Beware of Bellingcat: A pro-war propaganda outlet masquerading as independent media.
A more detailed expose of Bellingcat's shady connections and propaganda.
Recently I published an article showcasing Bellingcat’s latest fake news story and showcasing some of their shady connections to the U.S. and U.K. security states. In this article, I will further report on Bellingcat’s lack of expertise, security state connections, and smearing of the OPCW whistleblowers.
Bellingcat was founded by Elliot Higgins a British blogger who used to write under the pseudonym “Brown Moses”. As journalist Mark Ames pointed out this pseudonym was misleading as it gave the impression was of Middle Eastern origin while in reality, he is a “doughy pinkish Midlands gamer” as Ames put it. Despite being propped up as some kind of expert by mainstream media Higgins lack any real expertise. A profile of Higgins in the New York Times stated
Mr. Higgins attributed his skill not to any special knowledge of international conflicts or digital data, but to the hours he had spent playing video games, which, he said, gave him the idea that any mystery can be cracked.
Before becoming a “journalist” Higgins sold women’s lingerie. Higgins's research has been criticized by experts such as Ted Postal a professor of Science and Technology at MIT. In a debate with Higgins over the alleged chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, Syria, Postal said of Higgins's work “there is no science at all in what was presented, none at all.”
Bellingcat is far from independent they are funded by the C.I.A. cutout the National Endowment For Democracy as well as the pro-NATO think tank the Atlantic Council which itself is funded by western governments, oil companies, and arms manufacturers. The U.S. intelligence community is appreciative of Bellingcat’s work. An article in foreign policy magazine quoted a former C.I.A. deputy chief saying “I don’t want to be dramatic but we love this” referring to Bellingcat’s work.
Investigations from multiple independent journalists have exposed Bellingcat’s connections to the security state.
Journalist Alan Macleod has exposed that many of bellingcat’s employees come from military and intelligence agencies. For example one of their investigators, Nick waters was an officer in the British army. One of their contributors Cameron Colquhoun spent a decade in Britain's version of the NSA , the GCHQ.
Journalist Aaron Mate has reported on an internal U.K. government review of Bellingcat that stated Bellingcat was discredited for spreading misinformation and being willing to produce reports for anyone willing to pay.
Journalist Max Blumenthal has reported on leaked documents that show Bellingcat took part in a covert UK foreign office program created to “weaken Russia”
Journalists Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis have reported that after the U.K. government identified North Macedonia as a “priority country” they deployed Bellingcat which later wrote a report entitled “Russian interference in North Macedonia: A View Before the Elections.”
Bellingcat focuses almost entirely on enemies of U.S. and U.K. empires namely Russia and Syria. As the previously mentioned Matt Kennard found last year Bellingcat published 144 stories on Russia and 244 on Syria compared to 5 on the UK and 17 on Saudi Arabia.
Bellingcat has also relentlessly attacked the anti-imperialist left. In a ridiculous smear article published in 2019, the site alleged that prominent anti-imperialist were on the payroll of Assad because they received $2,500 from a California-based anti-war non-profit headed by activist Paul Larudee that they claimed was the “Assad lobby”. The piece smeared many prominent anti-imperialists including the outlets mint press news, black agenda report, and Venezuela analysis journalists Max Blumenthal and Rania Khaleck, and commentators Kim Iversen and Jimmy Dore.
Bellingcat has also attempted to smear and discredit the OPCW whistleblowers. For context, Donald Trump bombed Syria in 2018 over an allegation of a chemical attack in the town of Douma. Later the chemical weapons watchdog the OPCW came out with a report that matched the U.S. government line that there was a chlorine attack done by the Assad regime in Douma. But later some of the team’s top inspectors released censored documents to WikiLeaks that undermined this narrative. The first attempt at was when they published a letter they claimed to have been sent by the OPCW’s director-general to the inspectors that debunks the documents released to WikiLeaks. But journalist Aaron Mate exposed that this was a draft letter that was never actually sent to the inspectors. Higgins has even listed the OPCW as a partner of Bellingcat and later backtrack saying it was a “copying error”.
Keep in mind the U.K. foreign office said Higgins was willing to write reports for “anyone willing to pay” it is possible Higgins was working with the OPCW leadership in an attempt to discredit its own dissenting inspectors who have been supported by Noam Chomsky, Daniel Ellsberg and five former senior OPCW officials.
In another bizarre instance Bellingcat reporter, Nick Waters, and HuffPost reporter Chris York sent identical emails to WikiLeaks asking about the OPCW whistleblowers. As journalist Aaron mate pointed out this signals that
neither Waters nor York wrote their overlapping questions or text to begin with, and received them instead from a mutual source.
From Higgins's lack of experience to Bellingcat’s connections to the U.S. and U.K. security state to his smearing of leftists and whistleblowers, Bellingcat should not be trusted as a source.