Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

Operations at the U.S. embassy in Havana were severely curtailed beginning in 2017 after the emergence of unexplained health problems among some employees.
Cases of what became known as “Havana Syndrome” became a major issue during the Trump administration, which rolled back the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba that had been initiated by former President Barack Obama.
Fernandez de Cossio said the Trump administration curtailed visas as part of its “maximum pressure” against Cuba, contributing to the irregular migration occurring now and he welcomed the Biden administration’s commitment to restore visa operations.
“It needs to be done so that people in Cuba can find that there’s a legal normal way to migrate to the United States, which has been lacking since 2017,” he said.
Cuba and US take tentative step with talks on migration (AP, April 23, 2022)

Fernandez de Cossio is Cuba's deputy foreign minister.
'Havana Syndrome' is not mentioned as a theme of the talks, so I guess that the State Department is aware that it isn't caused by any kind of attack.

 

[dann]

New book by Bradley J. Roth:

Electricity and Magnetism (E&M) underlies many lifesaving medical devices, such as magnetic resonance imaging scanners, neural stimulators, and heart pacemakers. But E&M also attracts its share of bogus health claims, such as biomagnetic therapy. How do you separate the good from the bad? Sometimes it’s not easy: experiments are prone to artifacts, theories are limited by assumptions, and clinical trials can result in ambiguities. In this book, the author separates the wheat from the chaff, showing which applications of E&M are bogus and which are not. This book takes the reader on a tour through a range of fascinating phenomena, from effects that are constant in time at one extreme, such as transcranial direct current stimulation of the brain, to the millimeter-wave whole-body scanners which are familiar to frequent flyers at the other. Along the way, the author looks in depth at the dispute about power line magnetic fields and leukemia, a case study in what can go wrong when dubious claims inflame unjustified fears. The debate about cell phones and brain cancer still rages today, particularly for the microwave frequencies encountered with new 5G technology. Recently, the so-called Havana Syndrome has been attributed to microwave weapons, but the underlying biophysics of such weapons is unclear. For all these encounters with electricity and magnetism, the author, an eminent biophysicist, uses science and evidence to sort out fact from fantasy. This book is aimed at general readers who want to make sense of the mysterious and often controversial ways in which E&M interacts with the human body. It is also ideal for students and professionals in bioscience and health-related fields who want to learn more without getting overwhelmed by theory.
Are Electromagnetic Fields Making Me Ill? How Electricity and Magnetism Affect Our Health (Amazon)

Chapter 8, Did Cuba Attack America with Microwaves?, is about the 'Havana Syndrome':

In 2016, staff in the US and Canadian embassies in Havana, Cuba reported medical symptoms including ringing in the ears, fatigue, and dizziness. The condition suffered by these officials is now known as the Havana syndrome. A report by the National Academies concluded that an attack by directed microwave weapons is the most likely cause of the Havana syndrome. Victims reported hearing sounds when their symptoms began, and microwave pulses can cause the perception of sound via the Frey effect. However, a report by the government advisory group JASON determined that the sounds heard by the victims are associated with crickets. Another possible cause of the Havana syndrome is mass psychogenic illness. The cause of this syndrome has not been definitively determined, but the physics of how electromagnetic radiation interacts with tissue does not support the hypothesis that Cuba attacked American with microwaves.
Chapter 8, p. 95-103: Did Cuba Attack America with Microwaves? (Springer, April 22, 2022)

Google Books

 

[dann]

Upcoming book by Adrienne Mayor, Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Unconventional Warfare in the Ancient World (July 26, 2022), mentions 'Havana Syndrome', but it is not clear if it is mentioned as an example of actual warfare against U.S. diplomats and spies, or as the U.S. PSYOP against Cuba, taking advantage of a case of mass hysteria, that it actually was. Probably the former.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

New book by Bradley J. Roth:



Chapter 8, Did Cuba Attack America with Microwaves?, is about the 'Havana Syndrome':



Google Books

First, it looks at first glance to be nonsense. But the kicker is walls of text, a sure sign of someone lacking literary skills.

