Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

An interview with Robert Baloh.
It was published today, but the interview was probably conducted before the recent reintroduction of sonic and/or microwave weapon attacks as the preferred explanation of 'Havana Syndrome' in some circles.
I recommend it mainly for Baloh's description of how he got involved with the 'syndrome' when he was asked to review the first JAMA paper prior to publication, what was wrong with it, why he turned it down, and how they went ahead and published it anyway.

Science usually involves giving out information so people can examine it and test it, and find out if there’s evidence to support it. We were essentially being asked: “Take our word for it, these people were attacked by some sonic weapon, a mysterious sonic weapon, and they had brain damage.” They used the term ‘concussion without a concussion’, which was also very bizarre. So, my feeling was that this was not acceptable. I recommended that the paper get turned down and not be published, unless they quickly provided more details and more
convincing evidence.
…And then they went ahead and published it anyway? What was the fallout like?
Yes, it was published, they went ahead with it. Soon, people were interested in it because it was so sensational. I indicated that there’d be scientific backlash if it was put out. And there was. There were a lot of letters sent and people raising concerns. That’s when I really got into it.
Uncommon Diagnosis: Havana Syndrome (Irish Medical Times, Feb 3, 2022)

 

[dann]

Robert Bartholomew:

* A new report on 'Havana Syndrome' is flawed.
* Claims of mysterious energy attacks on U.S. diplomats continues to be mired in controversy.
* Two C.I.A. panels with the same facts came to different conclusions.
(...)
How can this panel reach such a conclusion (i.e. that the "mysterious and sudden brain injuries suffered by a small group of American diplomats and spies overseas were most likely caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy delivered by an external device," dann)when the brain damage that was reported among the Cuban diplomats turned out to be a myth? A 2019 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found brain anomalies, but not brain damage. There is a big difference between the two. Brain anomalies are common in small cohorts such as those studied in Cuba and the study itself admitted that the anomalies were so minor as to have been potentially caused by individual variation. What’s more, twelve of those affected had pre-existing histories of concussion, compared to none in the healthy controls, which alone could explain the differences in the groups.
The Real Danger 'Havana Syndrome' Poses to Society - Don’t be misled by the latest 'Havana Syndrome' report. (Psychology Today, Feb 3, 2022)

 

[dann]

BuzzFeed News has also reported about the most recent report, but unlike most other news outlets they have asked other experts for comments:

In an email, University of Illinois biomedical engineer James Lin said the ultrasound finding left him “puzzled.”
“To have any effect, the source needs to be very strong (powerful and bulky equipment) or very close to the target or subject,” said Lin, a proponent of pulsed microwaves. “Ultrasound propagates very poorly in air. It is quickly attenuated.”

UCLA neurologist Robert Baloh says the expert study not finding a smoking gun to explain the injuries, along with the recent intelligence report dismissing most cases, points to a simpler answer in mass psychology. "I believe that they are coming around to the conclusion that there was no weapon but they are bending over backward not to offend 'victims'," he said, by email.

University of Pennsylvania bioengineer Ken Foster wasn’t as skeptical.
"I had been a skeptic, but after my recent study, I am convinced that it is possible to cause a frightening but harmless experience to someone using pulsed microwaves,” he said in an email. “The challenge is to make such attacks ‘stealthy’ (not observed), but I think that is possible also. I do not know whether such weapons exist, and the government is not telling us. But if some actor wanted to frighten the entire State Department and CIA by hitting a few individuals, they succeeded admirably.”
Microwaves Or Ultrasound Might Explain Open "Havana Syndrome" Cases, US Intelligence Report Says (BuzzFeed News, Feb 3, 2022)

 

[dann]

At Daily Kos, the user RoundEarth weighs in on the 'syndrome'. He used to work "in the field of applied physics. I specialized in low energy plasma processes, electron and Xray analytical methods, flame and toxic chemical detection." From the very beginning, he thought that "the phenomenon was caused (by) directed energy, either radio frequency/microwave or acoustic/ultrasonic," but he also writes:

