Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

The JASON report in other media:

The JASON advisory group was provided with audio and video recordings captured from the time the symptoms occurred. While cross-referencing the recordings with sound clips provided by various insect species, scientists determined with “high confidence” that the offending noise had come from the noisy Anurogryllis celerinictus cricket.
“No plausible single source of energy (neither radio/microwaves nor sonic) can produce both the recorded audio/video signals and the reported medical effects,” wrote authors of the JASON report, retrieved through a Freedom of Information Act request. “We believe the recorded sounds are mechanical or biological in origin, rather than electronic. The most likely source is the Indies short-tailed cricket.”
They’re not the first to blame the cacophonous critters. In 2019, an unpublished analysis of recordings made by US personnel in Cuba surfaced in the media, also pointing to Anurogryllis celerinictus. “The recording is definitively a cricket that belongs to the same group,” said University of Lincoln biology professor Fernando Montealegre-Zapata in a statement at the time of the study.
Havana syndrome culprits may be crickets, scientists say (New York Post, Oct 1, 2021)

The authors of the JASON report were actually the first, but their report was kept a secret until now. But this thread was even earlier!

This attempt to save the idea that spies and diplomats were attacked is hilarious:

Still, the JASON team did suggest that the alarming noise that seems to prompt Havana syndrome could have been “introduced by an adversary as deception,” misdirecting physicians and investigators while using “an entirely unrelated mode of causing illness.”

I guess the evil adversaries trained the Cuban crickets to make the noise to cover up the sounds of microwaves. Or they may have used both directed microwave energy guns and super-sonic guns at the same time, one in each hand in the case of lone-wolf attacks.

The report goes on to say that JASON could identify "no plausible single source of energy (neither radio/microwaves nor sonic) [that] can produce both the recorded audio/video signals and the reported medical effects.
Instead, the scientists wrote that the most likely source of the sound heard in the recordings is the Indies short-tailed cricket, whose call, it says, "matches, in nuanced detail, the spectral properties of the recordings from Cuba." Still, the report hedges, saying that "other hypotheses are possible," including that the sounds were created by a mechanical device or "structure-borne vibrations."
"While we can't rule out the idea that somebody might have been trying to harass the U.S. officers, the idea that these were attacks intended to cause injury is supported neither by a smoking gun nor by clearly identified victims," the report says.
'Havana Syndrome' Noises Were Likely Crickets, Not Super Weapons, State Department Report Says (Rolling Stone, Oct 1, 2021)

Man, they are tricky, those lovelorn crickets! Not only do they harass the U.S. spies and diplomats with their mating calls, they also hump so hard that whole buildings start vibrating!

The US government said it’s probably the short-tailed crickets that make the American diplomats around the world sick, according to a newly declassified report.
Microwaves not to be blamed for 'Havana Syndrome', a State Dept report says (TRT World, Oct 1, 2021)

No, no, no! That's not what the report says.
1) It is from 2018 and about the cases in Havana, not about the cases "around the world".
2) It doesn't say that the crickets made anybody sick.
This title also gets it wrong: Crickets named as cause of mysterious 'Havana syndrome' (The Independent, Oct 1, 2021)
Crickets made the sound. They didn't make anybody sick.

According to Wikipedia, the recent State Department decision to call on U.S. personnel all over the world to report symptoms of the alleged attacks has been very successful, making the number of cases rise from 130 four months ago to now more than 200, not including the most recent ones:

The U.S. government has not released the number of affected persons, but media reporting indicated a total of 130 possible cases by the end of May 2021, rising to more than 200 possible cases by mid-September 2021. The cases variously affected CIA, U.S. military, and State Department personnel, and their family members.
Havana syndrome: elsewere (Wikipedia)

It is worth remembering that the mating calls of crickets had nothing to do with this. The new cases were all due to the calls from the State Department.

 

[dann]

Business Insider has also picked up the story:

Cheryl Rofer, a retired chemist from Los Alamos National Laboratory, previously told Insider that if a microwave weapon had been used, there would be physical marks of the attack. "The evidence would be on the outside of their body," she told Insider's Aylin Woodward, adding: "It would be like a thermal burn."The Pentagon has asked its 2.9 million service members to come forward if they have felt symptoms consistent with the "syndrome," according to a memo seen by The New York Times.
https://www.businessinsider.in/scie...obably-just-crickets/articleshow/86680484.cms (Business Insider, Oct 1, 2021)

RT's title is exaggerated. The 'Havana Syndrome' may be a delusion, but it is not a psychosis.

