Bellingcat caught spreading fake news again.
More false information from the N.E.D's mouthpiece.
Recently, the supposed “independent investigative” outlet Bellingcat put out a story that alleged Russia had used chemical weapons on members that attended the peace delegation between Ukraine and Russia.
This allegation gave fodder to the possibility that Russia may use chemical weapons in Ukraine, which Biden said would result in further NATO action in the war. This claim, however, was quickly proven false by Reuters, which reported:
A U.S. official said on Monday that intelligence suggests the sickening of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and Ukrainian peace negotiators was due to an environmental factor, not poisoning.
The article goes on to say that the Wall Street Journal and Bellingcat both falsely reported that this sickening was the result of poisoning with chemical weapons. The question is: why was Bellingcat publishing false information that could manufacture consent for more western involvement in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
Bellingcat’s sketchy connections
A look at Bellingcat’s funding shows they take money from the National Endowment for Democracy (N.E.D.), a CIA cutout whose co-founder, Allen Weinstein, was quoted saying, "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.” The N.E.D has been known to fund opposition media in official enemy countries that push a pro-U.S. line. A few recent examples:
Jacobin magazine reported on leaked documents that proved the N.E.D. used opposition media to swing Venezuela’s national assembly to the opposition. Scholar Benjamin Waddell has also reported that the N.E.D.’s funding of opposition media in Nicaragua “laid the groundwork for insurrection.”
Bellingcat’s founder, Elliot Higgins, also works for the Atlantic Council - a think tank funded by arms manufacturers, oil companies, and western governments.
A leaked report from the U.K. foreign office on Bellingcat showcased by The Grayzone found that the outlet was “somewhat discredited, both by spreading disinformation itself, and by being willing to produce reports for anyone willing to pay.”
Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis from the independent outlet “Declassified U.K.” reported on a leaked document from the U.K. government that showed they deployed Bellingcat after identifying North Macedonia as a “priority country.” Bellingcat then published a report at the behest of the U.K. government called “Russian interference in North Macedonia: A View Before the Elections.”
This is just yet another example of Bellingcat pushing false information in favor of the state department’s agenda.