Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

Since 2017, the United States has been in violation of the 1994 migration accord the Clinton administration signed with Cuba to halt the last migration crisis. In that agreement, the United States pledged to provide at least 20,000 immigrant visas to Cubans annually and to hold periodic migration consultations — talks that were held semi-annually until 2018 when the Trump administration cut them off.
Trump also failed to comply with the U.S. obligation to admit 20,000 Cuban immigrants annually. 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.
Biden finally cracks the door open to Cuba (Responsible Statecraft, April 28, 2022)

“Cuba is a domestic issue for the United States, not a foreign policy issue.”

 

[dann]

Mainly about the presentation of the 'Havana Syndrome' by CBS 60 Minutes:

Imagine this: You work for the Vice President of the United States as Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor. One day, as you’re walking down stairs near the White House, you feel as if you are “physically struck by a piercing pain” on the right side of your head. Despite your high-ranking status, you do nothing. A year later, you have two similar dizzy/vertigo episodes, feeling like you’re “just gonna fall right into the ground.” Now what do you do? Report these incidents to your security people? Get a medical check up? Or…wait for it…years later, go on the once-venerable CBS news magazine 60 Minutes to be interviewed for a segment on the so-called “Havana Syndrome”?

This, in a nutshell, is Olivia Troye’s tale; the quotes above are from her interview. Her story sounds familiar to me, and probably to any of the estimated one in three people over 40 who have suffered from vestibular dysfunction, that is, when your body suddenly, without warning, loses its sense of balance. It’s usually attributed to a temporary inner ear problem.
GROWING OLD UNGRACEFULLY: Havana Syndrome(s) (Lost Coast Outpost, March 20, 2022)

 

[dann]

The Same Effect That a Full Moon Has on a Werewolf

The bizarre true story of Havana syndrome: covert sonic warfare or a case of mass hysteria? (The Telegraph, April 15, 2022)
Paywalled. I haven't read it.

Not paywalled for me in Canada for some reason. A pretty good article and summary. Gives both sides but comes down on the somewhat firmly on the Mass Psychogenic Illness explanation.

There is now an "an edited extract of a story that first appeared in the Telegraph Magazine (London)":
For your ears only: What’s really behind Havana syndrome (Quick Info, May 27, 2022).
'Quick Info' may be exaggerated. The article is long, and for many probably tl;dr, but it is very interesting, not least because it mentions the details and names of many of the people whose stories we may have heard before:

As code names go, Patient Zero wouldn’t be the first choice of many secret agents. But it’s one that a CIA officer then based in Cuba has been saddled with since December 30, 2016, when he walked into the US embassy’s Havana health centre. There he told a nurse about peculiar and disturbing sensations of sound and pressure he had endured at his home in the city, leading to dizziness and headaches. In his compelling later account, he said it felt as though a powerful, high-pitched sonic beam had been aimed directly at him.
Patient Zero, later described as a fit-looking man in his 30s and an experienced spy, was sent to Miami for tests in early 2017, which diagnosed a roster of medical issues, including hearing loss. After his return to Cuba, Patient Zero approached a friendly colleague, revealed his harrowing ordeal and said he would soon be leaving Cuba. Before he did so, though, he played his friend a recording of the sound he said had tormented him.
The colleague – a fellow CIA officer working undercover at the embassy – was dumbstruck. The humming, buzzing noise seemed eerily similar to one that had disturbed him a few months earlier outside the Spanish-style home he shared with his family in Havana.
(...)
Fulton Armstrong, a former CIA man then working in Havana, remembers Patient Zero’s own zealous campaign: “He was lobbying, if not coercing, people to report symptoms and connect the dots,” Armstrong has said. The concerned officer went to the embassy’s chief of mission, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, who called a general meeting in the Havana embassy. “If you have any doubts about anything,” DeLaurentis urged the gathered staff, “step forward and we’ll have you evaluated.”
(...)
The Journal of the American Medical Association paper would prove endlessly controversial. Seeing one of the world’s most respected medical journals give apparent credibility to the notion of some sort of energy attack, 15 eminent neuroscientists and physicists published an open letter that decried the work as “deeply flawed”, and urged “qualified people” to “evaluate evidence without political pressure to draw poorly founded conclusions”.
(...)
O’Sullivan suggests that five years down the line, a blinkered sense of pride and stubbornness means that none of the victims, officials and Pentagon-connected doctors will ever entertain the possibility that Havana syndrome might be of psychogenic origin.
(...)
Professor Giordano is confident that the proof [that the 'syndrome' was inflicted by a “directed energy” weapon] is out there. But for now it is difficult to see past the words of Wayne Smith, a former head of the US Interests Section in Havana. “Cuba seems to have the same effect on American administrations that a full moon has on a werewolf,” he said many years ago. “We may not sprout hair and howl, but we behave in the same way.”