“This is a high powered group of expert scientists,” former Los Alamos National Laboratory chemist Cheryl Rofer told BuzzFeed, adding that the declassified report “appears to be a very thorough scientific analysis, the kind which wasn’t done in the National Academies of Sciences report.”
“What is available in the report is pretty dubious about directed energy weapons, and pretty positive about crickets,” Rofer added.
Crickets and psychosis account for ‘Havana Syndrome’, says newly declassified report by US scientists (RT, Sep 30, 2021)

 

[dann]

The BuzzFeed News article about the JASON report mentioned in post 980 has not gone unnoticed in Cuba:
Como no hubo ataque sónico, no podrá existir evidencia (+Video) (Granma.cu, Oct 1, 2021)

 

[dann]

A new article in Washington Times focuses on how the Obama administration is handling the 'syndrome':

The State Department has since dismissed the 2018 study, according to a spokesperson who said the report exhibits several shortcomings, including reliance on scant data and a lack of “broad access to information and effective personnel necessary to fully understand such a complex issue.” The researchers behind the JASON report interviewed only one person who had reported symptoms commonly associated with anomalous health incidents.
“And it was because of the flaws and shortcomings in prior studies including this one, that we have focused on sharing information across departments and agencies and making all of that data available to the [intelligence community’s] expert panel,” he said.
The State Department spokesperson said the JASON report is not “aligned with this administration’s understanding” of the anomalous health incidents and has not “informed” the government’s more recent inquiry into the matter.
Havana Syndrome continues to baffle U.S. officials (WT, Oct 1, 2021)

So the CIA prevents researchers from getting all the data (for security reasons, of course) and talking to all the alleged victims of the 'Havana Syndrome', and the researchers are then criticized for their lack of "broad access to information"! And since the State Department doesn't like the conclusions of the report, a new one is commissioned, and then another one, and another one, this time leaving it to the 'intelligence community' itself because it has access to the information that it won't allow any others to see.

In other words, the CIA will be allowed to produce a report the 'incidents' that it mishandled spectacularly with the conclusions that both the State Department and the agency itself desire while everybody skeptical of this procedure is being removed from the playing field.
That is how it was done under Trump, and that is how it is done under Biden:

“These attacks, there’s certainly many of them that seem quite deliberate and what the causes and what the motivation is, what the intent is — I think these are still very much open questions,” he said. “But I do think that we are getting closer to some of the answers, and bringing new tools to bear to help us get those answers.”
Mr. Schiff said he is still open to the possibility that Havana Syndrome is not a result of targeted attacks.

Yes, it is obvious that Mr. Schiff is open to the possibility that 'Havana Syndrome' is not a result of targeted attacks. In order to make this perfectly clear, he calls them attacks and wonders aloud about the intent behind those alleged attacks ...

 

[dann]

A new article in Washington Times focuses on how the Obama administration is handling the 'syndrome'

It should of course have been the Biden administration, which continues Trump's Cuba policy instead of Obama's.

 

[Planigale]

A new article in Washington Times focuses on how the Obama administration is handling the 'syndrome':




So the CIA prevents researchers from getting all the data (for security reasons, of course) and talking to all the alleged victims of the 'Havana Syndrome', and the researchers are then criticized for their lack of "broad access to information"! And since the State Department doesn't like the conclusions of the report, a new one is commissioned, and then another one, and another one, this time leaving it to the 'intelligence community' itself because it has access to the information that it won't allow any others to see.

In other words, the CIA will be allowed to produce a report the 'incidents' that it mishandled spectacularly with the conclusions that both the State Department and the agency itself desire while everybody skeptical of this procedure is being removed from the playing field.
That is how it was done under Trump, and that is how it is done under Biden:




Yes, it is obvious that Mr. Schiff is open to the possibility that 'Havana Syndrome' is not a result of targeted attacks. In order to make this perfectly clear, he calls them attacks and wonders aloud about the intent behind those alleged attacks ...

Obviously it is immensely useful to have a casus belli immediately available. This is ideal, it can be pointed at anyone* the intelligence community or politicians want. They may have moved on from blaming Cuba, but noticeably the actions taken as a response to Cuban attacks have not been reversed. My guess is that it may be pointed at China next, or possibly Iran.

Since the WMD justification for the second iraq war has shown that no real evidence is required to justify a war, the lack of real evidence here is not relevant. Unlike the WMD justification this has the advantage that Americans have been attacked and harmed.

*Probably has to be a nation state with some infrastructure, it would be a stretch to believe some multinational criminal / terrorist organisation like SPECTRE** could come up with this sort of technology.

