international relations

Havana Syndrome

Posted on 2024-07-212024-07-21 by Mira

^(article) “Havana Syndrome: The History Behind the Mystery”

2024-04-01 https://www.fpri.org/article/2024/04/havana-syndrome-the-history-behind-the-mystery/

Possibly up to 1,500 American officials at home and abroad have suffered brain and other injuries in recent years from a mysterious malady that is reported to have begun in Havana in 2016 and has since been known as Havana Syndrome.

While aspects of these health incidents remain a mystery, they recall a series of historically documented Soviet technical operations against the US embassy in Moscow that began in 1953 and lasted for decades, providing credible evidence of serious harm to numerous diplomats and other US officials.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, President Vladimir Putin and Russian military officers have publicly bragged about developing weapons that could cause health effects similar to Havana Syndrome.
After attacks on officials of successive administrations, CIA Director William Burns may finally have put an end to such incidents by threatening the Russians with retaliation.

But the policy of tolerating, denying, and concealing decades of Russian attacks, at the expense of American officials, has harmed the credibility and weakened the power of the US government to deter other acts of aggression.

^(article) “Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU’s assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on U.S. officials and their families”

2024-04-01 https://theins.ru/en/politics/270425

A yearlong investigation by The Insider, in collaboration with 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel, has uncovered evidence suggesting that unexplained anomalous health incidents, also known as Havana Syndrome, may have their origin in the use of directed energy weapons wielded by members of Russian GRU Unit 29155. Members of the Kremlin’s infamous military intelligence sabotage squad have been placed at the scene of suspected attacks on overseas U.S. government personnel and their family members, leading victims to question what Washington knows about the origins of Havana Syndrome, and what an appropriate Western response might entail.

^(article) “CIA doctor hit by Havana syndrome says he was in ‘disbelief’ as he suffered what he was investigating”

2022-09-25 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/25/politics/havana-syndrome-cia-doctor-cnn-special/index.html

CIA physician Dr. Paul Andrews was one of the first people sent to Havana, Cuba, to investigate a spate of mysterious health incidents that were impacting embassy and agency personnel in 2017 when he was struck by the same set of debilitating symptoms, he told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta in his first public interview for a CNN Special Report: “Immaculate Concussion: The Truth About Havana Syndrome.”

^(article) “A ‘Havana Syndrome’ Investigation in Congress Rest on Politics, Not Science”

2024-03-15 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-havana-syndrome-investigation-in-congress-rests-on-politics-not-science/

Lawmakers should look in the mirror if they want answers to who hyped dubious reports of Havana syndrome. Instead they are investigating the spy agencies telling them the truth about the mystery

Law & Order S21 E08 “Severance”

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19712404/

aired on 2022-05-05

based on several real world cases/incidents besides “Havana syndrome” phenomenon:

Tesla, Inc. workplace controversies (2020)
The “Facebook Files” leak involving Frances Haugen (2021)
The murder of Tracie McBride by Louis Jones Jr. and the related controversial Gulf War syndrome clemency defence

※ Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE, 만성 외상성 뇌병)

A neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head.

Symptoms occur in four stages and typically manifest 8 to 10 years after an individual experiences repetitive mild traumatic brain injuries.

Stage 1: confusion, disorientation, dizziness, headaches
Stage 2: memory loss, social instability, impulsive behaviour, poor judgment
Stage 3 and 4: impediments, sensory processing disorder, tremors, vertigo, deafness, depression, suicidality

A definitive diagnosis of CTE can only be made during an autopsy, as it cannot be confirmed in living individuals. While some researchers link certain signs and symptoms to CTE, no conclusive test exists to identify it in living people. Additionally, the signs often resemble those of other neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy

Neutrality (International Relations)

Posted on 2020-06-16 by Mira

Neutrality, the legal status arising from the abstention of a state from all participation in a war between other states, the maintenance of an attitude of impartiality toward the belligerents, and the recognition by the belligerents of this abstention and impartiality. Under international law, this legal status gives rise to certain rights and duties between the neutral state and the belligerents.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/neutrality

A neutral country is a state which is neutral towards belligerents in a specific war, or holds itself as permanently neutral in all future conflicts (including avoiding entering into military alliances such as NATO). As a type of non-combatant status, neutral nationals enjoy protection under the law of war from belligerent actions, to a greater extent than other non-combatants such as enemy civilians and prisoners of war.
Different countries interpret their neutrality differently. Some, such as Costa Rica, have demilitarized; whereas Switzerland holds to “armed neutrality” in which it deters aggression with a sizeable military while barring itself from foreign deployment. Not all neutral countries avoid any foreign deployment or alliances, however, as Austria, Ireland, Finland and Sweden have active UN peacekeeping forces and a political alliance within the European Union. The traditional Swedish policy is not to participate in military alliances, with the intention of staying neutral in the case of war. Immediately before World War II, the Nordic countries stated their neutrality, but Sweden changed its position to that of non-belligerent at the start of the Winter War. There have been considerable changes to the interpretation of neutral conduct over the past centuries. During the Cold War another European country, Yugoslavia, claimed military and ideological neutrality, and that is continued by its successor, Serbia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_country

Microstates and international relations: Microstates often rely on other countries in order to survive, as they have a small military capacity and a lack of resources. This had led some researchers to believe that microstates are forced to subordinate themselves to larger states which reduces their sovereignty. Research, however, has shown that microstates strategically engage in patron-client relationships with other countries. This allows them to trade some privileges to countries that can advance their interests the most. Examples of this are microstates that establish a tax haven or sell their support in international committees in exchange for military and economic support.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microstate