 

[dann]

I don't think it is nonsense. The "walls of text" in post 1482 are an editorial review "From the Back Cover" and a summary of the chapter about the 'Havana Syndrome'. I bet it looks different on the actual back cover, and it does look different in the actual book, which I look forward to reading.
I don't know about his literary skills, but his skills as a biophysicist seem to be legit! (I write "seem to" because I have no idea if what's on that blackboard makes any kind of sense, but I bet it does!)

This is Bradley J. Roth's GoodReads review of Richard Baloh and Richard Bartholomew's book about the 'Havana Syndrome'.

 

[dann]

'Havana Syndrome', the self-inflicted wound of the USA

... while blaming invisible enemies with imaginary weapons:

Then last fall, the mystery of Havana syndrome landed in Dr. Celnik’s lap when the State Department started referring ill employees to the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins, which he heads. Since then, he and his colleagues have treated about three dozen of them. There is no question, Dr. Celnik said, that those patients are ill, but whether their problems are rooted in the same malady is by no means clear. “If you ask me, there may not be a single cause for them,” he remarked.
(...)
But the problem is that six years after the attacks in Cuba, no one knows for sure just what Havana syndrome is or which of the many puzzling health issues attributed to it merit compensation. And both researchers who have examined Havana-syndrome patients and lawyers representing them say they can’t imagine how the White House will decide who is sick and who isn’t.
“The U.S. government is about to compensate dozens, if not hundreds, of people for injuries for which there is no uniform medical or scientific information,” said Timothy Bergreen, a lawyer in Washington, D.C., who is advising a group of Havana-syndrome victims.
(...)
In recent weeks, the number of new government patients coming to Johns Hopkins has slowed, a trend that Celnik sees as a hopeful sign. But he admits that after six months of studying those with symptoms associated with Havana syndrome, he is not much closer to figuring out just what the phenomenon is or why his patients became ill.
Havana Syndrome’s Newest Mystery: Who Gets Paid? By Barry Meier (N.Y.Mag, April 29, 2022)

As the title makes clear, the article is mainly about the battle for compensations.

 

[dann]

Havana Syndrome, online meeting, King’s Events, on Tuesday, May 10, 2022:

Title: Havana Syndrome
Presenter: Professor Jon Stone, Consultant Neurologist and Honorary Professor of Neurology, University of Edinburgh
Click here to join the meeting
Havana Syndrome (King's College London, 10 May 2022, 13:00 to 14:00

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Havana Syndrome, online meeting, King’s Events, on Tuesday, May 10, 2022:

It took a bit'o Googling to find out what approach this pig in the poke meeting is taking. (No details. Just sign up.) But buried deep in this Slate article (https://slate.com/technology/2022/0...-weapon-functional-neurological-disorder.html ) is:

“If you say to someone, ‘The reason you can’t move your leg is basically a software problem in your brain, rather than a hardware problem,’ it enables you to say to the patient, ‘Look, we can try and retrain your brain with physical therapy or retrain your brain with psychological therapy to try and get this software changed,’ ” says Jon Stone, a consultant neurologist for Britain’s National Health Service and honorary professor of neurology in Edinburgh. At the same time, patients also need to address the risk factors like anxiety, depression, and life stress. “It’s really combination of the physical and psychologic factors that need to be addressed for people to get better,” LaFaver says, “FND lives on that borderland between neurology and psychiatry.”

So, it sounds like "It's all in the head," approach.

 

[dann]

I think most unbiased neurologists see it this way. The experts who jump on the bandwagon of 'Havana Syndrome attacks' are often people like Sabine Hossefelder who have no real relevant expertise but imagine that something like 'Havana Syndrome' could somehow be caused by microwaves even though what has actually been done (the Frey effect, for instance) is a far cry from what the alleged victims of the alleged attacks describe.

That's why I look forward to reading biophysicist Bradley J. Roth's book. I noticed that it is cheap to rent the Kindle version for a month.

