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This article needs an editor. I've no problems believing that Marsalek is a Russian agent, but Bellingcat is of course funded by the National Endowment for Demo

This article needs an editor. I've no problems believing that Marsalek is a Russian agent, but Bellingcat is of course funded by the National Endowment for Democracy ... Scandals in Germany are frequent. Olaf Scholz was investigated in the cum-ex scandal, von der Leyen in the McKinsey German army affair (von der Leyen had ruined the German army and has now a big mouth for rearmament). In general and not related to these specific cases, certain actions by certain politicians are easier to explain if a third party has kompromat on them.

wadim 2y ago
> but Bellingcat is of course funded by the National Endowment for Democracy ... Spooky! No need to be coy, say what you are implying. Additionally, do you have a source that they ARE being funded solely by NED (which is currently impossible anyway) and didn't just receive some funding that one time? Not sure what advantage they gain being such an obvious "CIA front", but I'm also not playing 5D chess.
- 4hagstR 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - MaxPock 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - wqaatwt 2y ago
      Even if they receive support from CIA/MI6 what’s wrong about that? > peddle anti Russia propaganda Not sure what you are trying to say. Just reporting straight facts with no embellishment is more than enough to 100% discredit the Russian government (both domestically and internationally) in the eyes of any at least marginally sane person. The fact that this isn’t working says more about the people consuming that information than those doing the “peddling”. You are trying to push this stupid narrative that “both sides are bad so nothing means anything” which is just silly..
      - AlexeyBelov 2y ago
        You're arguing, or attempting to, with a bot. They very rarely reply or provide any info besides shallow swipes.
  - wadim 2y ago
    Wanna hear my theory? The FSB employs trolls to try undermine anyone who is critical of the great Russian regime by posting stupid conspiracy theories online. They often have to create new accounts, because old ones get banned quickly and frequently. 3 people, 2 of whom have accounts created just today for this thread, post something negatve towards Bellingcat without any proof. Crazy coincidence.
    - 4jahdg 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - OKRainbowKid 2y ago
        "Ukrainian online dominance" I haven't heard that one before.
    - iuyhtgbd 2y ago
      Those "two" new accounts are probably the same person, I'm sure that paid trolls occasionally drop in on HN, but HN has plenty of native trolls doing it for the love of the game (or out of sincere ideological commitment).
    - 4uzasdZ 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - dralley 2y ago
        Creating endless quantities of new accounts isn't a great way to demonstrate how he's the sockpuppet.
        z23e87 2y ago
        [flagged]
    - z23e87 2y ago
      [flagged]
hengheng 2y ago
> von der Leyen had ruined the German army Not on her own, and not during her time. From what I understand, she felt she needed those external consultants to cut through the noise of her own org. Which had become known as an ineffective, design-by-committee place with no purpose other than to cover ones own asses. Running that place (BMVg and Baainbw) was famous for being an unwinnable job. I dont love VdL, but I don't think this should be construed as her career failure.
JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> I've no problems believing that Marsalek is a Russian agent, but Bellingcat is of course funded by the National Endowment for Democracy One, in part. Two, are you challenging Bellingcat’s credibility? On what grounds other than affiliation? They’ve been pretty spot on with all of their calls to my recollection. Three, if you don’t like Bellingcat, maybe check out Marsalek’s Wikipedia page’s source list before creating a throwaway account to post a comment.
- MaxPock 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    What are you calling out? Note that there is a difference between being wrong on a forecast with a low confidence interval and making shit up and not posting corrections.
astrange 2y ago
> I've no problems believing that Marsalek is a Russian agent, but Bellingcat is of course funded by the National Endowment for Democracy ... One of the most consistently useful lessons I've learned online is that you can spot uninformed low-trust dismissals because they're always based on how someone is "funded" by someone else or advise "following the money" but their theory of how this works either doesn't exist or is obviously wrong. Very common in /r/science for instance. They won't read a paper or check if it's preregistered etc. but they will complain if it was sponsored by someone at all associated with the topic of the paper.
- not2b 2y ago
  The National Endowment for Democracy was only one of many sources of funding for Bellingcat, and apparently a minor one. They used Kickstarter to get off the ground, and most of the grants listed on Wikipedia appear to be European. They get a lot of contributions from individuals as well. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingcat#Funding_and_support https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingcat#Funding_and_support