One would think that a Department of Defense with a trillion dollar budget could pop for a few spectrum analyzers, both RF and Acoustic, to continuously monitor the energy fields around sensitive locations. energy strong enough to bring about deleterious biological effects should be far stronger than typical RF or Acoustic fields so background noise should not cause false positive detection. Even a relatively simple broad band RF or Acoustic field strength meter could detect pulses if they were too short to be caught by scanning spectrum analyzers. Also, a Fourier Transform type of spectrum analyzer should allow detection of even short duration pulses.
Havana Syndrome Mystery (Daily Kos, Feb 3, 2022)

RoundEarth follows up on readers' questions and objections.

 

[dann]

Katy Tur sat down with Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA officer who suffers Havana Syndrome symptoms to talk about the investigation into the condition. He talked about what may come next, as well as what his symptoms look like.
'We have to get this right' former CIA officer on finding answers on Havana Syndrome (MSNBC, Feb 4, 2022)

The interviewer assumes that Marc Polymeropoulos is one of the cases that have now been explained and thus no longer suspected to be caused by any kind of attack from a hostile adversary. The reason for her assumption probably is that the alleged attack on him occurred in Moscow, not in Havana. However, he says that he doesn't know if he is one of the few cases that are still deemed to be suspicious.

It would be absurd to let those approximately 1,000 cases where attacks by a hostile enemy have been ruled out remain ignorant of their condition since it makes it more difficult for them to move on.

It is obvious that Polymeropoulos still thinks that he was attacked by a pulsed microwave or sonic weapon and would like to see Russia punished for it:

But make no mistake. We have to get this right, you know, when we find an adversary who did this - if there was an adversary - that's an act of war.

He compares the 'Havana Syndrome' investigation to hunting down Bin Laden:

Look, you have to remember, it took ten years to find Bin Laden. This investigation has gone on for only 7 months.

To me, it sounds much like the argument that we always hear from woos: 'But just like with Galilei or Semmelweis, the establishment just won't accept our truth, which is still only waiting for the recognition that it deserves.'
They tend to forget that those guys were actually on to something and had the data to prove it.

Marc Polymeropoulos seems to forget that the existence of Bin Laden and his weapons was no mystery. It was not a question of what but only of where. And the what of the 'Havana Syndrome' is obvious. The only thing that makes it seem to be mysterious is the attempt to obfuscate it.

 

[dann]

Danish translation of Robert Bartholomew's latest article: Den fare, som ‘Havana-syndromet’ rent faktisk udgør for samfundet (Skeptica.dk, Feb 5, 2022)

 

[dann]

Long article about the 'Havana Syndrome' in the light of the U.S. blockade against Cuba and the pandemic:

Part of Trump’s regime change strategy was breaking off diplomatic relations with Cuba, including the closure of the US embassy in Havana. The pretext for doing so initially seemed bizarre: when US embassy staff in Cuba became ill Trump blamed “energy beams”, presumably blasted by the Cuban government using a high tech weapon— a theory never aided by evidence or common sense.
The myth of Havana Syndrome was born, and soon became the catch-all explanation for any illness incurred by US embassy staff stationed around the world. Cuba, however, was the only government targeted by the US in this increasingly-bizarre story that the US media reported without criticism.
Though the narrative around Havana Syndrome never passed the smell test, it eventually became putrid enough that the CIA sought to clear the air, by recently half-admitting that Havana Syndrome was more farce than fact.
Biden vs Cuba After Havana Syndrome (CounterPunch, Feb 4, 2022)

 

[dann]

A very complicated way of frying somebody's brain. You basically fill somebody's room with small focused devices, turning it into a very large microwave oven: "It wouldn't have to be that much energy at the source if it is extremely guided, a very concentrated, focused beam, and again if you have multiple devices and they're focused on a specific spot."

I'm not hearing talk about this from engineers, but it is interesting enough a topic that I think we should - so please discuss!
Join Team FranLab!!!!
We Should Talk About "Havana Syndrome" (Fran Blance on YouTube, Feb 4, 2022)

Watch it for the hat!!!

 

[dann]

In a comparison with 'Havana Syndrome', an Australian columnist considers how the fear of catching Covid-19 and the lack of proper testing may play a role in the way that symptoms are interpreted:

In my case, I had been writing about Covid for two years and it had so completely taken over my psychic, physical (restrictions and lockdowns) and online landscapes, that when a real life situation (a wedding in a closed room with 75 people) occurred where it might be likely to catch it, I was probably psychosomatically primed to think I would get Covid.
(...)
This week, a report by a panel of expert scientists named pulsed electromagnetic energy and ultrasound as plausible causes for the mystery Havana syndrome symptoms but said that psychosocial factors could have worsened symptoms. Such factors could also explain other incidents which “could be due to hypervigilance and normal human reactions to stress and ambiguity, particularly among a workforce attuned to its surroundings and trained to think about security”.
Omicron felled me, but like the unheard tree in the forest I couldn’t prove it (The Guardian, Feb 3, 2022)

 

[dann]

New article by Robert Bartholomew:

The first victims worked in a small CIA unit in Havana and had been hearing mysterious sounds outside their homes in the evening. After several weeks passed, one of the officers experienced headache and ear pain and became convinced that they were the result of the mysterious sounds. Once word of the ‘attacks’ spread to his work colleagues and then the American and Canadian Embassies (which shared intelligence), diplomats at both embassies were hearing strange sounds and feeling unwell. Mass psychogenic illness is known to follow social networks. Outbreaks commonly begin in a small, cohesive unit and spreads outward, starting with people of higher status – exactly the situation in Cuba.
Time to close the book on ‘Havana Syndrome’ (Newsroom.co.nz, Feb 11, 2022)

 

[dann]

Havana syndrome has ‘dramatically hurt’ morale, US diplomats say

Rubin did not speculate over the cause, but said that the syndrome was having a potentially serious effect on US diplomacy.
“It is getting harder when we recruit people,” the AFSA president said. “I’ve had young members of the cohort that’s coming into the foreign service ask me: ‘If I do this, what am I getting into? And is this going to get worse? Is this going to get solved? If I get attacked and if I get injured, who’s gonna be there for me?’
(...)
Kenneth Dekleva, a former state department medical officer and psychiatrist who is leading an effort at UT Southwestern to coordinate research on Havana syndrome, said that psychogenic explanations for the spread of the symptoms were not convincing.
“Most diplomats – I would say 99% – want to be overseas, they want to serve their country with dignity and honor, and they want to be healthy,” Dekleva told the Guardian. “They don’t want to assume a patient role. And there’s no gain from it. The burden of illness and suffering is very real for the people. And I find that compelling.”
American Foreign Service Association chief Eric Rubin says syndrome, which remains a mystery, has affected recruitment (The Guardian, Feb 10, 2022)

I am a little surprised that not even a psychiatrist seems to understand what mass psychogenic illness is. That it is not about malingering. And that it is not an argument against MPI that "there's no gain from it." The diplomats (and others) don't get MPI because they hope to gain something. They get it because they fear getting something. And it is obvious who is stoking that fear. AFSA itself contributes to it.