 

[dann]

Apparently, Jon Stone doesn't like the word psychogenic:

Stone is an accomplished neurologist, but his views on mass psychogenic illness are extreme. He told The New York Times Magazine that he is opposed to the term in part because of the public perception that it creates – that the symptoms are purely psychological. “I wince when I hear the word ‘psychogenic,’” as it generates “a false impression about what these disorders are,” suggesting that it is ‘all in their heads.’ “The term ‘mass hysteria’ is just ridiculous and insulting,” he said. He believes that presenting the Cuban outbreaks as ‘mass hysteria’ is unlikely to persuade the public at-large, whereas presenting the problem as everyday symptoms and illnesses which are common in the general population, is more helpful. This position fails to adequately address the social and cultural context and framing of the Havana illness through rumors, social networks, work channels, and media reports, and the powerful role of the nocebo effect. See Hurley D. The diplomat’s disorder. The New York Times Magazine. 19 May 2019, p. 40–5, 71.
Canadian Contagion (pp 43–57 in Baloh & Bartholomew's book, Springer link)

I don't think that the two approaches described above are in any way mutually exclusive. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.

 

[dann]

US issues visas in Cuba for first time in more than four years (AlJazeera, April 3, 2022)

 

[dann]

New opening or ...?

Washington has resumed talks with Havana on migration, but will domestic politics prevent the president from moving forward on other issues?
(...)
The U.S. Embassy’s consular section was closed in 2017 when the State Department withdrew most of the embassy’s staff after two dozen U.S. personnel in Havana experienced unexplained symptoms that were dubbed “The Havana Syndrome.” Even though similar Anomalous Health Incidents were subsequently detected in half a dozen other countries — including the United States itself — the embassy in Havana was not re-staffed and the consular section remained closed. To apply for a visa to enter the United States, Cubans had to travel to a U.S. embassy in a third country. Legal migration of Cubans to the United States fell by 90 percent.
Irregular migration surged, as it has before when the Cuban economy is ailing. The twin blows of U.S. economic sanctions — especially restrictions on remittances — and the COVID pandemic that decimated the tourist industry have crippled Cuba’s capacity to import basic goods like food, fuel, and medicine. As living standards have fallen, the number of Cubans trying to reach the United States has risen rapidly.
Biden finally cracks the door open to Cuba (On Cuba News, May 4, 2022)

 

[dann]

Bartholomew summarizes the Havana Syndrome situation as follows: “Humans have a remarkable capacity for self-deception.”

If you are on the fence regarding Havana Syndrome or if you are confident that it is due to attacks made around the world by unknown nefarious parties using unknown weapons, I urge you to watch the entire interview to get the details of the side of the story you do not get from the news. The PhACT video is available here. Better yet, read Bartholomew’s book. If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what can.

And if you happen to have CIA Director Burns, or anyone else involved with this fiasco, in your contact list, please, please, please forward this article to them. Yes, John Bolton, there is another hypothesis! And it is the only one that makes any sense at all.
Havana Syndrome: PhACT or Fiction? (Skeptical Inquirer, April 18, 2022)

The PhACT video mentioned in the quotation is this almost two-hour-long YouTube video from March 19, 2022, an interview with Robert Bartholomew, 1:48:05:
HAVANA SYNDROME - Tilting at Windmills? (The Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking)

 

[dann]

A very short news parody (1:28 min) from The Late Show.

A leaked Supreme Court draft opinion published by Politico appearing to indicate the majority of the Supreme Court will overturn the landmark "Roe v. Wade" decision.
This will put pressure on Susan Collins on this very set, saying she did not believe justice Brett Kavanaugh would overturn "Roe versus Wade".

Collins: I do not believe that Brett Kavanaugh will overturn ...
- You have obviously full confidence.
Collins: I do.

