Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

I have mentioned Len Ber MD a couple of times, most recently in post 1,831.

It was clear that he would be upset by the ODNI report (see post 1,746) and feel vindicated by the declassified 'Expert Panel' report from September 2022, recently obtained by lawyer Mark Zaid and Salon (see post 1,845). He also isn't happy with Robert Barthomew's most recent article in Skeptic Magazine, Newly Declassified Report on ‘Havana Syndrome’ Used the Wrong Criteria! (Mar 31, 2023), but kudos for linking to the article that he criticizes.

We have already seen Len Ber describe himself as "scientifically minded" and as "a man of evidence" (see post 1,752), so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he also considers himself to be "the biggest skeptic of all":

I love being a skeptic. I am the biggest skeptic of all. But I don’t engage in skepticism for the sake of skepticism. The latter is a religion, a belief that Occam’s Razor coupled with superfluous assessment of data merits the most reasonable explanation. It’s a mental trick, but it’s not the scientific method.
Dr. Bartholomew: "When in Doubt - Follow the Mainstream Science" (Len Ber MD on Havana Syndrome, on Substack, April 3, 2023)

I think most skeptics appreciate assessment of data when trying to find out the truth about something, which is why we don't usually complain about it being superfluous, whatever that's supposed to mean in this context. And in the case of the 'Havana Syndrome', it has been a drag that guys like David Relman have dismissed other people's analyses with the argument that they themselves had access to patient data that others, i.e. their critics or the Cubans, weren't allowed to see.
It is obvious that Len Ber first of all wants to be believed and thus hates to be contradicted and loves any kind of confirmation, which are attitudes that don't get along with skepticism.

Len Ber quotes the "Four Core Characteristics of Anomalous Health Incidents" from the declassified report - as did I in post 1,845):

1. The acute onset of audio-vestibular sensory phenomena, including sound and/or pressure, sometimes in just one ear or one side of the head.
2. Other nearly simultaneous signs and symptoms such as vertigo, loss of balance, and ear pain.
3. A strong sense of locality or directionality.
4. The absence of known environmental or medical conditions that could have caused the reported signs and symptoms.

And Len Ber adds:

Moreover, transient rather than sustained elevation of biomarkers called neurofilament light chain (NfL) protein, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is indicative of acute disruption of blood-brain barrier in a fashion similar to brain injury caused by concussion. These proteins leak from the brain into the blood, where they are detected.

Earlier on (in Nicky Woolf's podcast series), it was claimed that retinal bleeding could only be caused by concussions, which wasn't true. Wikipedia told us about several non-violent and fairly common causes (see post 1,661). So it's worth looking up what else, besides concussion, may cause disruption of the blood-brain barrier, and it turns out that many other things do:

Vascular factors (stroke, hypertension, diabetes, etc.) and genetic factors (such as APOE4) cause defects in the vascular system leading to blood–brain barrier (BBB) impairment and oligemia (reduced cerebral blood flow), which finally correlate with dementia and neuronal degeneration.
Blood–Brain Barrier Breakdown: An Emerging Biomarker of Cognitive Impairment in Normal Aging and Dementia (Frontiers in Neuroscience/PubMed, Aug 19, 2021)

In other words, there is no need for 'immaculate concussions' to explain the phenomenon. I commented on the four core characteristics of anomalous health incidents in post 1,845, but let us take a closer look at #4, the absence of known environmental or medical conditions that could have caused the reported signs and symptoms, because it has one very obvious thing in common with mass psychogenic illness (MPI): "Qualities of MPI outbreaks often include: symptoms that have no plausible organic basis" (Wikipedia: Mass psychogenic illness: Causes)
The three other core characteristics are all explained by either hearing crickets (1 & 3) or very common, everyday symptoms "vertigo, loss of balance, and ear pain," and when dismissing mass psychogenic illness, it is worth noticing that "Dizziness or light-headedness" is #2 on the list of Mass psychogenic illness: Common symptoms (Wikipedia).

Len Ber's argument for dismissing MPI is as follows:

Is psychogenic illness the best explanation for these core characteristics when they appear together, plus the evidence of acute blood-brain barrier disruption? They say extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Likewise, extraordinary findings require extraordinary explanation. And these ARE extraordinary findings that taken together are “distinctly unusual”.

