

The Travellers Club: where big business meets big secrets

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online tiptoes through the lounges of the Travellers Club, a historic venue on the grand Pall Mall. [...]

The facade of the Travellers Club, at 106 Pall Mall, London.

FRANCE 22/07/2022

Le Zimmer, a Belle Époque cafe for artists and spies

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores Le Zimmer, a central Parisian cafe that makes for a handy meeting point for French foreign intelligence officers and their sources. [...]

Le Zimmer café, place du Châtelet, Paris.

DENMARK 15/07/2022

Hotel Phoenix provides a royal refuge for the Danish crown's secret agents

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores the favourite haunts of the Danish intelligence services, which are generally chosen for their discretion and four-star comfort. [...]

ISRAEL 08/07/2022

Claro restaurant, a former Mossad outpost turned lunchtime favourite for cyberexperts

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores Claro, a restaurant serving Mediterranean fare in Tel Aviv's Sarona neighbourhood, strategically located between the headquarters of the Israeli Defence Forces and the offices of Israel's most prominent cyber firms. [...]

EUROPE 01/07/2022

Le Plux, Brussels' NATO information goldmine for spies

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores Brussel's Place de Luxembourg, known as Le Plux, where EU and NATO officials quaff Belgian beer and chat as Russian spies listen in. [...]

ITALY 24/06/2022

Convitto Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele II, the Italian security establishment's favourite school

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores Rome's Convitto Nazionale Vittorio Emanuele II, a multi-year school that allows parents, many of whom are politicians or intelligence operatives, to make a connection or two. [...]

CHINA 17/06/2022

China Foreign Affairs University canteen provides fine fare for security chiefs and diplomats

Throughout the world, spies have their meeting places, suited to discreet conversations and impromptu meetings. This week, Intelligence Online explores the canteen at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. In this spartan but refined setting at the heart of the prestigious university campus, senior Chinese and foreign officials meet to strengthen ties and discuss China's plans for the New Silk Road. [...]

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES YEMEN 10/06/2022

Azal Mandi, an understated restaurant for Yemen's top brass in exile in Dubai

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores one such establishment, Azal Mandi in Dubai, an unpretentious restaurant frequented by Tarek Saleh, a former senior Yemeni army officer in exile in the city. [...]

FRANCE 03/06/2022

Le Point de Chute, military intelligence's happy hour hangout

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores one such establishment, Le Point de Chute bar in Paris, where evening pints keep the neighbourhood clientele cheerful. [...]

The bar restaurant Le Point de Chute, boulevard Victor, in Paris.

UNITED STATES 27/05/2022

Will the Off the Record speakeasy survive Washington's bunkering?

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores the bar Off the Record, a spot for hushed talks between private consultants, members of Congress and journalists scouting for their next source "close to US intelligence". [...]

The Off the Record bar, located across from the White House.

ITALY 20/05/2022

Casa Coppelle, Rome's intimate retreat catering to intelligence diplomats

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores the restaurant Casa Coppelle in Rome, where spymasters dine and which has been the setting for meetings between the Italian and American intelligence services. [...]

SWITZERLAND 13/05/2022

The Moosegg Hotel, the Alpine retreat where private investigators meet up with their Gulf paymasters

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores the Moosegg Hotel in the Swiss Alps, where, one evening in December 2019, Israeli spies, British investigators and the representatives of a Gulf emir, gathered for a confidential meeting with a few bottles of fine wine. [...]

ISRAEL 06/05/2022

King David hotel, a spies' den central to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Free

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online explores the King David hotel in Jerusalem. It's a setting that has borne witness to the Israeli-Palestinian upheaval and where spymasters skulk behind the scenes. [...]

UNITED KINGDOM 29/04/2022

The Burlington Arms, the old private investigators' pub struggling to hold on to its customers

Across the globe, spies gather in inconspicuous dens, where they meet contacts and hold discreet conversations. This week, Intelligence Online examines a pub that has traditionally been the happy hour for the London's intelligence village, The Burlington Arms. [...]

Barzan Holdings, Qatar's defence industry giant springing up out of the desert

Badr Jafar - the businessman 2.0 taking hold in the UAE