Conspiracyland's "The Strange Story of Havana Syndrome," hosted by Yahoo News chief investigative correspondent Michael Isikoff, is an investigation into the baffling medical ailments-- headaches, dizziness, extreme fatigue and even brain injuries-- that have been reported by over 1,100 American diplomats and spies in recent years, confounding the U.S. intelligence and diplomatic communities. These symptoms are commonly known as Havana Syndrome because they were first surfaced in Cuba more than five years ago though they have long since been reported all over the world. But what and who was causing them remains a mystery. As Conspiracyland documents, the reports about Havana Syndrome were used as a political trigger to upend U.S. relations with Cuba: They set off a chain of events that led the Trump administration to reverse President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with the island nation, a rollback that has continued under President Biden. It also has led to an endless spate of news stories suggesting these health ailments were the result of targeted microwave attacks by a foreign power, with the Russian intelligence services under the control of Vladimir Putin considered the leading candidate. But as Conspiracyland reveals, the real story of Havana Syndrome is starting to look very different than it did at the time.
Publicity-hungry D.C. lobbyist Jack Burkman takes the unsolved murder on a wild spree, casting and filming a reenactment of the killing for his own promotional purposes. He does so as another bizarre conspiracy theory takes root — “Pizzagate,” the claim that the Clintons were linked to the sex trafficking of children in the basement of a popular D.C. pizza parlor. The episode explores the indispensable role of “super spreaders” who perpetuate conspiracy theories on social media. See Privacy Poli...
Jul 16, 2019•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast
In these special bonus episodes, Yahoo Editor in Chief Daniel Klaidman and CNN Contributor Bianna Golodryga talked to Yahoo Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff about his new six-part podcast series on the 2016 murder of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. Isikoff discusses why he delved into his case and what he discovered as he traced how the conspiracy theories about the Rich murder proliferated throughout social media, migrating from obscure websites to alt-right In...
Jul 09, 2019•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Julian Assange fans the conspiracy flames, implying Rich could have been a source of the DNC leaked emails. Russia’s propaganda outlets and its notorious troll farm pump out the story, and “alt-right” websites latch onto it. Deborah Sines, the prosecutor in charge of the case, digs into where the conspiracy claims are coming from and makes a startling discovery: The original website report about Rich’s being assassinated by a Clinton hit squad was planted by the Russian SVR, the country’s versio...
Jul 09, 2019•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Rich’s friends and family remember the idealistic political staffer and the last few days of his life. The shooting of Rich at 4:19 on Sunday morning, July 10, 2016, was viewed by Washington, D.C., police as the result of a botched robbery for good reason: There had been seven armed robberies in D.C.’s Bloomingdale neighborhood in the six weeks prior to Rich’s death, a crime spree that the cops believed was linked to a gang of drug dealers in a nearby housing project. And yet, three days after h...
Jul 09, 2019•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast
Subscribe Now! Go inside the murder investigation that shook D.C. Episodes 1 & 2 coming July 9th, 2019. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jul 01, 2019•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast