Bellingcat: the innovative data-driven investigators tracking the moves of the GRU military unit that paid off bounties in Afghanistan
Bellingcat is a pioneer in data journalism. They were the ones to find out the identities of the GRU members tasked with carrying out the the Skripal assassination in the UK. Two years later, it turns out it’s this unit that will have offered bounties for killings of American and British soldiers in Afghanistan. Before any of this exploded into the mainstream there was the work of Bellingcat.
They use location, government and other data, searching image databases and innovative means of gathering information and translating all of it into compelling true-spy-crime storytelling.
Their investigative articles are fascinating, detailed and go back to what many of us expect from journalism: gathering facts and putting stories together, with an added use of innovative technology.
The New York Times: Trump chose to do nothing when Russia offered bounties to kill American soldiers.
Earlier on Friday June 26, 2020 the New York Times published an article describing the bounty and the fact that Trump was briefed about and chose to do nothing. As Project Lincoln said: he stands with the troops. Just not OUR troops.
Russia Secretly Offered Afghan Militants Bounties to Kill U.S. Troops, Intelligence Says
WASHINGTON — American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan — including targeting American troops — amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.
The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year.
The Unit that paid the bounty is the same one that carried out the Skripal poisoning in the UK
This GRU unit is the same that was involved in the Skripal assassination/poisoning among other subversive/murderous acts in Eastern European countries like Bulgaria.
The officials briefed on the matter said the government had assessed the operation to be the handiwork of Unit 29155, an arm of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known widely as the G.R.U. The unit is linked to the March 2018 nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury, England, of Sergei Skripal, a former G.R.U. officer who had worked for British intelligence and then defected, and his daughter.
Western intelligence officials say the unit, which has operated for more than a decade, has been charged by the Kremlin with carrying out a campaign to destabilize the West through subversion, sabotage and assassination. In addition to the 2018 poisoning, the unit was behind an attempted coup in Montenegro in 2016 and the poisoning of an arms manufacturer in Bulgaria a year earlier.
Before giant newspapers picked up on these stories, Bellingcat was there first. You can read more of Bellingcat’s articles related to GRU’s Unit 29155 here.
In 2018 a documentary was made about them called “Bellingcat: Truth in a post-truth world”
You can watch it on a Dutch website (it’s in English with Dutch subtitles). Click on the image below to watch it.
The “Guardian Council”: what a vision taught me about the the role of religious clerics in the Iranian Government
Iran has only been featured in a couple of readings I've done. The last reading I did about Trump's claim that Iran was behind the attack on the Japanese Tanker. I saw on that reading that not only was Iran not responsible for that but that it was an operation likely undertaken between Israel, Saudi Arabia, with knowledge from the Trump administration.
The section about Iran starts at 1:05:35
Just click on the video above and it will start playing at the section about Iran.
When I looked into Iran and how they would react to Trump’s unproven claims, I saw that they were thinking long term and that they wanted to avoid war at all costs, because they knew it was all about getting to their natural resources. They also said in the vision "we survived Iraq" and we don't want something similar to happen again, which I later realized it must have been a reference to the Iran/Iraq war of 1980-1988.
When I thought of Iran otherwise - not that I knew anything about Iran beyond headlines - peace was definitely not a word that would come into my mind.
What stuck with me about this Iran vision was seeing a group of elders coming together to make important governmental decisions, gathering in a simple government office cluttered with greenish file folders, yellowing papers and a long communal table. This vision showed me the Iranian government has a group of elders debating and thinking deeply about government decisions. It’s as if they are part of the government but don't have an administrative function, as if they are cloistered otherwise but tasked with reviewing decisions, reflecting on them and counseling administrators on what decisions to make.
Even though we are construed by historical paradigms to be “enemies”, I sensed a nobility of purpose that felt sincere, truthful, and sharpened, over time, through study and life experience.
They think long-term and deeply about what their recommendations and decisions must be … and the strangest thing ... Even though I obviously have NOTHING in common with them outwardly speaking, I saw that they can have visions too. They do what I do.
They too, can close their eyes and see something beyond what is immediately visible. When I saw and sensed this, I felt a strange kinship, a sense of understanding. They too, can see the layer that exists beyond what is visible.
When they are making their recommendations to politicians, there is a mystical element that is infused into analytical decision making. It’s as if they had three modes of thinking they engage in: philosophy and dialectics and mystical thinking which then triangulates into the analytical application of these two systems. They apply philosophy, and mystical/religious concepts into specific concrete problems they are tasked with solving.
It was so interesting because before this, I’d only seen them as “dangerous” "religious fanatics". What I saw on my vision was very different.
They have a degree of vision and intellectual sophistication that is very different from what we think of when we think of Iran and Muslim clerics in general. When I think of any religious government I think of rigidity and hypocrisy, but from this perspective, it was almost as if they were monks. They seemed to live a simple life of quiet, intellectual and spiritual practice.
I am not advocating for Iran or the Iranian government nor am I erasing the facts about their human rights abuses, strict laws about female attire, harsh punishments for seemingly minor infractions, the imprisoning and killing of critics, nor am I saying that I would do well in their world. I just felt instantly that there is something admirable and lasting beyond what we know of them. Their human and intellectual side. I can respect them and admire their way of living, even if that is very different from my own.
Understanding and empathizing with them as people felt so much better than fearing them in willful ignorance. In spite of wars and division, there is a human element that connects all of us.
The day after this vision, I looked up information on how the Iranian government is structured and there a group that fits the vision I saw. They are called the “Guardian Council”:
THE GUARDIAN COUNCIL
This is the most influential body in Iran and is currently controlled by conservatives. It consists of six theologians appointed by the Supreme Leader and six jurists nominated by the judiciary and approved by parliament.
Members are elected for six years on a phased basis, so that half the membership changes every three years.
The council has to approve all bills passed by parliament and has the power to veto them if it considers them inconsistent with the constitution and Islamic law. The council can also bar candidates from standing in elections to parliament, the presidency and the Assembly of Experts.
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/middle_east/03/iran_power/html/guardian_council.stm
On the video below, I discuss why I wrote this text, and why I recommend the “Bitter Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia” documentary.
After this vision I became curious and started doing some more research and came across this documentary from PBS called ""Bitter Rivals, Saudi Arabia and Iran" which I HIGHLY recommend.
I had seen in another vision the long history between the GOP and the Saudis and through this documentary I was able to understand why the Saudis have been allies of the USA historically and why Iran has been a long-term enemy of the USA.
It’s shocking to realize how little I understood about the Middle East.
As my visions started to show that the Middle East and Saudi Arabia especially plays a much greater role in the Trump Administration than we currently know, understanding the complexities of the Middle East, with its delicate boundaries, wars and factions became important.
The animosity between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and the Trump Administration's reliance on Saudi money may tell us why Trump has demonized Iran from the very beginning. I just hope once truth comes out that it will not increase volatility in the middle east and the USA.
We are yet to see how this chapter will end but it's increasingly clear to me that we are so much more intertwined with the Middle East than we know and that what happens in America will greatly impact the future of the Middle East, and what happens in the Middle East impacts us as well.
I pray for peace. We are all connected and it's foolish and short-term-ist to believe otherwise. Without fail, sooner or later, consequences of wars come knocking.