**It would seem tailor made for an 007 mission though, SPECTRE have a mysterious energy ray they are using to disable intelligence operatives across the globe, and an 00 action is authorised.

 

[dann]

My guess is that it may be pointed at China next, or possibly Iran.

I don't think so. The suspicions seem to be almost exclusively focussed on Russia, which makes me wonder why this sophisticated, discrete weapon was never used against other enemies of the (Russian) state: 6 Prominent Russians Who Suffered Poisoning Attacks (Moscow Times, Aug 20, 2020)

There are now more than 200 U.S. victims of the alleged attacks, and yet no traces have been found of weapons or a perpetrators. The Russians usually leave plenty of traces behind. I think the 'Havana Syndrome' story gives Putin too much credit for having committed the perfect crime.

 

[dann]

Another Cuban newspaper, Juventud Rebelde - I think it is the second-largest after Granma - has a new article about the 'syndrome': El síndrome del absurdo (Oct 2, 2021)

It is pretty long, but I have picked some of the most 'colorful' paragraphs. The translation is by Google:

"Another diplomat stated that he had had an incident at his residence. No one else reported feeling anything, not his family or his employees. Among the symptoms, the man says that he suffered from lack of balance and dizziness, and in those same days he was seen driving a modern motorcycle at high speeds through the streets of Havana."
(...)
“An official said that the sound came from a truck that had later been hidden in a nearby building. We went quickly and it was found that the vehicle belonged to a neighbor who always parked it there to take advantage of the shade of an almond tree."
(...)
"The studies at the Hotel Nacional showed that the only noise that day was unusual was the music from the carnivals held on the Malecón."

Hotel Nacional has a great view of el Malecón. One of the best places for watching the Havana carnival. I recommend it!

"In 2018, based on a joint work protocol, Canadians installed sensors to record various events, and the first report of an event that affects health has not yet appeared."

It makes you wonder why Americans have recorded nothing but crickets, doesn't it?!
But apparently they have:

“In August 2017, the FBI provided us with 14 samples of noise recordings made at locations where incidents were alleged to have occurred. Our experts found that they were manipulated, they had erased data necessary to specify time and space, and the audible sounds were the horn of a car, an almond tree, birds, crickets; but nothing that affects human health.

For those of you who wonder what an almond tree sounds like, it is the Google translation of "un almendrón", Cuban slang for an old, rusty (thus almond-colored), usually American car whose exhaust pipes aren't always up to scratch. As in the song Mi amiga Chichi (not rusty, though):

"Then we learned through articles in the US press that as part of the investigation into the incidents in Cuba, the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit carried out a psychological evaluation of the alleged victims and concluded that they were suffering from a kind of psychogenic illness, which they informed the State Department, which, however, has remained silent regarding what the FBI has raised.

... as they remained silent about the JONAS report until it was made public by BuzzFeed News this week.

The conclusion:

After February 17, 2017, the walls returned, the aggressiveness against Cuba, the cruelty in the application of the economic, commercial and financial blockade like never before; facts that lead us to think that it was all a political operation to accompany the reversal of the policy of rapprochement and dialogue promoted by Barack Obama.

 

[dann]

I overlooked this one:

You're giving away a lot if you think there is some massive conspiracy that tells journalists what to write.

You don't need a conspiracy for that. All it takes is that the government makes some kind of claim - preferably, but not necessarily, based on a quasi scientific study. Most journalists will simply repeat whatever the government claims. It is the easiest thing to do, and you know that the government won't bother you if you do that. You can write an article in ten minutes based on the government's press release if you don't do any fact-checking. And the majority of journalists don't.
It is not even a question of journalists being lazy. Most of them probably don't get paid for doing any research and investigation. Getting paid for independent investigative reporting is a privilege. I think that it is very fulfilling on an emotional and intellectual level, but I don't think you get rich doing it.

A lot of people are claiming to be sick or injured. What would it take to prove they're not?

I don't think anybody is claiming that they aren't sick or injured. The question is how they got sick and injured. See (and/or listen to) the interview with Robert Bartholomew (post 977) and the article by Robert Baloh (post 979).
The symptoms of mass psychogenic illness are very real and not to be dismissed. And the people who claim to be looking for the cause of 'Havana Syndrome' are the ones causing it, at this point.

 

[dann]

Sadly this clear evidence of who is to blame will probably be swept under rug due to the political impossibility of owning up to the fact that we have met the enemy, and they are us.