No, these are NOT extraordinary findings. The only thing that's extraordinary is that a whole group of people came down with this in Havana, but it has already become obvious that they came down with it because they were scared 1) by crickets and 2) by doctors telling them that they suffered from 'immaculate concussion' caused by a directed energy attack.

If Michael Hoffer is the one who convinced Len Ber that he suffers from 'immaculate concussion' as a result of having been attacked with microwaves, he should at least get his money back.

 

[dann]

Len Ber MD complaining to Michael Shermer:

Conflating mechanisms and attribution is not a good look, Michael
Len Ber MD (on Twitter, April 3, 2023)

 

[dann]

Project Brazen's podcast series to be adapted for TV

The docuseries based on The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome podcast is moving a step closer to fruition.
XTR, the non-fiction studio behind Apple’s They Call Me Magic and Oscar-nominated Ascension, has boarded the project, which comes from Project Brazen.
Deadline revealed in January that Project Brazen, which was launched by Pulitzer finalists Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, were launching the podcast, hosted by Nicky Woolf, who hosted Audible’s Qanon podcast Finding Q.
At the time, Project Brazen was also developing it as a docuseries with PRX and XTR will now co-produce. PRX is no longer involved.
XTR Boards Project Brazen’s Havana Syndrome Docuseries (Deadline, April 3, 2023)

I guess there's a chance they'll get it right this time ...
But I don't know what to think about this: “We’re so excited to adapt Project Brazen’s incredible podcast into a genre mashup of a spy thriller, medical mystery, and horror documentary series.”
How about a tragidocuhorrorcomedy?!

 

[dann]

The very short version. CIA Director William Burns:

The inteligence community across the board, you know, made public some preliminary findings. The broadest was that we don't assess that a foreign player, or the Russians or anyone else, is behind or is responsible for a sustained global campaign on the scale of what has been reported to harm U.S. personnel with a weapon or some kind of external device.
We further stated publicly several months ago that in the majority of incidents - and we've, you know, investigated each one as thoroughly as we possibly can, and we're still working on a number of them - that, you know, you could find reasonable alternative explanations, whether it was other environmental factors or preexisting medical conditions or other kinds of medical explanations.
'Havana syndrome' was made up (@KawsachunNews on YouTube - 1 min.)

There is no date, but I think it's from the autumn of 2022, i.e. after the CIA interim report on Jan 20, 2022, but before the ODNI report on Mar 1, 2023.

 

[dann]

Lenzi

Mark Lenzi's case was most recently mentioned in post 1,855. Here with more details:

Following medical evacuation from China, Government and private physicians determined that Mr. Lenzi had suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury from external exposure.
Steptoe Reaches Settlement for Pro Bono Client in Havana Syndrome Disability Discrimination and Retaliation Case (Steptoe, Mar 29, 2023)

I wonder what the external exposure is supposed to have been in this case. Exposure to what exactly? But maybe it's not important to the case, which seems to have been about something else:

In his lawsuit, Mr. Lenzi alleged that the State Department retaliated and discriminated against him by denying him the overseas positions for which applied. On March 20, Mr. Lenzi and his lawyers at Steptoe and Johnson LLP reached a favorable settlement with the State Department, which will permit him to resume his overseas career in the Foreign Service.

 

[dann]

The headline of this article already makes it clear which report it considers to be the final word on the 'syndrome' even though it is six or seven months old and was dismissed by the ODNI report last month:

The report is in stark contrast to the conclusion of the US intelligence community, which said earlier this month the health incidents were unlikely to be the result of interference by a foreign government.
Nothing to see here. Move along, in other words.
The newly released report, however, states clearly “sources exist that could generate the required stimuli, are concealable, and have moderate power requirements.”
In all probability, Havana syndrome could very well be the result of a new diplomatic surveillance weapon, gone awry. Intentionally, or, unintentionally.
Who exactly is enabling this weapon, still remains a mystery. But we now know, it is possible. Very possible.
And five will get you 10, it involves a certain fellow in the Kremlin.
All it will take is one defection to get to the bottom of it. It’s only a matter of time.
MAKICHUK: Cuba's Communists really do cloud your head, says report (Western Standard, April 4, 2023)