 

[dann]

Some politicians are beginning to understand that the 'attacks' and 'directed energy weapons' were made up:

Sen. MARK WARNER (D-Va.) is “less convinced” that a foreign actor using a directed-energy weapon is responsible for so-called “Havana Syndrome” symptoms, the Senate Intelligence chair told NatSec Daily, casting further doubt on the theory once popular among some lawmakers.
(...)
Warner told us that a year ago his presumption was an adversary armed with a directed-energy weapon explained the health attacks. Based on current evidence — or, rather, the lack of it — the senator is no longer as sure.
We “see no evidence of any foreign state bragging about this or talking about this,” he said in an interview today. “We kept expecting to find more there and have not yet.”
“I think all of us who were following this have been surprised,” he continued, “but at the same time, even if we were surprised, you got to go where the facts lead.”
(...)
Warner is still open to the idea that another nation is deliberately targeting U.S. officials, trusts the seriousness of Burns’ investigative efforts and wants Americans to continue reporting their cases. But, he reiterated, “the lack of evidence has eroded my confidence” in the one-time leading theory, explicitly stating he’s “less convinced” of it now.
The intelligence community’s review continues, and it’s possible they find some information to reinvigorate Warner’s belief in the directed-energy explanation. The question now is if such evidence exists after all this time in search of it.
Sen. Warner 'less convinced' directed-energy attacks behind AHIs (Politico, Feb 7, 2022)

After all this time in search of it, it is obvious that no such evidence exists. It isn't possible.

 

[dann]

I don't remember having heard about this one before:

Forces News asked two leading academics what they think about the syndrome - first reported at the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba, in 2016.
Professor James Lin, an electrical engineering expert from the University of Illinois, said: "The diplomats in Havana, Cuba, were experiencing some intense sonic sensations, loud voices, and so forth.
"They were at a loss, in fact, they describe it as a mystery, because they could not find any causes that they could understand that is making this happen."
Could a directed energy attack be behind the mysterious Havana Syndrome? (Forces News, Feb 11, 2022)

Are Cuban Dirección de Inteligencia agents standing outside the embassy, yelling at the poor diplomats and CIA agents? Or did some kind of sonic interference make the Forces News journalist mishear the word noises?
Robert Bartholomew is the other expert who was asked to comment on the 'syndrome'.

 

[dann]

May US reopen Cuba Embassy because there never were any health attacks?

A year after announcing a review of U.S. policy towards Cuba, a top State Department official hinted the Biden administration was readying to move to increase visa processing in Havana. Assistant Secretary for the Western Hemisphere Brian Nichols told lawmakers during a Thursday hearing that the State Department was planning to beef up its personnel at the U.S. Embassy in the Cuban capital. “The president announced our intent to resume visa services, we’re working towards that, and we’ll be deploying temporary duty consular officers to Havana in the not too distant future and increasing processing there,” Nichols said.
Consular services in Havana to increase in ‘the not too distant future,’ U.S. diplomat says (Miami Herald, Feb 4, 2022)

 

[dann]

I don't remember having heard about this one before:

Forces News asked two leading academics what they think about the syndrome - first reported at the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba, in 2016.
Professor James Lin, an electrical engineering expert from the University of Illinois, said: "The diplomats in Havana, Cuba, were experiencing some intense sonic sensations, loud voices, and so forth.
"They were at a loss, in fact, they describe it as a mystery, because they could not find any causes that they could understand that is making this happen."
Could a directed energy attack be behind the mysterious Havana Syndrome? (Forces News, Feb 11, 2022)

Are Cuban Dirección de Inteligencia agents standing outside the embassy, yelling at the poor diplomats and CIA agents? Or did some kind of sonic interference make the Forces News journalist mishear the word noises?
Robert Bartholomew is the other expert who was asked to comment on the 'syndrome'.

Forces News has a YouTube video with Robert Bartholomew and James Lin about this. Lin mainly talks about the Frey effect. It does sound as if he says "loud voices", not
noises:

The origins of the mysterious Havana Syndrome, that has affected the health of US intelligence officers and diplomats, are under debate.
It has been reported that directed energy from a concealed device could be behind the illness as a form of an attack, but not everyone agrees.
What is Havana Syndrome? Illness or high tech weapon? (Feb 12, 2022)

 

[dann]

Did microwave weapons induce Havana syndrome? Here‘s what experts say - Flawed studies and politics fuelled the hypothesis, say experts (DownToEarth.org.in, Feb 14, 2022)

The site lives up to its name!