"I'm certainly persuaded that what our officers and some family members, as well as other U.S. government employees, have experienced is real, and it's serious," Burns said. "I am absolutely determined ... to get to the bottom of the question of what and who caused this."
CIA Recalls Vienna Station Chief In Move Related To Handling Of 'Havana Syndrome' (NPR, Sep 24, 2021)

You did, Mr. Burns! And you are still doing it!

 

[dann]

It's uncanny!

May 26, 2021:

The Pentagon is drafting a memo to the entire military and civilian workforce asking personnel to report any so-called anomalous health symptoms that might indicate they have been victims of a mysterious illness that has struck US diplomats, spies and military personnel around the world, according to two defense officials.
No final decision has been made on whether to issue the memo, but the fact it's being considered underscores the growing concern at the Pentagon's senior levels that they need to gather more information on what has become known as "Havana Syndrome."
"There's a sufficient amount of concern that with the number of cases that could affect our workforce that this might be a prudent step," a senior defense official told CNN.
The State Department issued a similar memo to staff earlier this month asking them to immediately report symptoms, according to a copy obtained by CNN.
Pentagon considering telling troops to report suspected 'Havana Syndrome' incidents (CNN, May 26, 2021)

Sep 28, 2021:

The attacks have happened at multiple locations overseas and in the U.S. and have become more common.
Dr. James Giordano, a Georgetown University professor of neurology and adviser to the government, said in "the past 60 to 90 days, there have been a number of other reported cases" on U.S. soil and around the world.
"They are seen as valid reports with verified health indicators," Giordano said.
The attacks can cause symptoms such as dizziness, memory loss and a range of other issues, resulting in a drop in morale within the State Department and the CIA and causing some officials to be reluctant to take overseas assignments.
CIA and State Department officials face increased Havana Syndrome attacks (Fox News, Sep 28, 2021)

It's almost as if the two things are ... dare I say it? ... connected!

 

[Bogative]

↓↓↓↓↓↓Super secret Russian sonic weapon↓↓↓↓↓↓

******' Putin!


There is a not-surprising correlation between government agencies and media outlets on stories like this, Russian gate, Hunter's laptop being Russian disinformation etc. No story is outlandish enough for them to not promote when it comes to certain subjects, I blame it on "orange man bad syndrome."

 

[dann]

The more warnings the government sends to U.S. personnel, the more the number of 'attacks' seems to grow. What on Earth could be causing them?!

A growing number of U.S. diplomats and their support staff are reportedly hearing strange sounds, steady pulses of pressure in their heads and a number of other bizarre physical sensations with hallmarks of the “Havana syndrome.”
(...)
The White House reportedly sent a warning to U.S. personnel that Havana Syndrome is serious, widespread and poses a real danger to American diplomats and intelligence officers both at-home in the U.S. and abroad.
(...)
“We’ve got to get to the bottom of it, we’ve got to have discernible medical records that say, yes, you were attacked, and we need to lay hands on who’s doing this,” Figliuzzi said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/06/hav...brazenness-says-national-security-expert.html (CNBC, Oct 6, 2021)

Who is doing this, Figliuzzi?! You are!

The only option for the US Government left is to keep trying to solve the mystery of Havana syndrome, and hopefully one day unveil its source.
"No-one knows for sure," Dr Lin said.
"The only people who can tell us and let us know for sure is who did it, and we don't know who has done it."What is Havana syndrome? The mysterious disease that could be caused by chemicals, panic or something more sinister (ABC News, Oct 6, 2021)

Some of us know with 99.999 percent certainty who done it, but this is literally one of those answers that these people don't want to know.

Pentagon issues stark new warning about Havana Syndrome attacks as mystery drags on (Independent, Oct 6, 2021)

This article offers some context to the 'Havana Syndrome' story:

Yet more evidence emerges that the so-called Havana Syndrome caused by a “microwave weapon” in US diplomats and intelligence personnel was a psychosomatic illness. Maybe it's time for national security reporters to stop letting anonymous officials make wild claims to stoke conflict and inflate their budgets.
(...)
Despite constant statements from scientists and other experts that the symptoms seemed like classic cases of psychosomatic illness, that the sounds recorded sounded suspiciously like crickets, and that there was no evidence such a microwave weapon had ever actually been invented, mainstream outlets continued broadcasting these unsubstantiated charges from anonymous US officials for the next four years. One particular gem was this NBC News piece citing a report that stated that “nothing like [the symptoms] had previously been documented in medical literature,” then following with a quote that these symptoms were “consistent with the effects of directed, pulsed radio frequency (RF) energy.”Will the Media Finally Learn Something from Its "Havana Syndrome" Debacle? (The Jacobin, Oct 5, 2021)

