Did Bellingcat And Associates Waste Many Hours Of Research And Money By Ignoring the Snizhne Anchor?

Did Bellingcat And Associates Waste Many Hours Of Research And Money By Ignoring the Snizhne Anchor? Ever since the downing of MH17, Bellingcat and associates have been building a case to blame Russian-backed rebels. The only anchor they had was a cartoon depiction of US SBIRS data and Bellingcat's famous plume image, both claiming the alleged BUK was launched from Snizhne in East Ukraine.

For the past 10 months or so, Bellingcat have used this anchor as a point of reference for a massive search for corroborating evidence. It has proved to be a mistake. By using Snizhne as the anchor and attempting to prove a stolen lorry carried the alleged BUK to Snizhne then back to Russia, they exposed the weakness of such a circular dependency on Snizhne.

With 100,000 residents within earshot of the alleged launch and 250,000 within eyesight of the resulting plume, it is no surprise that the only photo handed to Bellingcat came from Ukraine's Security Service. It stretches one's imagination to believe that only one person from 250,000 witnessed the alleged launch.

It would be churlish to suggest that Bellingcat and associates lack necessary expertise. Their geolocation and research skills are to be admired but they are blinded by Russophobia and fail to understand differences between facts and evidence. It is often said that facts speak for themselves, but with MH17 they seem to get in the way of evidence.

For example Bellingcat claim they can prove a BUK launcher was parked in Snizhne. If so, then it would be a simple fact, but one that proves nothing. If a BUK was not launched from Snizhne then all is irrelevant. All in all, Bellingcat have wasted many hours of research and money by ignoring the Snizhne anchor. Maybe they should start investigating 911 instead?

Clement Townsend