 

[dann]

Rob Palmer, 'The Well-Known Skeptic', reviews the book by Robert Baloh and Robert Bartholomew:

Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria. By Robert W. Baloh and Robert E. Bartholomew. Springer International Publishing, 2020. ISBN 9783030407452.

Why am I reviewing a book published two years ago? Because it was largely ignored by reviewers in 2020. Now, with claims in the news such as “no one is safe even at the White House,” it is more important than ever to educate yourself on this subject, and this book is a great way to do that.
Havana Syndrome: A Book Review (Skeptical Inquirer, May 19, 2022)

Rob Palmer's review is great, but I disagree with him when he writes:

As a skeptic, I feel obligated to admit that Baloh and Bartholomew could well be wrong. It is not absolutely impossible that eventually a highly advanced weapon or weapons (breaking the laws of physics as we currently understand them) will come to light that can actually cause all of the unrelated symptoms termed Havana Syndrome. It is also not absolutely impossible that a team or teams of agents from foreign adversaries have used such weapons and flawlessly coordinated their attacks on U.S. (and sometimes Canadian) officials (plus some family members), sparing any collateral damage to other civilians nearby, all over the world, for five years without an obvious goal and without ever leaving any evidence the CIA can find.

As mentioned several times before in this thread, it is actually absolutely impossible that a highly advanced weapon or weapons (...) will come to light that can actually cause all of the unrelated symptoms termed Havana Syndrome. The idea is based on 1) recordings of sound that turned out to be recordings of crickets and 2) the so-called Frey effect, i.e. that microwaves can create micro bubbles inside the cranium that are perceived as sound.

However, that this Frey effect can be recorded on people's cellphones or other recording devices actually does break "the laws of physics as we currently understand them." And it also goes against the laws of physics that several people in a hotel suite could have been targeted, unless the hotel suite had been built and equipped in advance particularly for this purpose with several pulsed microwave energy guns targeting the brains of individual victims in each room. Remember Robyn Garfield's story:

Garfield told 60 Minutes that his family was attacked over many months at their home in China in 2018.
After they were medically evacuated from China, they enrolled in a State Department treatment program at the University of Pennsylvania. Garfield said that, while staying in a Philadelphia hotel, his family was targeted again.
During those incidents, Garfield told 60 Minutes, he believes his family was not only targeted by a weapon, but someone hit specifically at his children in their beds.
(...)
He recalled leaning down to pick up his daughter from her bed, where he heard a distinct noise next to her head that sounded like rushing water. The same thing occurred when he bent down to retrieve his son.
The youngest victims of "Havana Syndrome" (CBS 60 Minutes, Feb 20, 2022)

I understand the necessity of taking all eventualities into consideration, but in that case, I will insist that my old tongue-in-cheek 'possibility', Alien Attack? Mass Hysteria? Conspiracy?, also does not break "the laws of physics as we currently understand them" and should thus be taken seriously.

 

[dann]

It occurs to me that I may owe Rob Palmer, 'The Well-Known Skeptic', an apology.
He may actually have implied the possibility of an alien attack when he writes:

It is not absolutely impossible that eventually a highly advanced weapon or weapons (breaking the laws of physics as we currently understand them) will come to light that can actually cause all of the unrelated symptoms termed Havana Syndrome.Havana Syndrome: A Book Review (Skeptical Inquirer, May 19, 2022)

And he definitely implies that the story of the 'Havana Syndrome' breaks "the laws of physics as we currently understand them".
I couldn't agree more! And I'm sure that he knows more of those laws than I do.

 

[Orphia Nay]

No, I don't think that we will see that since multiple chemical sensitivity seems to very similar to mass psychogenic illness

But that's exactly what I said.

Havana Syndrome IS MPI, as is MCS.

