What's that rocket?

August 20, 2014 7:50 PM

Arms Identification With Wikipedia, Holiday Photographs, and Shoe Size Conversion Charts - from the recently launched bellin¿cat 'by and for citizen investigative journalist'. [previously] [more previously]
posted by unliteral (8 comments total)

Interesting, thank you.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:17 PM on August 20, 2014

Good investigative work. The photos at the end look like they nailed it.
posted by figment of my conation at 8:44 PM on August 20, 2014

This is why I don't believe in large-scale conspiracies - somebody somewhere is generally able to add up disparate clues A, B, and C and uncover the truth no matter how clever and careful conspirators think they're being. Nice work.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:32 PM on August 20, 2014

When I see research like this it makes me think that there are really only two sorts of people in the world: ignorant ones (like me) and ones who pretend to be ignorant. Take the US State Department, for example. It was allegedly caught flat-footed by things the revolutions in Egypt and Syria, the fall of the USSR, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I suppose that's possible, but they have a lot of very smart people and far better resources than random Internet researchers. More importantly, they have institutional memory and contacts - they can identify what may have changed, and they can ask people what it might signify. So I've come to the conclusion that they do actually know what's happening, when i(or before) it happens, and who's responsible. They just find it politically convenient to pretend ignorance, because knowing about things isn't the same as being able to do anything about it, and it's better to seem stupid than to appear powerless.
posted by Joe in Australia at 10:04 PM on August 20, 2014 [3 favorites]

This guy should be the official definition of Google-fu. How to Locate a “Secret” Pro-Russian Training Camp blew my mind - a watertight case built on the tiniest hints.
posted by Don't Fear the Reaper at 2:54 AM on August 21, 2014

You know, identifying a type of a rocket that has been around for 20 years is not exactly the same as predicting massive political protests and the eventual overthrow of a government.
posted by kiltedtaco at 6:33 AM on August 21, 2014 [1 favorite]

And yet it was relatively easy, even for someone who isn't an expert in missiles. That's why I think there's merely a facade of ignorance: surely there are lots of people who could look at the wreckage and say "Yep, that's a BM-30", and many or most of them work for the government of their respective countries. So the only reason why the matter should be in doubt is that either (a) nobody cares; or (b) they don't want to have to come out and say "Oh, look, we have evidence of war crimes and that triggers our treaty obligation to do something."
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:22 PM on August 21, 2014

"Oh, look, we have evidence of war crimes and that triggers our treaty obligation to do something."

That's why nobody uses the g-word anymore.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 5:36 PM on August 21, 2014