Stage Talks with Bellingcat

"Mapping Military Power" with Michael Hilliard

This week, we explored the practicalities of modern warfare. How do we measure military power? Is it possible to fairly compare fighting resources between regions? In this episode, Michael Hilliard from the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs walked us through their latest research, mapping the militaries of Central Asia. Michael was also joined shortly on stage during the talk by Mitchell Polman, an OSINT researcher who helped with the mapping project. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday November 6th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist. Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat Links discussed: PROJECT LINK >> https://oxussociety.org/projects/the-armed-forces-of-central-asia/ UZBEKISTAN CHAPTER DOWNLOAD LINK >> https://oxussociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/The-Armed-Forces-of-Central-Asia-Chapter-IV-Uzbekistan-1-1.pdf MAPPING PROJECT LINK >> https://oxussociety.org/viz/military-units/map.html Michael's red line podcast- excellent listening: https://www.theredlinepodcast.com/ And the Oxus Society podcast https://oxussociety.org/publications/podcast/ Purchase higher tier data link: https://oxussociety.org/projects/the-armed-forces-of-central-asia/purchase/ Caucusus and Central Asia Channel in Discord: https://discord.com/channels/709752884257882135/709947054042120222 Michael's previous talk: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/1720167/ Mapping Militia Networks with New America talk: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/2212437/

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"Identifying Far-Right Fashion" with Bellingcat Researchers

This week, we were discussing what role fashion plays for far-right movements. We spoke to Bellingcat's resident experts on the subject. Michael Colborne has been investigating far-right networks for years and Youri van der Weide has just completed a deep dive on russian neo-nazi paramilitary groups with merchandise embedded within their business plans. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday October 23rd 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist. Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat Links discussed: Some reading material from Michael: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691196152/the-extreme-gone-mainstream?srsltid=AfmBOor44s08b3e358d6Glak2OUrwrrtBkmbtU7BfSKwRoZ3QvNqj-Wa The Extreme Gone Mainstream, Cynthia Miller-Idriss (2019) https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=stuff--9780745644233 “Why Clothing is not Superficial” in Stuff, Daniel Miller (2009) https://doppelhouse.com/the-chosen-few/ The Chosen Few: Aesthetics and Ideology in Football-Fan Graffiti and Street Art, Mitja Velikonja (2021) https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780801448904/political-aesthetics/#bookTabs=1 Political Aesthetics, Crispin Sartwell (2010) Elke Gaugele, “The New Obscurity in Style. Alt-right Faction, Populist Normalization, and the Cultural War on Fashion from the Far Right,” Fashion Theory, 23:6, 711-731, DOI: 10.1080/1362704X.2019.1657262, 2019. Youri's investigation into Maskov: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/03/06/unmasking-maskov-how-bellingcat-found-a-man-outfitting-russian-neo-nazis/ A couple of weeks ago New America talked to us about mapping these Russian paramilitary networks: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/2212437/ Youri's latest article on Rusich: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/10/21/how-a-former-political-hopeful-helps-russian-neo-nazi-group-rusich-sell-its-online-merch/ Hate symbol directory: https://globalextremism.org/global-extremist-symbols-database/ Expo sweden: https://expo.se/ Tenepod a suggestion from an audience member as a decent guide for historical far right/nazi eastern European stuff: https://tenepod.libsyn.com/

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"Student Researchers Vs The Misinformation Machine" with Utrecht University

This week, we were discussing how open source research can help build vital factchecking skills across disciplines. We spoke to Prof. dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh, a professor and one of the leaders of the Open-Source Global Justice Investigations Lab at Utrecht University. Alongside her, we were joined by Felix Lommerse, the student assistant at the lab and a former student of the course. In the talk they described the purpose of the project, how major newsrooms have got involved and why other universities may want to take note. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday October 9th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist. Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat Links discussed: The lab: https://www.uu.nl/en/research/institutions-for-open-societies/contesting-governance/projects/open-source-global-justice-investigations-lab Berkeley: https://humanrights.berkeley.edu/ Dr Alexa Koenig Stage Talk: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/1908244/ FT article in partnership with lab: https://ig.ft.com/haiti-gangs Their work was also mentioned by GIJN: https://gijn.org/stories/african-journalism-database-local-digital-verification/ Their timeline of the Palestinian protests at Utrecht University: https://www.uu.nl/sites/default/files/UU%20May%207%20-%209%20Events%20Report_0.pdf Bellingcat challenge site: https://challenge.bellingcat.com/ Giancarlo's article on protecting your mental hygiene as a researcher: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2022/11/23/how-to-maintain-mental-hygiene-as-an-open-source-researcher/ The Dart Center referenced has been closed over the summer. You can now access those resources here: https://gcjt.org/

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"Tracking Suspicious Ships" with Christian Panton

This week we spoke to maritime researcher Christian Panton. Christian builds resources to monitor ships as a hobby and has created a useful database of 'sketchy boats' that require further investigation. In the talk he described the purpose of the tool and how he created it, and provided a detailed overview of the current issues with researching ships up to no good. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday September 25th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist. Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat Links discussed: Sketchy Boats website: https://sketchy.boats/ Sketchy Boats GitHub: https://github.com/christianpanton/those.sketchy.boats Christian's pages: https://bsky.app/profile/pa.nton.cx https://christian.panton.org/ Lloyds list investigation on false flags that Christian contributed to: https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1154326/Massive-fraudulent-flag-operation-linking-over-20-separate-fake-sites-uncovered Bellingcat investigation into the ships smuggling grain from occupied Crimea: https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1154326/Massive-fraudulent-flag-operation-linking-over-20-separate-fake-sites-uncovered Bellingcat's Ship Detection Tool (built with Ollie Ballinger): https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2023/05/11/peering-beyond-the-clouds-a-guide-to-bellingcats-ship-detection-tool/ And Ollie's GitHub page: https://oballinger.github.io/ #maritime channel in Discord: https://discord.com/channels/709752884257882135/920298016123023400

"Mapping Militia Networks" with New America

TW: This episode contains a description of a murder and mutilation. This week we spoke to the team at New America about their work tracking militia and private military groups online. Candace Rondeaux and Ben Dalton led us through their tips and techniques for tracing connections on Russian social media site VK and Telegram. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday September 11th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist. Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat Links discussed: New America Future Frontlines: https://www.newamerica.org/future-frontlines/ Their Wagner project: https://www.newamerica.org/future-frontlines/uncovering-the-wagner-group/ And Proxy Warfare project: https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/future-proxy-warfare/ New America covering Hamdi Bouta's murder https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/reports/inquiry-murder-hamdi-bouta/introduction/ Our previous Stage Talk with All Eyes on Wagner: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/2061764/ Coverage of the IDF's lavender programme: https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/

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