 

[dann]

Podcast:

On this edition of Parallax Views, Dr. Mitchell Joseph Valdés-Sosa, the director of the Cuban Neuroscience Center, joins Parallax Views to discuss the 60-year embargo by the U.S. against Cuba, the story of Cuba's response to the pandemic and development of the Cuban Abdala and Soberana 02, and pushing back against conspiracy theories about the "Havana Syndrome".
(...)
And finally, Dr. Valdés-Sosa addresses the question of "Havana Syndrome" both scientifically and politically. He explains why the claims that "Havana Syndrome" is caused by exotic weapons, particularly microwave or sonic weapons, should be ruled out. In this part of our conversation, we discuss the Fray effect as well as the ways in which Cuba is misunderstood by the U.S. at numerous different levels. Dr. Valdés-Sosa expresses the belief that U.S.-Cuba relations has been hijacked by reactionary factions but expresses hope in light of the solidarity ordinary people and organizations have had with Cuba during the pandemic.
Cuba: The 60 Year Embargo, the Pandemic Response, & Havana Syndrome w/ Dr. Mitchell Valdés Sosa (Parallax Views, Feb 12, 2022)

The whole interview with Mitchell Joseph Valdés-Sosa (from 2:20 to 40:06) is interesting, but the part of the interview specifically about the 'Havana Syndrome' is from 22:00 to 34:00.

 

[dann]

What Is Havana Syndrome, Really? - Havana Syndrome's mystery may lie in how we treat conditions of the mind (Inverse, Feb 14, 2022)

Good article, based mainly on an interview with Robert Bartholomew.

 

[dann]

'Havana Syndrome' - at the opposite end of the 'spectrum'

For some reason, most engineers writing about the alleged microwave weapons used in the alleged attacks never seem to wonder about the kind of sounds generated by the Frey effect or about how it is possible to record them on a cell phone - where they, for some even more mysterious reason than the 'syndrome' itself, somehow manage to sound just like lovelorn crickets. It also doesn't seem to make them wonder why the other symptoms sound just like the symptoms of mass psychogenic illness:

Pulses of microwaves in these frequencies can cause people to hear sounds, which is one of the symptoms reported by the affected U.S. personnel. Other symptoms Havana syndrome sufferers have reported include headaches, nausea, hearing loss, lightheadedness and cognitive issues.
Experts Believe US Embassies Were Hit With High-Power Microwaves – Here’s How the Weapons Work (SciTech Daily, Feb 12, 2022)

I recommend the article for its photos of a "U.S. Air Force microwave weapon," a "high-power microwave generator built in the Soviet Union," and a YouTube video about "the U.S. Air Force’s high-power microwave anti-drone weapon THOR."

 

[dann]

Who can turn down an investment opportunity like this?
I can!

NervGen Pharma Corp (CVE:NGEN, OTCMKTS:NGENF) CEO Paul Brennan
NervGen is developing a new class of “neuroreparative” drugs that enable the nervous system to repair itself. The company’s lead product, NVG-291, is the only drug of its kind. It is a clinical-stage candidate that treats not only spinal cord injury with the restoration of gait but also multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s dementia, stroke, Havana syndrome, and Parkinson’s disease.
WHAT 7.5% CPI INFLATION RATE MEANS TO MARKETS? | MIDAS LETTER RAW FT $POND $NGEN $MYNZ (Midas Letter - The Digital Business Channel or Early Stage Investors, Feb 11, 2022)

I don't know if this is the same Paul Brennan. Is it possible that he's legit?!
Scammer is just a first-class fool, says victim (Chronicle Live, Nov 29, 2008)
Klein v. Brennan (Casetext, April 16, 2021)