Bellingcat

Bellingcat
Formation	2014
Type	blog
Interest of	Richard Engel, Machiavelli Foundation, Anatoly Shariy, Brian Whitaker
Member of	EXPOSE Network
Sponsored by	Adam Smith International, Adessium Foundation, Google News Initiative, National Endowment for Democracy, ProtonMail, Sigrid Rausing Trust, Swedish Postcode Foundation
Investigator of current events using open source information.

https://bellingcat.com/ : "by and for citizen investigative journalists" Choose random, anonymous (and probably fake) images from social media to suit whatever point you want to make - no need for any verification whatsoever.

Background of founder

In Oct 2012, Eliot Higgins was laid off from his job as an administrator at a nonprofit providing housing for asylum seekers.

In Aug 2013, Eliot Higgins noticed Twitter reports of a possible chemical-weapons attack in Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus.

In Nov 2013, Eliot Higgins "confirmed" that Syria had used chemical weapons, without noticing that it was not the Syrian government that carried out the attacks.

Bellingcat funding

On 15 Jul 2014, Eliot Higgins started a new website called Bellingcat for citizen journalism to investigate current events using open source information such as videos, maps and pictures. It was funded by a KickStarter campaign (£50,891 at 13 Sep 2014 from 1,701 contributions). The Kickstarter funding model is based on a cash-for gifts/favours model: backers "get to choose from a variety of unique rewards offered by the project creator. Rewards vary from project to project ..."

Also of possible note: Kickstarter "Projects can’t mislead people or misrepresent facts, and creators should be candid about what they plan to accomplish". From the project home page: "bellingcat.com will unite citizen investigative journalists to use open source information to report on issues that are being ignored . . . Bellingcat will be an extension of Eliot’s work on the Brown Moses blog. ."

Until the creation of Bellingcat, the Brown Moses blog had not been concerned with events in Ukraine. Another difference is that whereas the Brown Moses blog was non-commercial, Bellingcat is now obviously a commercial venture.

Mystery MH17 Buk in Torez

On 18 Jul 2014, Bellingcat "Found The Buk Missile Launcher That Downed Flight MH17" - though the photograph, widely claimed to have been taken in the town of Snizhne, was actually taken in the town of Torez and under weather conditions significantly different to those on the day of the MH17 crash. Eliot Higgins (proprietor of Bellingcat: known for investigative social media and weapons analysis) didn't consider when the photograph was taken to be important. The photo used by Bellingcat in the "investigation" as to the location of the BUK was uploaded on 18 July 2014 at 18:26:41. This "investigation" as to the location of the BUK" is an unusual way to go about things. Why not simply ask the person who took it or whoever supplied it? And why not ask when it was taken?

2014 Jul 18, 8:36 PM: Within a minute or so of Brown Moses tweeting that the Buk had been geolocated to Torez, James Miller (managing editor of Interpretermag) commented: "cool. Where?". James Miller, coincidentally, had been asked to geolocate the image (which appears to have originated from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry) only the day before.

Mystery MH17 Buks that didn't get geolocated

Sergey Paschenko

Captioned by TheDaily Mail as: "Is this the smoking gun? This picture has emerged of a pro-Russian rebel posing in front of the same type of BUK missile launcher that is believed to have shot down MH17" Though, actually, it is a Ukrainian Army conscript guarding Ukrainian Army Buks.

Sergey Paschenko selfie.jpg

James Foley execution location

On 23 Aug 2014, Bellingcat made an estimate of the exact location where the James Foley execution video was made (outside Raqqa, an Islamic State stronghold in north-central Syria), yet failed to notice that the video itself was a fake .

Mystery MH17 Buk in transit

On 08 Sep 204, Belingcat claimed "New evidence has been found that shows the Buk missile system that was used to shoot down MH17 on the 17th of July came from Russia, and was most likely operated by Russian soldiers.". The source for there being a Russian BUK in Ukraine is The Ministry of internal Affairs of Ukraine. It is shown on a civilian transporter, whereas those shown in Russia are on military transporters. It is alleged to have been in Luhansk and heading towards the Russian border, which is not the ideal route for getting from Torez to Russia. It has a white patch on its right-hand side and no railings: basically, that's it. This "new evidence" has been manipulated into the Wikipedia article, courtesy of the accounts: My very best wishes, Sayerslle, Geogene, Stickee and Martinevans123 [1] [2]

 

Related Quotations

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Anatoly Shariy	“[...], according to many experts, it's an MI6 organization.”	Anatoly Shariy	18 October 2020
Zinc Network	“Bringing together organisations including Zinc Network, the Institute for Statecraft, Aktis Strategy, Bellingcat, DFR Lab, the Media Diversity Institute, Toro Risk Solutions and Ecorys, our Consortium combines recognised market leaders in understanding, monitoring, and countering Kremlin-backed disinformation... This ecosystem of credible voices will continue to grow, exposing the actors and networks behind Kremlin-backed disinformation, reducing unwitting multipliers of disinformation, and building resilience amongst key target audiences across Europe. We will mobilise a Network Hub based in London, led by an experienced Project Director, consisting of an agile team with core competencies augmented by a wider pool of vetted experts. Our approach is highly localised, based around regional clusters of actors who can collaborate to effectively undermine the disinformation ecosystem in their respective areas and engage audiences most vulnerable to disinformation... It is a highly complex project involving coordination of many independent actors, and thus risk must be carefully managed and risk profiles constantly adapted, serving as the basis for all activity. The approach we propose is based on the identification, monitoring and management of risks as they materialise, allowing members to continue taking smart risks as they increase the scale and impact of their activities.”

 

Sponsors

Event	Description
Adam Smith International	London-based consultancy charged with overseeing the overseas work of the Adam Smith Institute. Used by British intelligence services to train puppet police forces in the Middle East.
Adessium Foundation	A secretive Dutch foundation that donates to projects backed by Western governments.
Google News Initiative	Google and the deep state buying domination over corporate media and creating tools to censor independent voices.
National Endowment for Democracy	The "traditional intermediary of the CIA", promoting the US "national interest" abroad by financing groups and individuals.
ProtonMail	Email and VPN server originally located in formally neutral Switzerland to avoid US/NATO surveillance or "information requests", but this has been hollowed out.
Sigrid Rausing Trust
Swedish Postcode Foundation

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:British govt funded plan for censorship of factual NATO criticism	Article	3 October 2023	Jack Poulson	Leaked documents reveal British intel contractor Zinc Network singled out The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal for online censorship, and seeks to redefine factual criticism of NATO as disinformation
Document:Metropolitan Police on 'Chepiga' and 'Mishkin'	blog post	12 October 2018	Craig Murray	I remain of the view that the best way forward would be for Putin to negotiate conditions under which Boshirov and Petrov might voluntarily come to the UK for trial
Document:Staged ISIS Videos are the Plot of Iron Man 3	article	14 September 2014	Jay Dyer	Predictive programming and fake news - an analysis of the ISIS 'beheading' videos and 'Iron Man 3'
Document:Upskilling to Upscale: Unleashing the Capacity of Civil Society to Counter Disinformation	project plan	June 2018	Integrity Initiative	A central II-document. The master plan for a huge network of British-directed NGOs in Europe. ‘Disinformation’ refers to everything not fitting the Western government narrative...
Document:Why some people are spreading false rumours about the Texas gunman	Article	9 May 2023	Shayan Sardarizadeh Mike Wendling	The BBC factchecks the recent 2023 Allen, Texas outlet mall shooting regarding the alleged Nazism of the Hispanic shooter

Rating

17 January 2020 Terje 

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External links

Use on Wikipedia so far