 

[dann]

You leave out the rest of my post:

No, I don't think that we will see that since multiple chemical sensitivity seems to very similar to mass psychogenic illness:

- Affected individuals perceive odours as a threat to their health. When they detect odours, they experience acute stress symptoms that manifest as ailments that they attribute to the chemical products associated with these odours.
- This cascade of reactions triggers and perpetuates biological changes in the normal functioning of the individuals’ immune, endocrine, and nervous systems.
Multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome, an integrative approach to identifying the pathophysiological mechanisms (Institute National de Santé Publique de Quebec, June 2021)

The difference seems to be that some people may exhibit the symptoms of multiple chemical sensitivity on their own: unusual smell --> symptoms.
It will be (or develop into) mass psychogenic illness if other people see or hear about others having those symptoms and then come down with them, too:

When you think about the process that we believe underlies the onset of psychogenic illness, it is a sense of threat. The most common trigger for psychogenic illness is perceived detection of a noxious odor. An odor is perceived. People think, What is it? Is this dangerous? They may start getting anxious. Those anxiety symptoms may include nausea and faintness due to hyperventilation.
We’re always attributing what we’re feeling to something. We feel sick and think, Oh, I wonder if the food was bad. This is not an atypical process; it’s about the attribution that gets made. So people notice something unusual, they label the event as threatening, [the media reports it widely], that increases anxiety, which increases physical symptoms, which then are attributed to the threat. It becomes a rapidly spiraling mind/body process.
The Le Roy Teen Mystery: How to Treat Mass Psychogenic Illness (Healthland Time, Feb 6, 2012)

Remember that the first cases in Havana did "experience acute stress symptoms that manifest(ed) as ailments," but they did not attribute their symptoms to any "chemical products associated with" odours. Instead, the sound of lovelorn crickets was the trigger. A kind of 'sound sensitivity syndrome' actually exists, but I never heard it mentioned in the context of the 'Havana Syndrome': Misophonia (Wikipedia).

I know from experience as a high-school teacher that the sound of nails scratching a blackboard can make teenagers feel nauseous. The one time I had a cricket in the classroom, it didn't seem to bother them much, but I am pretty sure that it was neither an Indies short-tailed cricket nor a Jamaican field cricket.
I don't think that the spies and diplomats in Havana suffered from misophonia. It was the particular context that made them interpret the sound of crickets as an attack, the scary stories they told each other about unpleasant experiences attributed to Cuban counterintelligence agents.

Remember the origin story of the 'syndrome': These people heard sounds and then assumed that they were the victims of a sonic attack. That was the trigger. And even after it was revealed that the sounds were from lovelorn crickets, they still go on TV and play their recordings of those crickets as proof that they were attacked. That's how important this trigger is to them even though they have been told by neurologists and otolaryngologists that those sounds are nothing to worry about: They can't hurt your hearing and they can't damage your brain!

They didn't latch on the Canadian study that thought that insecticides, i.e. chemicals, were the cause of their symptoms even though that theory had much more going for it. At least, it didn't go against the laws of nature.

That chemical explanation was also dismissed by the American experts who have been trying to convince them that they were right about being under attack, but that the sound they heard was the Frey effect from when their brains were being microwaved.

The case that you refer to, "Dr. Rea’s controversial diagnoses and treatments," seems to be closer to what Andrew Wakefield did when he blamed autism on vacciness: a medical doctor who comes up with a fake cause and a fake syndrome, which doesn't quite fit the definition of mass psychogenic illness.

As it is, nobody is interested in comparing 'Havana Syndrome' with "Multiple Chemical Sensitivity". The 'syndrome' sufferers (and their lawyers) aren't because they want to believe that a sound was the sign that they were the victims of an attack. And politicians (with a few, not very loud, exceptions) and the experts responsible for the reports (except for the classified reports that were only grudgingly made public) have staked their reputations as scientists on the same idea, guys like David Relman and James Giordano. They are all adamant that psychology has nothing to do with the syndrome - to the extent that people got laid off if they didn't dismiss the idea.

 

[Orphia Nay]

You leave out the rest of my post:




Remember the origin story of the 'syndrome': These people heard sounds and then assumed that they were the victims of a sonic attack. That was the trigger. And even after it was revealed that the sounds were from lovelorn crickets, they still go on TV and play their recordings of those crickets as proof that they were attacked. That's how important this trigger is to them even though they have been told by neurologists and otolaryngologists that those sounds are nothing to worry about: They can't hurt your hearing and they can't damage your brain!

They didn't latch on the Canadian study that thought that insecticides, i.e. chemicals, were the cause of their symptoms even though that theory had much more going for it. At least, it didn't go against the laws of nature.

That chemical explanation was also dismissed by the American experts who have been trying to convince them that they were right about being under attack, but that the sound they heard was the Frey effect from when their brains were being microwaved.