wadim 2y ago

> but Bellingcat is of course funded by the National Endowment for Democracy ... Spooky! No need to be coy, say what you are implying. Additionally, do you have a source that they ARE being funded solely by NED (which is currently impossible anyway) and didn't just receive some funding that one time? Not sure what advantage they gain being such an obvious "CIA front", but I'm also not playing 5D chess.

4hagstR 2y ago
[flagged]
- MaxPock 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - wqaatwt 2y ago
    Even if they receive support from CIA/MI6 what’s wrong about that? > peddle anti Russia propaganda Not sure what you are trying to say. Just reporting straight facts with no embellishment is more than enough to 100% discredit the Russian government (both domestically and internationally) in the eyes of any at least marginally sane person. The fact that this isn’t working says more about the people consuming that information than those doing the “peddling”. You are trying to push this stupid narrative that “both sides are bad so nothing means anything” which is just silly..
    - AlexeyBelov 2y ago
      You're arguing, or attempting to, with a bot. They very rarely reply or provide any info besides shallow swipes.
- wadim 2y ago
  Wanna hear my theory? The FSB employs trolls to try undermine anyone who is critical of the great Russian regime by posting stupid conspiracy theories online. They often have to create new accounts, because old ones get banned quickly and frequently. 3 people, 2 of whom have accounts created just today for this thread, post something negatve towards Bellingcat without any proof. Crazy coincidence.
  - 4jahdg 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - OKRainbowKid 2y ago
      "Ukrainian online dominance" I haven't heard that one before.
  - iuyhtgbd 2y ago
    Those "two" new accounts are probably the same person, I'm sure that paid trolls occasionally drop in on HN, but HN has plenty of native trolls doing it for the love of the game (or out of sincere ideological commitment).
  - 4uzasdZ 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - dralley 2y ago
      Creating endless quantities of new accounts isn't a great way to demonstrate how he's the sockpuppet.
      - z23e87 2y ago
        [flagged]
  - z23e87 2y ago
    [flagged]

hengheng 2y ago

> von der Leyen had ruined the German army Not on her own, and not during her time. From what I understand, she felt she needed those external consultants to cut through the noise of her own org. Which had become known as an ineffective, design-by-committee place with no purpose other than to cover ones own asses. Running that place (BMVg and Baainbw) was famous for being an unwinnable job. I dont love VdL, but I don't think this should be construed as her career failure.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

> I've no problems believing that Marsalek is a Russian agent, but Bellingcat is of course funded by the National Endowment for Democracy One, in part. Two, are you challenging Bellingcat’s credibility? On what grounds other than affiliation? They’ve been pretty spot on with all of their calls to my recollection. Three, if you don’t like Bellingcat, maybe check out Marsalek’s Wikipedia page’s source list before creating a throwaway account to post a comment.

MaxPock 2y ago
[flagged]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  What are you calling out? Note that there is a difference between being wrong on a forecast with a low confidence interval and making shit up and not posting corrections.

astrange 2y ago

> I've no problems believing that Marsalek is a Russian agent, but Bellingcat is of course funded by the National Endowment for Democracy ... One of the most consistently useful lessons I've learned online is that you can spot uninformed low-trust dismissals because they're always based on how someone is "funded" by someone else or advise "following the money" but their theory of how this works either doesn't exist or is obviously wrong. Very common in /r/science for instance. They won't read a paper or check if it's preregistered etc. but they will complain if it was sponsored by someone at all associated with the topic of the paper.

not2b 2y ago
The National Endowment for Democracy was only one of many sources of funding for Bellingcat, and apparently a minor one. They used Kickstarter to get off the ground, and most of the grants listed on Wikipedia appear to be European. They get a lot of contributions from individuals as well. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingcat#Funding_and_support https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellingcat#Funding_and_support