Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I just watched The Mysterious Havana Syndrome on the History Channel (Canada)'s History's Greatest Mysteries. Described as: "History's Greatest Mysteries explore the top theories behind what caused unexplained illnesses in US diplomats in 2017; which became known as "The Havana Syndrome"."

It covered all the "explanations" and seemed rather unprejudiced in it's lack of a conclusion.

As always YMMV.

 

[dann]

I don't have History Channel, and neither do the friends I've asked, so I still haven't watched it, but the excerpts I've seen were good.

Did you see the article about "Kevin Fu, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Northeastern University" (see post 1,938), "who was recently appointed to the White House’s working group on cybersecurity resilience"?

 

[dann]

Attack on China's Consulate in San Francisco

See post 2,028 (and 2,020):

The driver who died after crashing into the Chinese Consulate building in San Francisco was identified as Zhanyuan Yang, age 31, of San Francisco, the city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told SFGATE in an email.
(...)
An anonymous White House official told AP that investigators believe the crash was with "malign intent." The source also said U.S. government officials are communicating with Chinese foreign ministry officials.
A witness said Yang was allegedly yelling about the CCP, which refers to the Chinese Communist Party, according to ABC News.
(...)
A Stanford student who said he witnessed the car driving into the building told the San Francisco Standard that the driver shouted, "Where's the CCP?" as he exited the car after the crash. The student, whom the Standard identified as Sergii Molchanov, told the outlet that it was "quite terrifying and shocking to see."
SFPD did not provide a cause of the crash or any further details about the suspect.
Suspect in Chinese Consulate building crash identified as SF man (SF Gate, Oct 12, 2023)

 

[dann]

A Conversation with Nicky Woolf in Boston

The Center for the Study of Europe presents The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome – Nicky Woolf in Conversation with Vivien Schmidt.
The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome (Center for the Study of Europe: Calendar)

Time: Wednesday Nov 1, 2023, 4 to 5:30 PM
Location: Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road
Registration: https://www.bu.edu/european/2023/09/04/the-sound-mystery-of-havana-syndrome-11-01-23/

Center for the Study of Europe
Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies
Boston University
121 Bay State Road
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: 617-358-0919

I hope that this conversation will be made available as a podcast online. I also hope that Nicky Woolf has spent some of the time since March 2023 on further studies of the train wreck that the attack hypothesis of the 'Havana syndrome' turned out to be.

It is not the first conversation he has had with Vivien Schmidt at the Pardee School. There was this one about QAnon on Wednesday, October 19, 2022:
Event Highlights: Finding Q with Nicky Woolf.

 

[dann]

Attack on Chinese Consulate in SF

See posts 2,028, 2,043 (and post 2,020):

Carrasco can be seen in body camera footage touching Yang’s back and asking “Does he have a gun?” before Yang, who is rubbing his face with his left arm, turns toward Carrasco and the security guard and starts swinging a knife. The footage shows Carrasco then opens fire and shortly after shouts, “You should have told me he had a knife!”
Yang, 31, was taken to a hospital, where he died.
(...)
Police investigators have served several warrants at the San Francisco apartment where Yang lived, Scott said, but he did not identify a motive.
“Why he showed up there, what he was doing, that’s still under investigation and there’s nothing that we have at this point that I can release,” Scott said.
Man who crashed into Chinese Consulate in San Francisco was armed with knife, crossbow, police say (AP, Oct 20, 2023)

Body camera video released following police shooting at Chinese Consulate in San Francsco (NBC Bay Area, Oct 19, 2023)

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said multiple search warrants have been served, and evidence has been seized from Yang’s apartment, adding they cannot release a motive at this time.
Driver who crashed into Chinese consulate in San Francisco tried to stab a responding officer before being fatally shot, police say (CNN, Oct 20, 2023)

 

[dann]

Targeted Individual Len Ber links to Indian article about 'NeuroStrikes':

