Eliot Higgins

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Eliot Higgins (1979) pseudonym Brown Moses, is an English blogger and investigator of the Syrian civil war.

Life and work

Eliot Higgins was born in 1979.[1] In 2012, when Higgins began blogging the Syrian civil war, he was an unemployed finance and admin worker who spent his days taking care of his child at home.[1] He is married to a Turkish woman with one child.[2][3] Higgins took the pseudonym Brown Moses from the Frank Zappa song "Brown Moses" on the album Thing-Fish.[1]

Higgins' analyses of Syrian weapons, which began as a hobby out of his home in his spare time, are now frequently cited by the press and human rights groups and have led to questions in parliament.[1] His blog, Brown Moses Blog, began in March 2012 by covering the Syrian conflict. Higgins operates by monitoring over 450 YouTube channels daily looking for images of weapons and tracking when new types appear in the war, where, and with whom.[1] He has been hailed as something of a pioneer.[1] Because of the large number of videos uploaded by participants in the war, a lot of data and information can be gleaned for those with the time and knowledge to sort through it. Higgins has no background or training in weapons and is entirely self-taught, saying that "Before the Arab spring I knew no more about weapons than the average Xbox owner. I had no knowledge beyond what I'd learned from Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rambo."[1] He has never been to Syria and has no friends or family there.[3]

Some of the videos uncovered and documented by Brown Moses include the use of cluster bombs in 2012, which the Syrian government denied using; the use of so-called "barrel bombs", which the Russians denied existed; the proliferation of shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles known as MANPADS; the proliferation of Croatian-made weapons, a story later picked up by the New York Times which uncovered an American CIA connection.[1]

Reception

"Brown Moses is among the best out there when it comes to weapons monitoring in Syria," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch.[1] New York Times war reporter CJ Chivers said that fellow journalists should be more honest about the debt they owe to Higgins' Brown Moses blog. "Many people, whether they admit or not, have been relying on that blog's daily labour to cull the uncountable videos that circulate from the conflict," he said.[1] Amnesty International said that the Brown Moses Blog was vital in proving the Syrian regime was using ballistic missiles, information then used to send a research mission to Syria.[4]

Eliot Higgins has been a subject of interest in the press. He was profiled in The Guardian on 21 March 2013,[1] on Channel 4 News on 30 March 2013,[4] on CNN International on April 1, 2013[3] He has also received a lot of coverage in foreign press.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 Matthew Weaver (21 March 2013). "How Brown Moses exposed Syrian arms trafficking from his front room". The Guardian. Retrieved April 18, 2013. 
  2. ↑ Bianca Bosker (18 November 2013). "Inside The One-Man Intelligence Unit That Exposed The Secrets And Atrocities Of Syria's War". Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Atika Shubert (April 1, 2013). "In his living room, blogger traces arms trafficking to Syria". CNN International. Retrieved April 18, 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Paraic O'Brien (30 March 2013). "Brown Moses: the British blogger tracking Syrian arms". Channel 4 News. Retrieved April 18, 2013. 
  5. ↑ Eliot Higgins (16 April 2013). "Brown Moses Blog". Brown Moses Blog. Retrieved April 18, 2013. 

External links

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