And now, other things that Susan Collins believes:
- Hot dogs are made with only the finest ingredients.
Collins: I do believe.
- Her childhood dog chummy is fine and living on a farm upstate.
Collins: Absolutely.
- Charlie Manson will be remembered more for his music than anything else.
Collins: Yes.
- That guy calling and asking for her social security number is really from the IRS.
Collins: Hello, this is Susan Collins.
-Your boyfriend doesn't need to wear a condom. He practices Japanese muscle control.
Collins: He was absolutely emphatic about that.
- And Susan Collins will believe any lie, no matter how obvious.
Collins: I'm Susan Collins, and I approved this message.
Sen. Susan Collins Will Believe Anything (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on YouTube, May 4, 2022)

But why did they leave out this one?
Collins: Havana Syndrome is likely caused by a directed energy attack.
Susan Collins 'surprised' by CIA ruling out U.S. foes in 'Havana Syndrome' cases
Riiiight! The Late Show and 60 Minutes are both on CBS!

 

[dann]

When I posted the link in post 1493 to the very long interview with Robert Bartholomew from PhACT yesterday, I had not yet seen the video, i.e. listened to the interview. Now I have, and I can recommend it for two reasons, in particular:
1) It is longer and thus has more details than the many previous interviews with Bartholomew.
2) The interviewer, Rob Palmer, 'The Well-Known Skeptic' from Skeptical Inquirer, is well-versed in the whole story of the 'syndrome'.
Bartholomew and Baloh's book (March 2020) is mentioned and recommended several times, but the interview speaks for itself, and in many ways it completes the book, bringing it up to date with recent developments: The NAS study, the CIA interim report etc.

A short excerpt about the way the 'syndrome' was spread at the beginning of the outbreak:
1:40:38-1:42:04:

And the other thing is - that's very conspicuous with what happened in Cuba because that's the central case with the starting - it follows social networks!
How come it wasn't reported by Cubans, by cleaners, by other people? Why was it just American and Canadian diplomats and their families? And by the way, the Canadians - people say, 'Well, how the Canadians? How did they know?' The Americans were sharing information. We know this from documents. The Americans were sharing information with the Canadians.

The other thing that's out there that people keep saying is, 'Oh, early on, some of the patients didn't know that other patients were getting, uh, getting ill.' That is absolutely not true based on the people that we talked to at the embassy.

And, in fact, one person at the embassy contacted me - was at the embassy at the time and, I think it was Dr. Michael Hoffer, involved in the University of Miami study, had said that, 'Oh, some of these people didn't know that other people had these symptoms.' And they explicitly said, 'Look I wasn't going to contact anybody, but I'm so upset by that statement. Everybody knew. It spread like wildfire. There wasn't a secret. You know, this was potentially affecting everyone's health, and their children. We shared it even though we weren't supposed to, and just everybody knew.'
HAVANA SYNDROME - Tilting at Windmills? (The Philadelphia Association for Critical Thinking on YouTube, March 19, 2022)

If anybody in Philly has the time, the very long interview could be improved by breaking it up into chapters.

 

[dann]

A brand new interview, 1:25:20:
Medical Sociologist Robert Bartholomew ~ The Truth About Havana Syndrome & Mass Psychogenic Illness (502 Conversations on YouTube, April 30, 2022)

 

[dann]

How to get away with murder (in fiction). Blame it on the 'syndrome'.

I have never watched an episode of Law & Order, but it is interesting that an alleged victim of the 'Havana Syndrome' is the one who beats this apparently otherwise unbeatable Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price. "Severance", overall: #464, # season: #8, original air date: May 5, 2022 (Wikipedia)

When the CFO of a Fortune 500 company is found strangled in her home, Bernard and Cosgrove work to connect multiple dead ends to find her killer. The prosecution is faced with an uphill battle as McCoy and Price butt heads over a choice that could cost them the case.
Severance Season 21, Episode 8 Episode Summary (TV Regular, May 5, 2022)

I'm shocked, you all!
Nolan Price finally lost a case.
Law & Order Season 21 Episode 8 took on the important issue of when mental illness is a valid defense for murder, but first, let's take a minute to absorb Nolan's first loss.
(...)
The sad thing is that Price should have won this one. There was zero scientific evidence that Havana Syndrome causes violent outbursts, and he proved that in each of his cross-examinations.
(...)
The central question, of course, was whether Havana Syndrome could cause someone to commit murder.
(...)
In this case, though, Price turned that trope on its head by suggesting that Baker was using his mental health condition as an excuse when there was no scientific evidence that Havana Syndrome caused anything like what Baker claimed it did.
(...)
Maybe if he'd hammered home the fact that Baker had changed his story and that his migraines and sudden diagnosis of Havana Syndrome were awfully convenient, it might have helped.
Law & Order Season 21 Episode 8 Review: Severance (TV Fanatic, May 5, 2022)