Broadly, two types of weapons are used in cognitive warfare and both aim at manipulating the cognitive capabilities (neuro-system) of targets. First, microwave or energy-based weapons known as NeuroStrike or neuro-cognitive disruptors are reported to be very effective if used within 3,000 meters. If attacked repeatedly, they can impair the cognitive capabilities of targets permanently. This method can be used during military operations and important diplomatic meetings to confuse the targets and destroy their capability to make correct decisions. These weapons were used against the US diplomats in Havana and China used them against protestors in Hong Kong in 2019.
NeuroSrtike: A new weapon of warfare requiring urgent prophylactic steps (Times of India, Oct 10, 2023)

Considering how easy it is to embed links to actual data in articles and how many articles make use of this option nowadays, the absence of such links in this article is apparent.
The author doesn't seem to know that "these weapons" were never found or even detected in Havana - unless you count the cricket sounds recorded by the U.S. diplomats and CIA agents in Havana as evidence of a 'NeuroStrike'.

 

[dann]

2024 model:

#TI #TargetedIndividual #TargetedIndividuals #HavanaSyndrome
Meet the v2k recording helmet! Preliminary tests: ELF pulses recordable!
Subliminal Industries (Twitter/X, Oct 22, 2023)

Burqa-inspired?!

 

[Orphia Nay]

See posts 2,028, 2,043 (and post 2,020):

I looked back at the other posts the other day and still can't work out what this event has to do with Havana Syndrome.

 

[dann]

I was 'connecting the dots', but maybe a few more dots are needed to get the picture.

From post 407, which I referred to in post 2,001:

A State Department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, called the Cuban complaint "ridiculous."
"Let's remind Cuba: They are obligated under the Vienna Convention to protect our diplomats. It is very serious that 24 of our U.S. government colleagues suffered health attacks, some with serious and ongoing symptoms. Secretary Tillerson had to protect his staff by limiting our work at the U.S. Embassy in Havana to emergency services," she said.
"While our investigation is ongoing, rather than find excuses, Cuba should focus on helping to locate who or what is responsible for the harm caused to American citizens," Nauert added.
Cuba condemns U.S. cuts to embassy staff over health attacks (VOA News/AP, Mar. 5, 2018)

There was this one from post 2,020:

Haley calls for harder line against China
Haley told the crowd Saturday that the U.S. needs to take a stronger position against China. She said the Chinese government has already “infiltrated” America through buying land near U.S. military bases and food producers. She also called for a halt to sharing certain technologies with China.
She said China has been “planning war with us for years,” and the Chinese Communist Party is building its military fleet and developing artificial intelligence. She also accused China of using “neuro-strike weapons” — devices allegedly used against military and government officials resulting in “Havana Syndrome.”“You can’t appease the Communist Party like that … The only thing China’s got to respond to is strength,” Haley said.
Nikki Haley rallies against 2024 rival Vivek Ramaswamy’s voting age proposal (IowaCapitalDispatch, Sep 30, 2023)

To spell it out:
For no good reason, U.S. government officials accuse Cuba of attacking U.S. diplomats with directed energy weapons. Cuban embassy is Washington is attacked. Twice since the 'syndrome' was concocted.
For no good reason, U.S. politicians accuse China of attacking U.S. military and government officials with neuro-strike weapons. Chinese consulate in San Francisco is attacked.
From post 2,043:

A witness said Yang was allegedly yelling about the CCP, which refers to the Chinese Communist Party, according to ABC News.
Suspect in Chinese Consulate building crash identified as SF man (SF Gate, Oct 12, 2023)

Cuba had reason to remind the USA of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations after the most recent attack on the Cuban embassy in Washington. See post 2,001.

Five attacks on diplomatic missions. Three of them real, the ones in Washington and San Francisco; two of them imaginary, the ones in Havana and Guangzhou.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Thanks, I kind of knew all that, but still think another 'dot' is required, perhaps from Yang blaming China for energy weapons or thinking he is a TI. I mean, there are plenty of reasons to be angry at China unrelated to this.

