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Comment by thgsF179 | Hacker News Reader

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.

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> 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.

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

> 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.

> 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.

> 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.

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