The case that you refer to, "Dr. Rea’s controversial diagnoses and treatments," seems to be closer to what Andrew Wakefield did when he blamed autism on vacciness: a medical doctor who comes up with a fake cause and a fake syndrome, which doesn't quite fit the definition of mass psychogenic illness.

As it is, nobody is interested in comparing 'Havana Syndrome' with "Multiple Chemical Sensitivity". The 'syndrome' sufferers (and their lawyers) aren't because they want to believe that a sound was the sign that they were the victims of an attack. And politicians (with a few, not very loud, exceptions) and the experts responsible for the reports (except for the classified reports that were only grudgingly made public) have staked their reputations as scientists on the same idea, guys like David Relman and James Giordano. They are all adamant that psychology has nothing to do with the syndrome - to the extent that people got laid off if they didn't dismiss the idea.

What about Baloh and Bartholomew? I wonder, is MCS one of the thousands of MPIs they have examples of?

 

[dann]

They mention Leroy Central, which I have also mentioned several times since the beginning of the thread, but remember what I wrote about the difference between MCS and MPI:

No, I don't think that we will see that since multiple chemical sensitivity seems to very similar to mass psychogenic illness:

The difference seems to be that some people may exhibit the symptoms of multiple chemical sensitivity on their own: unusual smell --> symptoms.
It will be (or develop into) mass psychogenic illness if other people see or hear about others having those symptoms and then come down with them, too:

MCS is not MPI, but somebody with a case of MCS may trigger MPI:
1) A patient zero smells or just generally fears something otherwise innocuous.
2) That person has certain symptoms.
3) People around that person fear that they may come down with it too and develop similar symptoms. They may or may not have experienced the same smell.

Multiple chemical sensitivity is not mass psychogenic illness until other people begin to emulate the symptoms of patient zero, the same way that 'Havana Syndrome' would not have been mass psychogenic illness unless Patient Zero (see post 1,523) had managed to persuade several other people that the sounds they had heard meant that they had been attacked with some kind of sonic weapon.

Sick building syndrome, which Skeptic Ginger mentioned very early on (see post 15 and post 27), is mentioned in a WebMD article as an example of MCS:

Multiple chemical sensitivity can include a wide range of symptoms, which some people link to their environment. It is also known as "environmental illness," "sick building syndrome," or "MCS." Your doctor may call it "idiopathic environmental intolerance."
Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (WebMD, Oct 31, 2021)

MCS isn't MPI in and of itself. It needs to gain mass (probably even critical mass) in order to become MPI. Much the same way that there would have been no 'Havana Syndrome' if Patient Zero had not been so good at convincing other people that they were under attack. If he had not been as 'contagious' as he was, there would have been no syndrome other than whatever may have ailed him in the first place, probably the werewolf effect.

 

[dann]

What’s causing Havana syndrome? Where are the UFOs coming from? CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin predicts one these two mysteries will be solved in 2022.
David Martin's 2022 prediction (Face the Nation on Twitter, Dec 26, 2022)

This may explain the CBS 60 Minutes show on Feb 20, 2022.
How can you predict that an alleged mystery that was solved in 2017 may be solved in 2022? Astrologers and other fortune tellers can make better predictions than this.

 

[dann]

What is with the signs that say "Stop Anunnaki Terrorism/Havana Syndrome" popping up randomly all over the place?
Posted by u/LAMBKING (Reddit, May 14, 2022)

I didn't know about Anunnaki (Wikipedia), but it seems to be the latest craze.
Slave Species of the Gods: The Secret History of the Anunnaki and Their Mission on Earth, 2nd Edition (Amazon)

My Alien Attack? option is still in the game!

 

[dann]

What started in 2016 with symptoms of vertigo, headache, buzzing ears, and psychological distress for some U.S. diplomats in Havana may have culminated in the Chinese People Liberation Army’s “beautiful solution” against the Indian Army in the Himalayas. While the Indian Army denies that microwave radiation was used against its soldiers in 2020, and the cause of “Havana Syndrome” has not yet been categorically identified, directed energy is the most plausible theory. CIA Director William Burns also personally believes them to be “attacks” and not incidents, despite his agency officially determining that the symptoms were not the result of a deliberate campaign by a hostile power.
The attacks on U.S. and Indian personnel are just the latest instance of DEWs being directed toward human targets.
Preventing a Directed Energy Weapons Arms Race (National Interest, May 29, 2022)

RIGHT-CENTER BIAS
Overall, we rate The National Interest Right-Center Biased based on story selection and political affiliation that leans right. We also rate them High for factual reporting due to proper sourcing and a clean fact check record.
National Interest (Media Bias/Fact Check)

I would like to see a (recent!) quotation from Mr. Burns saying that he still "personally believes them to be “attacks”", if I am to believe that this particular claim is factual reporting with proper sourcing.
Media Bias/Fact Check should take another look at its rating of National Interest.