 

[dann]

Nikki Haley mentions several, very American, reasons to be angry at China - other than the 'syndrome', which is, of course, actually a reason to be angry at the American inventors and propagandists of the 'syndrome' story, but we already know that many people still think that U.S. diplomats and spies were attacked. Many of the Targeted Individuals don't, probably most of those who don't think the FBI, the CIA or their own neighbors are to blame.

Files in the room suggested that Yang hailed from Shandong Province, China, and a diploma revealed that he graduated from Xingtan College of Qufu Normal University in 2014, majoring in environmental sciences. A whiteboard in the room displayed a hand-drawn map of East and Southeast Asia with communist party slogans from the 1970s by former leader Deng Xiaoping.
In the living room, Yang’s keys and wallet were found atop a bookshelf, along with a book titled “Political Murder – From Tyrannicide to Terrorism,” which focused on political assassinations. A bow and arrow were mounted on the wall.
(...)
She described him as reserved and stated that if he had become radicalized, it was a recent development.
31-year-old man from Shangdong involved in Chinese Consulate incident described as reserved with replica firearms and book on political assassinations (DimsumDaily.hk, Oct 13, 2023)

I am not saying that the 'Havana syndrome' is the one and only reason why Zhanyuan Yang attacked attacked the Chinese consulate San Francisco or why Alexander Alazo attacked the Cuban embassy in Washington in 2020. I am not even saying that it is a reason. But based on what we know about them so far, they don't sound like typical human rights advocates or, in the case of Zhanyuan Yang in particular, typical environmentalists.

Police believe Alazo had been sleeping at rest stops and in parking lots for at least nine months because he said he believed Cuban organized crime figures were after him and he wanted to protect his family.
Alazo told investigators that he had been treated at a psychiatric hospital and his wife, a nurse, had told him to seek treatment when he was hearing voices in his head, he said. He was prescribed medication in March after a visit to a psychiatric facility but hasn’t been “completely compliant with his medication,” court papers said.
Accused embassy gunman said he feared Cuban organized crime (AP, May 2, 2020)

(v2k is very big in TI circles!)

You may be right about Zhanyuan Yang not "blaming China for energy weapons or thinking he is a TI." The police haven't yet said what motivated him. But that is not required for him to become a terrorist. Trump also doesn't have to tell people to attack election workers, jurors, judges, politicians, the FBI or the Capitol. The demonization of people and/or institutions is all it takes:

Stochastic terrorism refers to political or media figures publicly demonizing a person or group in such a way that it inspires supporters of the figures to commit a violent act against the target of the speech. Unlike incitement to terrorism, this is accomplished by using indirect, vague, or coded language that allows the instigator to plausibly disclaim responsibility for the resulting violence. Global trends point to increasing violent rhetoric and political violence, including more evidence of stochastic terrorism.
(...)
Defining features
Although stochastic terrorism is considered an academic term without a formal legal definition, it is differentiated from other forms of terrorism due to its public, indirect, and seemingly random nature.
1. Speech: A public figure or group disseminates violent, inflammatory rhetoric via mass-media, directed at people or groups of people, sometimes suggesting or legitimizing the use of violence.
(...)
3. Inspiration: An individual or group, without any ties to known terrorist groups, hears the speech and becomes motivated to commit violence against the target of the speech, believing it will further a political or ideological goal.
(...)
5. Probability: While difficult to predict each individual act of violence due to the disconnected chain of causality, the speech makes threats and terror attacks more likely. These attacks observed as a collection have a statistically valid relationship, even if individual attacks are too random (stochastic) to predict precisely.
Stochastic terrorism (Wikipedia)

The examples I've posted are of actual speech, not v2k, obviously. It tells potential stochastic terrorists that authority figures are on their side against an evil enemy. The perpetrators are not unaware that those authorities are on their side even though they may not fully agree with their methods.
And nothing much seems to have been done by the USA to protect Cuban and Chinese diplomats, which the country is obligated to do "under the Vienna Convention" and blamed Cuba for not doing.

