Is Putin Behind the “Havana Syndrome”? US diplomat sick in Vienna – Politics Abroad

The past few months have been frightening for many US diplomats and US mission staff in the Austrian capital Vienna!

More than 20 of them became ill, complaining of headaches, nausea, dizziness and even sea disturbances. Officially, illnesses are listed as “uncommon” or “unexplained health events” by US officials.

but the magazine “the new Yorker” US officials uncovered serious doubts behind nearly two dozen cases of the disease: US services fear it may be “Havana Syndrome,” a type of disease caused by bombardment with high-energy radiation.

The disease takes its name from its first appearance, which dates back to 2016. At the time, American officers and intelligence personnel around the Cuban capital of Havana fell ill with very similar symptoms. Headache, difficulty seeing and hearing, as well as nausea and other problems. Fatal thing: Diseases appeared only in their homes and hotels and disappeared as they moved from place to place.

American experts analyzed clinical photos, which also appeared repeatedly in subsequent years (2017 at a hotel in Moscow, 2018 at the US consulate in Guangzhou, China, and 2019 at a hotel in London).

Their conclusion: They stemmed from “attacks” with radiation devices that were targeted either on the computers of US employees to extract their data or on the employees of US officials themselves to make them sick.

Whether it is sound waves, a type of cell phone signal or any other type of energy is not yet conclusively elucidated.

The main suspect behind the attacks: the Russian military intelligence service GRU! or at least See These are experts at the US Department of Defense and the Pentagon.

However: Officially, the government does not want to blame Putin’s regime on Biden for the events – perhaps so as not to further strain the relationship. Joe Biden’s Intelligence Coordinator Avril Haines explained in juneThat it is “premature” to blame Russia for cases of disease.