[Peace-discuss] Navalny poisoning reporting fails to acknowledge CIA, MI6, and discredited state-funded Bellingcat role in accusing Russia

[J.B. Nicholson]

Aaron Maté's article for The Grayzone

https://thegrayzone.com/2020/12/27/navalny-poisoning-cia-mi6-discredited-state-funded-bellingcat-play-key-role-in-accusing-russia/

and video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vLsq1W-F4y4

cover reasons why there's plenty of room to be skeptical about establishment-serving 
media outlets (such as CNN and Democracy Now) in their claim that Russia poisoned 
opposition activist Alexei Navalny.

A quote from the article:
> Western media outlets have failed to disclose that Bellingcat is funded by NATO
> member states, including the US via the National Endowment for Democracy, and that
> Bellingcat has a dubious record. In a leaked assessment, the UK government’s
> Integrity Initiative wrote: “Bellingcat was somewhat discredited, both by
> spreading disinformation itself, and by being willing to produce reports for
> anyone willing to pay.”
> 
> And few have paid attention to reporting by the New York Times that shortly after
> Navalny was flown to Germany for treatment, “representatives from the Central
> Intelligence Agency and Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service provided members of
> the German government with details about the poisoning, including the identities
> of the Federal Security Service officers involved, that directly implicated the
> Russian government.”

Russiagate apparently hasn't died, by the way.

The quote from Democracy Now with Amy Goodman reading the headline story 
(https://www.democracynow.org/2020/12/15/headlines/report_russian_intelligence_agents_poisoned_opposition_leader_alexei_navalny) 
is the only DN story featuring the word "bellingcat" 
(https://www.democracynow.org/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=bellingcat) and 
uncritically mentions "The probe was conducted by journalists at a number of outlets, 
including CNN and Der Spiegel, as well as the online investigative website 
Bellingcat.". DN apparently doesn't spend any time debunking Bellingcat's funding, 
reportage, or criticism from its own state funders.

-J