 

[dann]

Correction of the first paragraph of the previous post:

Nikki Haley mentions several, very American, reasons to be angry at China - other than the 'syndrome', which is, of course, actually a reason to be angry at the American inventors and propagandists of the 'syndrome' story, but we already know that many people still think that U.S. diplomats and spies were attacked. Many of the Targeted Individuals don't, probably most of those who don't think the FBI, the CIA or their own neighbors are to blame.

Nikki Haley mentions several, very American, reasons to be angry at China - other than the 'syndrome', which is, of course, actually a reason to be angry at the American inventors and propagandists of the 'syndrome' story, but we already know that many people still think that U.S. diplomats and spies were attacked. (Many of the Targeted Individuals blame China for the 'syndrome', probably most of those who don't think the FBI, the CIA or their own neighbors are the perpetrators of the alleged 'neuro-strikes'.)

 

[dann]

The most maddening part of the anti-conspiracy theory campaign from public officials and media is that American intelligence agencies actively feed into our modern paranoia, i.e., Chinese spies, Havana Syndrome, etc., but attempt to direct it in ways that are useful for the US

60 Minutes asks intelligence chiefs: “Is the Chinese government building industrial sites in your countries that are actually covers for espionage operations?” https://cbsn.ws/46HrSPt

Robert Skvarla (Twitter/X, Oct 23, 2023)

This is also something the US does! It encourages/encouraged foreign investment by American corporations because it could use those businesses as its eyes and ears abroad.

lmao, private firms have always been run by the national security agencies. The CIA regulaly met with The Business Council, a collection of America's top corporations, in the 70s and 80s, and used those companies as a private intelligence network.
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp05t00644r000300900011-1
Robert Skvarla (Twitter/X, Dec 11, 2022)

Robert Skvarla (Twitter/X, Oct 23, 2023)

I wonder when the Chinese will become the bad guys in American movies like the Japanese in the 1990s.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Cheers, dann.

Wow, v2k ("voice to skull") on X brings up a lot of disturbed individuals.

 

[dann]

Yes, unfortunately. And as Sherkeu pointed out, "they are human and they suffer." They may be the hardest-hit 'syndrome' victims.

Several search terms on Twitter/X are dominated by TIs (and, I suspect, the people who prey on them):
#HavanaSyndrome
#MicroWaveWeapons
#DirectedEnergyWeapons
#NeuroStrike
#AcousticWeapons
#Electromagnetictorture
#VoiceToSkull

 

[Orphia Nay]

Who would prey on a Targeted Individual?

 

[dann]

Basically, the same people who target (sorry!) EHS sufferers. I think the EHS market is bigger:

A variety of pseudoscientific devices are marketed to those who fear that they are being harmed by electromagnetic fields. The US Federal Trade Commission has warned about scams that involve selling products purported to protect against cell phone radiation. In the UK, a product called 5GBioShield was identified by Trading Standards as a "scam" device. Its manufacturers claimed that it could mitigate harms from phone radiation, however British authorities determined that the device was merely a USB drive.
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: Management (Wikipedia)

Recently many calls for help from ‘EHS smartphone users’ and ‘targeted individuals’ (norad4u.com)

And then there are the 'self-help' books: Targeted Individuals (Amazon)
There are many more books about EHS and/or 'dirty electricity'.
In a general search, I don't think most people will come across Bradley Roth's book Are Electromagnetic Fields Making Me Ill? How Electricity and Magnetism Affect Our Health, unfortunately.

It isn't always easy to distinguish between 'actual' TIs and people taking advantage of them. For instance, is the organization Targeted Justice actually* trying to help TIs or exploiting them by keeping their hopes up and asking for donations? I have no idea.
See the article Targeting Targeted Individuals (Forth Worth Weekly, Jan 20, 2021). The comments are the scariest part of it!


*ETA: Actual help to TIs would of course be actual information about their suffering: that they aren't being gang-stalked or microwaved, that nobody is beaming voices into their skulls. And it should be accompanied by therapy in the most severe cases.

