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A related YouTuber: https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt He treks around former soviet countries (mainly) on his

A related YouTuber: https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt He treks around former soviet countries (mainly) on his own creating commentary travellogs.

ilaksh 5y ago
I'm a subscriber. Really interesting videos. I heard he used to work for MI6. Not sure if that is just a rumor to try to get more subscribers or what. But there are some more Youtubers who seem to travel around to hotspots. I am a little suspicious they work for the CIA or something. Seems like the perfect cover. It may be some of them just get paid not to actually spy but just to verify that westerners can travel and film in those places.
- themodelplumber 5y ago
  That's interesting about bald, it's a neat channel. I used to be one of a group of people who other people thought were spies. I was living abroad at the time. At first this aspect was extremely irritating. Some locals would point at me and say "spy". But the more I thought about it, the more I met people like me who I thought would make terrific spies, and the more I met local friends who I thought I could probably recruit as spies to have local culture on my side. Then I started to casually explore the countryside like a dumb tourist, and I would emerge from a random forest to see locals' gaping mouths, later to learn it was a sensitive area. I started to think--no wonder they think we're spies! Later on I went home and found out that a LOT of people who did what I did were recruited as legitimate spy-types. One of them was a childhood friend who apparently drank some magic government potion and became a CIA officer who went on to be extremely visible in US national politics. It's a fascinating lens on life, superficially at least. Misdirection works for you and against you. You can make just about anything seem true or false. And weirdly while supposedly a hyper-objective effort (go $my_country!) I understand it often has a tremendous personal impact on those who are deeply involved. > But there are some more Youtubers who seem to travel around to hotspots These are the ones I'd recruit for a modern-day BRIXMIS. If you watch the BRIXMIS videos, the officers interviewed had a tremendous psychological overlap with traveling Youtubers who are very curious about things, to the point where _touching_ or _going to those things_ feels like a victory of its own. Digging up poop near an encampment because Soviet soldiers used log pages as toilet paper--they did that.
  - dncornholio 5y ago
    Aren't spies a bit of a thing of the past? The times that we need to be physically present for information are long, long past no? What has a spy acting as a tourist to gain?
    - jstarfish 5y ago
      Tourists make terrible spies. They attract too much attention; operating in an environment where everyone already thinks you're a spy is not what "hiding in plain sight" means. Espionage is still very much alive. Physical presence maintains trust that can later be exploited (most of us would call it "grooming").
Ansil849 5y ago
I tried watching a couple, and the guy just comes off as an insufferable douchebag. Acting like a twat and mugging for the camera. edit: having watched a couple more videos, this just reinforces my theory that the most popular youtube channels are also the most mediocre. This guy's formula is basically 'travel to $random_CIS_country; check-in to a hotel; go on a short walking tour within a few blocks of the hotel while acting like an asshat; the end.' And this gets millions of views and subscribers. This guy basically goes to one poor town after another and then complains that...it is poor and wonders how people can live there. The videos seem to oscillate from just being obnoxious to being downright rude and insulting. It's depressing that they seem to be extremely popular.
- cfn 5y ago
  I understand where you are coming from but there are some pearls in there such as this one about the Beslan tragedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0knAQL9WtM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0knAQL9WtM
- malermeister 5y ago
  I think your impression is right - there's some indications that guy might be at the very least have questionable morals, or might even be a straight up sexual predator - https://old.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/judnlm/is_bald_bankrupt_really_a_sex_tourist_and_a/ https://old.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/judnlm... tl;dr internet sleuths have connected him to a since deleted account on a "pick up artist" forum where that person has bragged about going to Eastern Europe to find desperate women to have sex with, using very questionable methods
  - lottin 5y ago
    They're basically saying that he's a terrible person because he... has sex with women.
    - rahoulb 5y ago
      Well, in that Reddit comment it says he uses lies and threats.

A related YouTuber: https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt https://www.youtube.com/c/baldandbankrupt He treks around former soviet countries (mainly) on his own creating commentary travellogs.

ilaksh 5y ago

I'm a subscriber. Really interesting videos. I heard he used to work for MI6. Not sure if that is just a rumor to try to get more subscribers or what. But there are some more Youtubers who seem to travel around to hotspots. I am a little suspicious they work for the CIA or something. Seems like the perfect cover. It may be some of them just get paid not to actually spy but just to verify that westerners can travel and film in those places.

themodelplumber 5y ago
That's interesting about bald, it's a neat channel. I used to be one of a group of people who other people thought were spies. I was living abroad at the time. At first this aspect was extremely irritating. Some locals would point at me and say "spy". But the more I thought about it, the more I met people like me who I thought would make terrific spies, and the more I met local friends who I thought I could probably recruit as spies to have local culture on my side. Then I started to casually explore the countryside like a dumb tourist, and I would emerge from a random forest to see locals' gaping mouths, later to learn it was a sensitive area. I started to think--no wonder they think we're spies! Later on I went home and found out that a LOT of people who did what I did were recruited as legitimate spy-types. One of them was a childhood friend who apparently drank some magic government potion and became a CIA officer who went on to be extremely visible in US national politics. It's a fascinating lens on life, superficially at least. Misdirection works for you and against you. You can make just about anything seem true or false. And weirdly while supposedly a hyper-objective effort (go $my_country!) I understand it often has a tremendous personal impact on those who are deeply involved. > But there are some more Youtubers who seem to travel around to hotspots These are the ones I'd recruit for a modern-day BRIXMIS. If you watch the BRIXMIS videos, the officers interviewed had a tremendous psychological overlap with traveling Youtubers who are very curious about things, to the point where _touching_ or _going to those things_ feels like a victory of its own. Digging up poop near an encampment because Soviet soldiers used log pages as toilet paper--they did that.
- dncornholio 5y ago
  Aren't spies a bit of a thing of the past? The times that we need to be physically present for information are long, long past no? What has a spy acting as a tourist to gain?
  - jstarfish 5y ago
    Tourists make terrible spies. They attract too much attention; operating in an environment where everyone already thinks you're a spy is not what "hiding in plain sight" means. Espionage is still very much alive. Physical presence maintains trust that can later be exploited (most of us would call it "grooming").

Ansil849 5y ago

I tried watching a couple, and the guy just comes off as an insufferable douchebag. Acting like a twat and mugging for the camera. edit: having watched a couple more videos, this just reinforces my theory that the most popular youtube channels are also the most mediocre. This guy's formula is basically 'travel to $random_CIS_country; check-in to a hotel; go on a short walking tour within a few blocks of the hotel while acting like an asshat; the end.' And this gets millions of views and subscribers. This guy basically goes to one poor town after another and then complains that...it is poor and wonders how people can live there. The videos seem to oscillate from just being obnoxious to being downright rude and insulting. It's depressing that they seem to be extremely popular.

cfn 5y ago
I understand where you are coming from but there are some pearls in there such as this one about the Beslan tragedy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0knAQL9WtM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0knAQL9WtM
malermeister 5y ago
I think your impression is right - there's some indications that guy might be at the very least have questionable morals, or might even be a straight up sexual predator - https://old.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/judnlm/is_bald_bankrupt_really_a_sex_tourist_and_a/ https://old.reddit.com/r/BaldAndBaldrDossier/comments/judnlm... tl;dr internet sleuths have connected him to a since deleted account on a "pick up artist" forum where that person has bragged about going to Eastern Europe to find desperate women to have sex with, using very questionable methods
- lottin 5y ago
  They're basically saying that he's a terrible person because he... has sex with women.
  - rahoulb 5y ago
    Well, in that Reddit comment it says he uses lies and threats.