Thread by @AlanRMacLeod

My new @MintPressNews article exploring Bellingcat's close relationship with Western states and how it helps further government interests (thread)

mintpressnews.com/bellingcat-int…

Bellingcat is filled with ex-military or ex-intelligence officials. It's senior investigator jumped from being a UK army officer to a Bellingcat man.

One other former contributor spent 10 years at GCHQ (Britain's NSA) before joining Bellingcat.

There are plenty of US spooks too: 1 BC writer worked for National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency- an intelligence combat support unit under the DoD.

Meanwhile, another writer spent 6 years in the Secret Service + 6 more as program manager for the White House Military Office

Then there is BC foudner Eliot Higgins himself. He spent 3 years as a senior research fellow at NATO cutout the Atlantic Council, a US gov funded think tank that pushes the most extreme anti-Russia views on the world.

For more on the AC see my work here:
mintpressnews.com/tag/atlantic-c…

BC is funded by the US govt through the NED. For a long time Higgins laughed this off as a conspiracy theory. But later he admitted it was true. BC's latest fiancial report confirms they still take the NED's money.

BC maintains that it is an independent, open source intelligence group for the people with "no agenda". But it doesn't even disclose the "spooky" backgrounds of many of its staff

What are we supposed to assume the reason behind this outrageous flouting of journalistic norms is?

Imagine there was a Russia 🇷🇺 based intel group funded by the Kremlin filled with ex-KGB guys pumping out articles about how NATO countries were bad. It would be laughed out of town in 5 mins. But when it's the other way around BC is celebrated as groundbreaking + independent.

What's particularly troubling about this is that BC appears to be a new training ground for ambitious journalists. Already 2 BC employees now work for the New York Times, for example. This is what I'm calling the spook to Bellingcat to corporate media pipeline.