 

[dann]

I don't know if this piece of breaking news is supposed to be a joke:

its just been confirmed that the ghost of kyiv has passed away due to an acute havana syndrome attack believed to have been caused by a new version of novichok. condolences to the ghost family
Death & Obituary (World Market Reports, May 31, 2022)

The Ghost of Kyiv (Ukrainian: Привид Києва, romanized: Pryvyd Kyieva, pronounced [ˈprɪʋɪd ˈkɪjeʋɐ]) is the nickname given to a fictitious MiG-29 Fulcrum flying ace credited with shooting down six Russian planes over Kyiv during the Kyiv offensive on 24 February 2022. Various reports, including the Security Service of Ukraine, claimed that the ace shot down 10 Russian jets as of 27 February. The legend of the Ghost of Kyiv has been credited as a morale booster for Ukrainians and as a narrative for Ukraine's success. Two months later, the Ukrainian Air Force acknowledged that he was a myth and a piece of propaganda, and warned people not to "neglect the basic rules of information hygiene" and to "check the sources of information, before spreading it".Ghost of Kyiv (Wikipedia)

 

[dann]

Early in his tenure, Burns ordered that more resources be devoted to understanding the peculiar health incidents – often called “Havana syndrome” – that afflicted many CIA officers, US diplomats and other government officials. There were concerns that Russia was behind these incidents and that it used technology that directed energy at the victims. So far, though, US officials say they have found no evidence of Moscow’s involvement.
However, Burns’ focus on the subject helped him impress many in the intelligence world.Putin’s world: The CIA chief’s long history with Putin gives him a special vision (bactrimtabs, May 30, 2022)

Still?! Even after the CIA interim report in January, 2022?

 

[dann]

Broken Brain

CBS still pretends that the CIA interim report published in January never happened:

Stith, who says she held a Top-Secret security clearance, told CBS News senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge, "My brain is broken."
She believes her condition stems from a 2018 "directed energy attack" while on assignment for the CIA in Europe.
Stith said she suffers from nausea, headaches, blurred vision, and balance and memory issues. At first, she blamed her suffering on a prior concussion, but her balance became so unsteady she fell down the stairs, cracking her ribs. It was her own mother who first suspected it could be because of her time serving in the CIA.
"My brain is broken": Former CIA analyst struggling with Havana Syndrome says she has not received promised care (CBS News, May 31, 2022)

That the alleged attack happened in 2018 makes me doubt that hers is one of the two dozen cases that are still under investigation, but Kupperman ignores that fact that the CIA investigation ruled out the vast majority of the alleged 'incidents' were the result of an attack:

"It is a well-conceived global program to attack Americans," former deputy national security adviser Charles Kupperman said. He tracked suspected Havana Syndrome attacks for the Trump administration.
Kupperman told Herridge he believes the number of people who have reported Havana Syndrome incidents is near 1,000 if you include family members with symptoms.

Unlike the first cases of the alleged syndrome in Havana, there is no mentioning of an attack happening during her time in Europe working for the CIA: weird sounds, pressure in the head or some other sign of an attack. She says that her mother was the one who convinced her that she might be a victim of 'Havana Syndrome".
I also find it odd that she applies for permanent disability when she won't share her medical records with the CIA. CBS News doesn't seem to find this strange.

Stith's documents show she spent months going back and forth with the CIA for care as a former employee but ultimately declined to share her medical records with the agency.
(...)
Stith who recently applied through CIA for permanent disability under the Havana Act now uses hearing aids and takes up to 20 pills a day.

