Hi Global Recap readers,
For years, people wrote off Havana Syndrome as tinfoil-hat paranoia or misunderstood symptoms.
One researcher bought into that so hard it backfired. 👇🏼
🇳🇴 NORWAY
Tried to Disprove,
Got Brain Damaged
A Norwegian government researcher tried to debunk Havana Syndrome by building a microwave pulse device and testing it on himself.
Result? He got brain damaged.
Setup. Reports are surfacing of a 2024 experiment, where an unidentified researcher in Norway secretly built a machine designed to emit powerful pulses of microwave energy, aiming to show that this kind of exposure could not hurt people.
Impact. After he tested the device on himself, he reportedly developed symptoms resembling the cluster tied to Havana Syndrome, which has been reported by US diplomats and government staff in more than 15 countries since the first cases surfaced in 2016 in Cuba.
Response. Norwegian officials briefed the CIA on the experiment and what happened afterward, and the episode reportedly drew at least two visits from Pentagon and White House officials.
Nicolás Maduro escorted by heavily armed federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a federal courthouse in Manhattan on Jan. 5, 2026 in New York City.
Energy Weapons. The story is circulating amid renewed public chatter about alleged “directed energy” capabilities of the US—including Trump’s claims about a “Discombobulator” that was supposedly used in the Jan. 3 Maduro raid.
📌 Context. "Havana Syndrome" is the catchall name for reported neurological symptoms like headaches, vertigo, and cognitive problems among some US personnel abroad. The central dispute has been whether there is a single external cause, like directed energy, or a mix of unrelated medical and environmental explanations.
🇷🇺 RUSSIA
Frog Toxin, But Why?
Vigil in memory of Alexei Navalny
The UK government says Alexei Navalny was killed with epibatidine, a dart frog toxin, during his imprisonment in a Siberian penal colony, and it is treating it as state murder.
The bigger argument now is: why choose something so specific?
Claim. In a formal statement, the UK government said "Only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity" to deploy the toxin against Navalny in custody, and it holds the state responsible for his death.
Kremlins response? Denies the poison claim.
Poison dart frog
Chemistry. Epibatidine comes from wild dart frogs native to parts of South America, but experts say the key point is that its structure is known and it can be synthesized in a lab by competent chemists.
Alastair Hay, an emeritus professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, said it can paralyze muscles so "you can’t breathe," and he said he knew of no antidote.
Hay also argued the poison could be attractive precisely because it is hard to find, since it is extremely potent and only a small amount would be present in the body.
Identifying it required state of the art instruments and samples from Navalny’s body, which his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has said were smuggled out of Russia.
Alexei Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya
Debate. Brett Edwards, a biological and chemical weapons expert at the University of Bath, said that if the goal were pure deniability there are many other options—meaning, this was likely deliberately chosen to send a message.
However, Luca Trenta, an associate professor of international relations at Swansea University, was more cautious, arguing this case doesn’t look like overt signaling unless the toxin’s discovery was part of the point.
📌 Context. Navalny was Russia’s most prominent opposition figure and died while imprisoned in a Russian penal colony in Siberia. The UK government is publicly attributing responsibility to the Russian state and is treating the poison finding as part of a long-running pattern of political targeting.
🇮🇩 INDONESIA
Indonesia Readies
8,000 For Gaza
Indonesia's military says up to 8,000 troops could be ready by the end of June for a potential Gaza humanitarian and peace mission.
An advance team of about 1,000 personnel could be ready as early as April.
Signal. Speaking Sunday, army spokesperson Indonesian Brig. Gen. Donny Pramono said the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) have finalized a proposed troop structure and a movement timeline after a Feb. 12 planning meeting, even though the government has not decided whether to deploy.
Timeline. The plan runs health checks and paperwork through February, followed by a force readiness review at month’s end, with the first tranche slated for April and the remainder targeted for June if cleared to move.
Limits. Officials insist any Indonesian role would be strictly humanitarian, centered on civilian protection, medical services, and reconstruction, and that troops would not take part in combat or actions that could risk direct confrontation with armed groups.
US President Trump (middle) with Hungarian Prime Minister Orban (left) and Indonesian President Subianto (right) during a charter announcement for his Board of Peace initiative in Davos, Switzerland, January 22, 2026.
Why. The proposed deployment is tied to US President Donald Trump’s postwar reconstruction plan and a security effort described as a Board of Peace initiative for Gaza, where a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has held since early October.
📌 Context. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country with no formal diplomatic relations with Israel, argues that joining the board is a way to defend Palestinian interests from inside a process that includes Israel but has no Palestinian representation, while leaning on its long track record as a top-10 contributor to U.N. peacekeeping missions, including in Lebanon.
🇺🇦 UKRAINE
Ex Minister Arrested
Over Kickbacks
German Galushchenko
Ukraine arrested former energy minister German Galushchenko while he was trying to leave the country, then accused him of laundering money tied to a kickbacks scheme.
Prosecutors say the alleged pipeline ran through overseas accounts linked to his immediate family.
Detention. On Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, Ukraine's anti-corruption investigators said Galushchenko was detained the day before while crossing the state border.
He served as energy minister from 2021 to 2025
Then he later served briefly as justice minister before resigning amid the broader scandal.
Allegations. Investigators say more than $7 million was moved to foreign accounts naming his wife and four children as beneficiaries, with some money used for the children's schooling in Switzerland and some placed in a deposit that generated additional income.
His response? Denial of any wrongdoing.
Mechanics. The accusations sit inside the so-called "Midas case," which prosecutors describe as an alleged $100 million kickback scheme at the state nuclear company Energoatom, where contractors were pressed for bribes to move projects forward, including protective structures for energy facilities targeted by Russian airstrikes.
Timur Mindich
Fallout. The case has pulled in many senior officials and business figures, including a former Zelenskyy associate from his pre-politics media world, Timur Mindich, whom prosecutors have described as an organizer who fled to Israel before he could be arrested in November and who has denied wrongdoing.
Investigators say other former senior officials are also under investigation.
A former deputy prime minister was also arrested in November.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy
Pressure. Politically, the scandal has fed public anger about corruption during wartime and stirred concern among Western partners watching Ukraine's reforms.
It also revived a sensitive fight over the independence of anti-corruption agencies after Zelenskyy tried to curb them and later reversed course following protests and external pressure.
Some critics who oppose aid to Ukraine argue that President Zelenskyy is pressuring foreign governments for assistance so he can siphon off some of it personally. That allegation is unsubstantiated. Still, recurring corruption scandals in Ukraine are fueling this narrative, which complicates broader message and can further erode public trust in Zelenskyy.