 

[dann]

I feared the worst when seeing the title of the podcast series Strange & Unexplained, but the episode about 'Havana syndrome' was much better than I expected:

Could you identify when you were under attack, even if you couldn’t see it? Over the last decade a number of U.S. Officials on assignment abroad have reported sudden and explainable attacks of troubling psychic symptoms. Out of nowhere they’re struck by invisible vibrations and overwhelming pressure to the head, causing extreme dizziness, temporary blindness and memory loss, known as Havana Syndrome. Who is behind the attacks? How are they doing this? Is this the effect of a top secret weapon? Or could it all be in their heads?
Episode 3.13. All Up In Your Head: Mysteries of Havana Syndrome (Strange & Unexplained with Daisy Eagan, July 20, 2023 - 37:45 min)

I appreciate it when podcast hosts try to relate the 'syndrome' stories to their own down-to-earth everyday experiences. In this podcast, Daisy Eagan mentions the time when she was convinced that somebody had broken into her home and stolen the battery from her electric toothbrush. And what is more likely? That Cuban Dirección de Inteligencia agents entered the Havana homes of U.S. spies and diplomats to use their bathroom or that the American residents just forgot to flush that morning?

The podcast may end like this: "What's behind these incidents might be a mystery, but the symptoms these people experienced were very real. For them, something completely unseen, merely undetectable and totally unexplainable struck them down and changed their lives forever." But it doesn't really sound as if Daisy Eagan and her researcher think that anything has been left unexplained in this case.

Of course, unlike the two podcast series about the 'syndrome' earlier this year, the one from Vice by Anderson and Entous and the one from Project Brazen by Nicky Woolf, this podcast benefits from having been made after the ODNI report.

 

[dann]

Right-wing conspiracy nuts have decided that Maine shooter Robert Card must be a 'syndrome' victim, targeted by v2k:

"Cognitive Emitted Waves are here. They are coming for your Dreams. Integrative interpretation is going to shake the world. The Wave processors & PSY Translators are first, but will not be the last."
#ELF #IntrusiveThoughtDevice #Havanasyndrome #MKUltra
https://youtube.com/watch?t=818&v=rckecs0PKI4

The shooter today in Maine complained of hearing voices in his head. (...) Lowenstein was killed in 1980 by a man who said he received messages in his head broadcast by a CIA transmitter. (...) Noah Green, the guy that rammed the capitol police officers, said "he believed the federal government was targeting him with 'mind control.'" (...) Aaron Alexis, a former Naval reservist and military contractor, heard voices in his head that he attributed to extremely low frequency EM prior to killing 12 people in Naval Sea Systems Command at Washington Navy Yard. (...) Paddock said that the government could hack into his head and control him.
Esteban Santiago-Ruiz complained of voices in his head and claimed the CIA was forcing him to watch ISIS videos before he killed a bunch of people at an airport.
Government's MK Ultra "Voice To Skull/Voice of God" technology is real and was heard about since at least 1974
This was nearly 50 years ago.
Imagine what we have now.
Wyatt (Twitter/X, Oct 26, 2023)

Waking World (Twitter/X, Oct 26, 2023)

A whole thread from Targeted Justice about Robert Card:

8th deadliest shooting in America happened today.
22 dead, 60 injured.
The shooter, Robert Card, had a “history of mental illness” and while in a mental institution in August, complained of hearing voices. #v2k #ti #thisisamerica
https://tiktok.com/t/ZT8kvp99r/
#targetedindividual
Targeted Justicee (Twitter/X, Oct 26, 2023)

He started hearing voices after he threatened to shoot up a military base he was stationed at. That’s no coincidence.
Targeted Justice (Twitter/X, Oct 26, 2023)

 

[Orphia Nay]

It isn't always easy to distinguish between 'actual' TIs and people taking advantage of them.

Indeed. I remember seeing a stand at a local market. It was a woman selling some sort of medallions that were supposed to protect you from EMFs or magnetism or both. She had signs up all about how you're supposed to be affected. Believer unwittingly scamming people or just plain scammer?