Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

dann

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I find it hard to decide where this belongs:
Some felt vibrations, and heard sounds — loud ringing or a high-pitch chirping similar to crickets or cicadas. Others heard the grinding noise. Some victims awoke with ringing in their ears and fumbled for their alarm clocks, only to discover the ringing stopped when they moved away from their beds.

The attacks seemed to come at night. Several victims reported they came in minute-long bursts.

Yet others heard nothing, felt nothing. Later, their symptoms came.
https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/09/14/us/politics/ap-us-cuba-diplomats-under-attack.html
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Does anybody have any idea what this is?
 
Your headline belongs in the bin. The rest of the OP deals with rather an interesting series of happenings in Cuba. You might just have got more response if your title had reflected the events.
 
I have read about this strange story a few weeks ago and really wondered why there was no thread here already.

No one has a guess about what this could have been?
I mean the technical explanation, not who or why.
 
I'm torn between mass hysteria and maybe something real. But I certainly don't accept this is a real thing just yet. I've seen too many similar maladies like people with multiple chemical sensitivities and the majority of people who think they've been poisoned by mold.
 
theprestige: Why is mass hysteria (allegedly) unlikely among trained diplomats?

Let's take a look at the symptoms: "Some felt vibrations, and heard sounds — loud ringing or a high-pitch chirping similar to crickets or cicadas."
When I'm in Cuba and hear chirping similar to crickets or cicadas, I usually suspect them to be caused by … crickets or cicadas - unless I've been to a salsa or rumba concert the night before and forgot to bring ear plugs.
"vibrations", "grinding noises"
Yes, now and then I hear those too, in Copenhagen or in Havana, but in Havana probably more so since it is a very noisy place.
"Some victims awoke with ringing in their ears"
Cause or effect? These are the symptoms of tinnitus
Tinnitus involves the annoying sensation of hearing sound when no external sound is present. Tinnitus symptoms include these types of phantom noises in your ears:
Ringing
Buzzing
Roaring
Clicking
Hissing
The phantom noise may vary in pitch from a low roar to a high squeal, and you may hear it in one or both ears. In some cases, the sound can be so loud it can interfere with your ability to concentrate or hear actual sound. Tinnitus may be present all the time, or it may come and go.
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"the ringing stopped when they moved away from their beds"
Tinnitus seems to decrease when there are other kinds of background noise, or when you stop focusing on it. http://sjogrensworld.org/forums/index.php?topic=14696.0

I don't understand why they appear to have refrained from investigating these alleged noises and vibrations in Havana at the time when they occurred.

By the way, I myself suffer from hearing loss, but I'm not a diplomat. My ear doctor claims that it is congenital and age-related, so until now it really didn't occur to me to blame the Cubans. :)
 
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dann said:
theprestige: Why is mass hysteria (allegedly) unlikely among trained diplomats?

Let's take a look at the symptoms: "Some felt vibrations, and heard sounds — loud ringing or a high-pitch chirping similar to crickets or cicadas."
When I'm in Cuba and hear chirping similar to crickets or cicadas, I usually suspect them to be caused by … crickets or cicadas - unless I've been to a salsa or rumba concert the night before and forgot to bring ear plugs.
"vibrations", "grinding noises"
Yes, now and then I hear those too, in Copenhagen or in Havana, but in Havana probably more so since it is a very noisy place.
"Some victims awoke with ringing in their ears"
Cause or effect? These are the symptoms of tinnitus

"the ringing stopped when they moved away from their beds"
Tinnitus seems to decrease when there are other kinds of background noise, or when you stop focusing on it. http://sjogrensworld.org/forums/index.php?topic=14696.0

I don't understand why they appear to have refrained from investigating these alleged noises and vibrations in Havana at the time when they occurred.

By the way, I myself suffer from hearing loss, but I'm not a diplomat. My ear doctor claims that it is congenital and age-related, so until now it really didn't occur to me to blame the Cubans. :)
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You sound like a god damn communist.
 
dann said:
theprestige: Why is mass hysteria (allegedly) unlikely among trained diplomats?
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It's not a cohort with a history hysteria, mass or otherwise. Of the three choices you listed, I rank it more likely than aliens, and less than conspiracy.

I snipped the rest of your post because I can't figure out how it's relevant. Can you summarize your thesis?

This signature is intended to irradiate people.
 
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What is really going on here?

The US State Department is claiming that, over the last year or so, several of the U.S. Embassy staff in Cuba are suffering from 'health attacks' of a mysterious nature that penetrated invisibly through the walls of their residences. 2 Cuban diplomats were expelled in retaliation in May when the Cubans didn't take action to protect the Embassy staff.

It started with 1 or 2 Americans affected, then a Canadian was added, and is now up to 21 members of mostly American staff and family that claim they also suffered attacks at home and hotels, mostly at night, with a wide array of differing scenarios and symptoms. So far, no one can offer a reasonable method or motive. Science has no explanation.

Castro requested an urgent meeting with a US envoy and was uncharacteristically gracious about an FBI investigation. He welcomes them to come. This response is surprising to the U.S. experts as Cuba has never done anything like this. Even our allies do not throw open the door to the FBI.

As for Trump, he is quiet.

Today, SoS Tillerson said the potential closing of the Embassy is under review:

“We have it under evaluation,” Tillerson said of a possible embassy closure. “It’s a very serious issue with respect to the harm that certain individuals have suffered.
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I am highly skeptical that any 'real' attacks at all took place but none of the media reports are questioning it.
 
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I just posted about this in US Politics (had not seen this thread).
The political (over)reaction and lack of skepticism is what I find most interesting. We'll see how it plays out. My take: there are no 'remote attackers' to be found in this story.
 
Yesterday I was watching some YT vids, and in one (an MSNBC report? Can't recall) this story was highlighted. Apparently the 'attack' would seem to be sonic, and pretty tightly focused. Supposedly some individuals have suffered some medically diagnosed hearing degradation. One of the American personnel reported a rough, screeching sound while in bed that would not be heard out of bed.

It was mentioned that the Cuban government was most willing to have the FBI send investigators down to look into it.

Early days, yet; be interesting to see where this goes...
 
A US government official told CNN that the who, where and when point to "an attack" — the US is investigating whether a third country was involved as "payback" for actions the US has taken elsewhere and to "drive a wedge between the US and Cuba." ...
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One guess who the "third country" is.

Russia develops weapons for the future
Acoustic, or sonic, weapons

Such weapons use sound and cause fear, panic and terror among enemy soldiers. Even internal human organs can be damaged, leading to death...

the military doctrine of the Russian Federation adopted in 2010 calls for the use of sonic weapons in future wars
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I predict it will turn out to be BS, I've seen it before when people think the new carpet at work or some mold in their walls is causing a mysterious illness.

Yes, it's possible there will be something to this, I give it ~1% odds. :rolleyes: But I'm not going to buy into it just because the news media is reporting it as if it is something more than hysteria.
 
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Some years ago I read about the East German "Stasi" using low frequency "infrasonic" sound waves to disturb foreign diplomats and people they suspected of being spies. (I don't have a reference, sorry)

Given that this is a US diplomat in an "unfriendly" country that had close ties with the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, this sort of malarkey would not surprise me.

Infrasonics can cause people to feel strange and upset.
 
smartcooky said:
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Infrasonics can cause people to feel strange and upset.
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I believe Mythbusters tested such infrasound to see if it made people think a room was haunted. No effect was seen.

Sadly, now that the news media has taken it seriously it's going to be hard to get valid medical data on these folks.
 
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