 

[dann]

Analysts say the recent steps underscore how Washington’s Cuba policy is largely paralyzed, with Biden wary of antagonizing powerful Cuban Americans such as Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), or losing ground before the midterm elections in November.
“The Cubans don’t trust the U.S. at all, and the U.S. clearly doesn’t trust the Cubans at all,” said Scott Hamilton, who served as U.S. chargé d’affaires in Havana during the Obama opening. Rather than reorienting relations, he said, Biden’s measures “are more about addressing the need to get the numbers down on migration.”
(...)
Menendez did praise one of Biden’s changes: resumption of a family-reunification program providing 20,000 immigrant visas a year to Cubans. Processing of those visas in Cuba was halted in 2017 as the United States withdrew diplomats because of a mysterious condition dubbed “Havana syndrome,” marked by dizziness and ringing in the ears. Since then, diplomats in many other countries have reported similar symptoms. The CIA concluded this year that it was unlikely a foreign power was targeting U.S. officials globally.
The Biden administration is hoping the new measures will reduce soaring irregular migration.
As Biden eases Trump’s sanctions, Cubans hope for an economic lift (WP, June 2, 2022)

It is almost as if CBS News doesn't follow the news ...

 

[dann]

Top Gun: Maverick

Top Gun: Maverick is not a movie that means to make you think too hard. Nonetheless, I spent its running time trying to puzzle out a central mystery. Not Will Maverick reconcile with Rooster? Or Will their mission succeed? Or Is there any sight more majestic on an IMAX screen than Jennifer Connelly piloting a sailboat? (Yes, yes, and no, I knew instantly.) But despite the film’s many clues, I simply couldn’t figure out the answer to a simple question: Who are the bad guys in Top Gun: Maverick?(...)
Cuba
Why would Cuba need nukes when they’ve got Havana Syndrome?! Also, Cuban snow is not a thing. Verdict: not the rogue nation.
What Unnamed “Rogue State” Is the Enemy of Top Gun: Maverick? - A Slate investigation. (Slate, May 28, 2022)

Too bad! It might have made me watch it.

 

[dann]

James Giordano is still trying to make it seem as if the 'Havana Syndrome' is a real, physical thing, an actual attack using "some form of directed energy device":

Last week, the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released the Annual Threat Assessment of the US Intelligence Community. [1] The report noted that "global shortcomings in preparedness for ... biosecurity may inspire some adversaries to consider ... biological weapons developments." The report further stated that "recent advances in dual-use technology ... could enable development of biological weapons that complicate detection, attribution, and treatment." Particular in this regard, the report addressed "anomalous health incidents", of the so-called Havana Syndrome, with the ODNI "focusing ... upon a subset of priority cases for which it has not ruled ... the possibility of one or more foreign actors were involved." The new ODNI Report echoes the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) previously stated position on Havana Syndrome [2], which, when taken together, establish that:
* The approximately two dozen individuals originally affected in Havana in 2016 are regarded as verified cases of a physical injury.
* The exact nature and possible cause of this injury remains under investigation, but exposure to some form of directed energy device remains a valid and viable possibility.
* Several lines of evidence support that the multinational state-of-the-science and -technology is sufficiently advanced and developed to produce and operationally employ such devices.
Anomalous Health Incidents of the Havana Syndrome: Implications and Lessons for Global Biosecurity and Defense (Academia Letters, April 2022)

* By whom exactly are the approximately two dozen individuals originally affected in Havana in 2016 still regarded as verified cases of a physical injury?
* The microwave idea seems to have been abandoned now that the alleged valid and viable possibility that the US spies in Havana were exposed to some form of entirely unspecified directed energy device. Doesn't this make it obvious how invalid and unviable the idea is? This is nothing more than, 'I can still imagine that some kind of ray could do this! A girl's entitled to dream, ain't she?!'
* Such devices? The some-form-of devices?!! Then show and tell us about those devices!!!


ETA: "... it has not ruled ... the possibility ...". I assume that it should have been 'ruled out.

 

[dann]

The questionable reporting from CBS often gets posted all over the internet as in the case of the article about the former CIA Stith Warrior mentioned in post 1,535:
"My brain is broken": Former CIA analyst struggling with Havana Syndrome says she has not received promised care (CBS News, May 31, 2022)

I wonder what it has to do with genetic literacy: Havana syndrome: Victims of mysterious and debilitating cognitive illness linked to US embassies often go untreated (Genetic Literacy Project, June 7, 2022). Nothing I can think of.

 

[dann]

The national security state has been the source of some of the most outlandish and damaging fake news claims in recent years. This includes lurid allegations about so-called “Havana Syndrome” and the “BountyGate” hoax. Going further back, falsehoods about weapons of mass destruction or an immiment genocide helped push the U.S. to war in Iraq and Libya, respectively. Yet individuals from many of these institutions are now in charge of deciding what is real and what is fake, and which content to promote or suppress.
The NATO to TikTok Pipeline: Why Is TikTok Employing So Many National Security Agents? (Mint Press News, April 29, 2022)

A good question ...