Why Bellingcat Is A Collection Of Amateurs, Just Like STRATFOR.

OK, we heard this story about those scary GRU "killers" such as their latest batch of Boshirov and Petrov and I don't really want to discuss an utter professional inadequacy of British "special" services who today are only good at killing own citizens and supporting terrorists to pretend that Great Britain is still a "great power" and "still matters". She isn't and doesn't. My point is different, it is the fact that in UK any moron, such as Mr. Elliot Higgins, whose only claim to military and intelligence affairs is his ability to operate cash register and being married to Turkish national, and, most likely being used as PR resource by UK or Turkish intelligence "professionals" for spewing all kinds of pseudo-military garbage, is even taken seriously. But this time even this "citizen journalist" (a euphemism for the guy who has no clue) and his "organization" outdid themselves. He came up with some simply mind boggling idea for deep undercover agents. In their attempt to prove that Boshirov and Petrov are Putin's personal favorites tasked with poisoning random British citizens (you know, Putin is evil, UK is good) he (she, whoever in this BS outfit) came up with this: 

Alexander Petrov’s passport dossier is marked with a stamp containing the instruction “Do not provide any information”.  This stamp does not exist in standard civilian passport files. A source working in the Russian police force who regularly works with the central database confirmed to Bellingcat and The Insider that they have never seen such a stamp on any passport form in their career.  That source surmised that this marking reserved for operatives of the state under deep cover.

For our retail analysts and bookkeepers from Bellingcat I have some horrible news. What these morons suggest, based on their "source", likely as imagined as their Russian "expertise", is a perfect way to betray and blow cover of all those "deep undercover operatives", who, unlike Mr. Higgins and other bloggers, once in the line of the undercover business have legends made for them of such quality that they will have every single document, starting from birth, verified and traceable, provided for passport database which is nothing more than semi-open database which at some point of time was sold in famous Gorbushka on CDs. In fact, placing such "stamp" is a sure way to compromise just about any intelligence asset which works "under deep cover". I have a hunch--Russian G(R)U and SVR are pretty professional on this matter and, I am sure, work "legends" for their "deep undercover agents" on such a level that Bellingcat simply has no grasp of. As doesn't their alleged Russian "police source".

But then again, emergence of such "weapons analysts" (I have no fvcking idea what it means in the context of Bellingcat's "activity", and I have a MS in this field) like Higgins, who evidently overdosed on late Tom Clancy and other Western military-intelligence Kool Aid, seems absolutely normal within confines of a hysterical anti-Russian campaign both in UK and US, that is the universe in which Russians poison random UK citizens, Putin personally controls Donald Trump and US fights Al Qaeda. I have some advice for "citizen journalists" and, especially "weapons analysts", unless you are making a decent buck in propagating all kinds of prefabricated BS in the unfolding Cold War 2.0 (I can understand a pure monetary interest, at least it is rational, however deplorable)--study the freaking subject before exposing yourself as pathetic amateurs and frauds. Ah, yes--Bellingcat is doing workshops now in the US. So, they will be selling professional experiences which require very serious academic and professional backgrounds, years of serious experiences, from operational and combat zones to work (service) in the military and intelligence organizations in only 5 days for measly $2,500 a pop. You see, that is what it takes nowadays to produce "investigators" and "weapons analysts". Should we be then surprised that a dominant question in Russian media and discussions about modern West is this: Are They Really That Dumb?  Yes, they are. 

Those who know, they will understand the best meme on this issue. I am sure Bellingcat's Russian "sources" will explain it to him, her, whatever. 

UPDATE: LOL. 09/19/18. Russia's Internal Ministry was very specific on Bellingcat's "theories" and stated (in Russian):

One can not learn from the Migration Service database if a person serves in GRU. 

No additional comments needed. 

How are you in the future, new generation?