 

[dann]

I forgot the link to the CNBC article in my post earlier today:

A growing number of U.S. diplomats and their support staff are reportedly hearing strange sounds, steady pulses of pressure in their heads and a number of other bizarre physical sensations with hallmarks of the “Havana syndrome.”
(...)
The White House reportedly sent a warning to U.S. personnel that Havana Syndrome is serious, widespread and poses a real danger to American diplomats and intelligence officers both at-home in the U.S. and abroad.
(...)
“We’ve got to get to the bottom of it, we’ve got to have discernible medical records that say, yes, you were attacked, and we need to lay hands on who’s doing this,” Figliuzzi said.
Havana Syndrome: ‘Attacks have stepped-up in their brazenness,’ says national security expert (CNBC, Oct 6, 2021)

 

[Orphia Nay]

Thanks for your posts on this, dann.

It's a good topic for a skeptics' forum.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

There is a not-surprising correlation between government agencies and media outlets on stories like this, Russian gate, Hunter's laptop being Russian disinformation etc. No story is outlandish enough for them to not promote when it comes to certain subjects, I blame it on "orange man bad syndrome."

Not to mention Novichok poisonings, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, and the so-called Panama Papers.

But there's one striking difference in this case - a distinct lack of both claims and evidence that Russia is involved. It's almost like government agencies and media outlets only blame Russia for stuff it did do.

 

[dann]

The Novichok poisoning: Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal (Wikipedia)
The most obvious difference between the 'Havana Syndrome' and the cases of Novichok poisoning is that in the latter you have both the weapon, i.e. the poison, and actual, real live suspects: Anatoly Chepiga, Alexander Mishkin and Denis Sergeev (Wikipedia).

The Skripals were poisoned in 2018, i.e. while the alleged Havana Syndrome attacks had been going on since 2016; now, in 2021, with more than 200 victims and not a single microwave or actual suspect sighted.
The professional Russian agents couldn't even get away with poisoning two people without being found out.

Two victims versus more than 200 victims. And yet not a trace* of weapons or perpetrators behind the alleged attacks on those 200+ victims, who are presumably surrounded by security measures. As conspiracy theories go, this one has now taken on such proportions that this in itself is enough to make it ridiculous. And the CIA's inability to find any traces at all makes the agency look utterly incompetent.


*That is unless you count the many cricket recordings as evidence!

 

[dann]

Adolescents and children are frequently affected in cases of MPI.[8] The hypothesis that those prone to extraversion or neuroticism, or those with low IQ scores, are more likely to be affected in an outbreak of hysterical epidemic has not been consistently supported by research. Bartholomew and Wesseley state that it "seems clear that there is no particular predisposition to mass sociogenic illness and it is a behavioural reaction that anyone can show in the right circumstances."[1]

Intense media coverage seems to exacerbate outbreaks.[4][6][8] The illness may also recur after the initial outbreak.[8] John Waller advises that once it is determined that the illness is psychogenic, it should not be given credence by authorities.[6] For example, in the Singapore factory case study, calling in a medicine man to perform an exorcism seemed to perpetuate the outbreak.[9]
Mass psychogenic illness: Prevalence and intensity (Wikipedia)

I think that calling in the guy responsible for catching Bin Laden may have had an effect similar to calling in the medicine man in Singapore: 'This is serious!'
CIA probe of 'Havana syndrome' to be led by Bin Laden search veteran (Reuters, July 21, 2021)

 

[Planigale]

I think that calling in the guy responsible for catching Bin Laden may have had an effect similar to calling in the medicine man in Singapore: 'This is serious!'
CIA probe of 'Havana syndrome' to be led by Bin Laden search veteran (Reuters, July 21, 2021)

Given it took ten years to find someone who actually existed, this should see several people safely to retirement.

 

[dann]

When CIA operatives were hunting for bin Laden, they managed to turn an awful lot of people into vaccine skeptics.

CIA organised fake vaccination drive to get Osama bin Laden's family DNA (The Guardian, July 11, 2021)
CIA's hunt for Osama bin Laden Fuelled vaccine hesitancy in Pakistan (New Scientist, May 11, 2021)

It almost feels like some sort of poetic justice that their attempts to track down the mysterious microwave shooter have now made them the victims of their own delusions, while at the same time delusional Republicans see it as their patriotic duty to spread an infectious disease to their compatriots.

An awful lot of collateral damage in both cases.