Baker: I never wanted to hurt her! It wasn't me. It was the symptoms.
Price: The symptoms? The symptoms that no one else who has this syndrome has and that you never sought medical treatment for?
Law & Order Season 21 Episode 8: "Severance" Quotes (TV Fanatic, May 5, 2022)

Price accuses Baker of wanting to confront Alexis. He insists it was the syndrome and breaks down on the stand crying that the government lied to him and that he didn't mean to do this and doesn't know what to do.
Severance: Recap (TV Fanatic, May 5, 2022)

Nolan Price should have brought in an expert to explain why there is no actual syndrome. But maybe it's the one thing that can't be questioned in a piece of fiction on mainstream TV.
Can a story like this continue in the next episode of Law & Order?

 

[dann]

I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. A parody? Or did somebody let Marjorie Taylor Greene back on the internet?

Several reports in circulation identify The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as culprit of the Havana Syndrome cases
Israel caused the Havana Syndrome cases (The Daily Kos, May 8, 2022)

The link shows me this text:
"Access Denied! (403)
You do not have permission to access this page. You may want to check that you've signed in."

 

[dann]

The long interview with Robert Bartholomew by 502 Conversations on YouTube mentioned in post 1496, much like the even longer interview by PhACT on YouTube mentioned in post 1493, is excellent. The length of the interviews gives Bartholomew enough time to mention all the most important points of the story, not least the bias of the investigation: that no brain damage has been documented, no hearing loss, how reports were kept secret, how anybody open to MPI as an explanation were removed from panels and investigations, the lack of journalistic integrity in programs like 60 Minutes, how it all began in the U.S. diplomat and spy community in Havana and how the recordings of the 'sonic attacks' don't document the Frey effect.

My only recommendation to future interviewers and the interviewee himself would be to make better use of the visual options that YouTube gives you. As it is, they are merely videotaped podcasts. Why not show the many photos of MRI brain scans that have been circulating when you explain how brain anomalies are not a sign of brain damage? Footage of the diplomats/spies playing their recordings of crickets would also be great - in particular for people who haven't already heard the sound.

 

[dann]

Data for Diplomacy Award for helping the State Department analyze AHI data

The State Department is giving out a first of its kind award to employees using data analytics to improve diplomacy. The agency's Enterprise Data Council is giving its Data for Diplomacy Award out to five winners and making 15 honorable mentions. The agency plans to give more awards out every spring to recognize progress made under its enterprise data strategy. Some of the winning projects helped the agency analyze data related to COVID-19, abnormal health incidents better known as Havana Syndrome, and track the travel of tens of thousands of refugees.
Two agencies are teaming up in the name of environmental justice (Federal New Network, May 6, 2022)

Individual Award: This award honors the top individual nominee who has made major strides in leveraging data as a strategic asset in support of the Department’s mission. This year, the category resulted in a tie, in no particular order:

Dr. Molini Patel of the Bureau of Medical Services (MED) received this award in recognition of her expertise and leadership in managing data related to COVID-19, ZephAir, and Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI) to inform policy decisions within the Department of State and the interagency. The data management programs created by Dr. Patel greatly assisted the Department’s COVID-19 response by making vaccination distribution plans and medical evacuations and planning more predictive and efficient. Dr. Patel has completely revolutionized MED’s ability to gather data and mold it into products that are easily understood and used by policy makers both within the Bureau and the Department at large.
On the Recognition of the State Department’s Inaugural Data for Diplomacy Award Winners (U.S. Department of State, May 5, 2022)

It would have been interesting to hear what exactly Dr. Molini Patel's data management program helped the State Department discover about Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI), but it's probably too top secret to disclose.