Hoping for defectors to reveal the kind of 'truth' that Western Standard so desires will be in vain. Consider this quotation from post 1,732:

Most of the cases investigated appear to have different causes, from environmental factors to undiagnosed illnesses, said the officials, who say they have not found a single explanation for most or all of the reports.
Instead, officials say, there is evidence that foreign countries were not involved. In some cases, the U.S. detected among adversarial governments confusion about the allegations and suspicions that Havana syndrome was an American plot. And investigators found “no credible evidence” that any adversary had obtained a weapon that could cause the reported symptoms or a listening device that might inadvertently injure people.
Intel agencies: No sign adversaries behind 'Havana syndrome' (Washington Post, March 1, 2023)

Those potential defectors were confused by the 'syndrome' because they didn't understand why the USA was accusing them of having a sophisticated weapon that they knew they didn't have, so they suspected it to be another WMD invented by the USA as an excuse for war. America's own spies in Russia and China would have been aware of this.

 

[dann]

Scientific American and David Relman's NASEM Report

One of the infights we have had in this thread started with the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report (sometimes referred to as the NAS report, sometimes as the NASEM report), which I wrote about in post 726 (Dec 6, 2020), in which I wondered "how many of the committee members were directly appointed by the Trump administration and its State Department."

The NASEM report was the one that made CNN begin to talk about "documented attacks" (see post 726) even though not a single attack has ever been documented. It was also what made Wikipedia's (until then quite sensible) page about the 'syndrome' shift to claiming that it was "likely (!) caused by directed microwaves" (see post 728). In the meantime, Wikipedia's page has switched back to embracing actual science about the 'syndrome'.

The very next day (see post 733), I was chastised for "flippantly dismissing" the NAS/NASEM report because "the NAS collectively has a combination of expertise, achievement, and experience that makes what they have to say worth seriously considering."

At the time (see post 736), I warned against appeals to authority (and to false authority, in particular), not least because that same year I had witnessed how appeals to false authority in Sweden had caused thousands of premature deaths to COVID-19. And I think it is worth remembering that the tightening of the U.S. blockade against Cuba, justified by means of false U.S. 'expert' reports, contributed to killing thousands of Cubans in the summer of 2021.

In the light of this, I think it's worth looking at what the recent article in Scientific American (see post 1,760) said about the NASEM report:

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) convened a panel of scientific experts in 2020 to assess AHIs comprehensively. The final panel report had at least two serious problems. First, it sidelined the arguments of scientists who considered an attack with directed energy weapons unrealistic. Second, it concluded that pulsed microwaves were the "most plausible" (readily confused with "most probable" in news accounts) explanation for the neurological symptoms, a conclusion which flew against the evidence carefully reviewed in the body of the report itself. The NASEM report discounted the reported neuroimaging findings, neuropsychological tests and most of the lab exams of U.S. diplomats used to claim existence of a new syndrome. Evidence for microwave weapons in AHI was nonexistent in the NASEM report. Some researchers who first explained a microwave effect cited in the report (who did not attend the panel) later disagreed that microwaves could explain the AHI. Furthermore, a careful and extensive review by the JASON group (a long-standing scientific advisory board to the U.S. government) had already concluded it 2018 that "directed energy sources" were an implausible cause of AHIs. This report was shelved by the U.S. State Department, the NASEM report sponsor, who did not share it with their panel, and was only made public three years later.
How 'Anomalous Health Incidents' in Cuba Sidelined Science (Scientific American, Mar 6, 2023)

By the way, when I mentioned the article in Scientific American the first time, I didn't notice who the author of this article was.
I only now realized that it is none other than Mitchell J. Valdés-Sosa, "director of the Cuban Center for Neuroscience and a member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences. He was one of the authors of the 2021 Cuban Academy of Sciences Report on anomalous health incidents."

Right on, Mitchell!

 

[dann]

Boring 'Havana Syndrome' 'Comedy'

Reading Wikipedia's page about Chapo Trap House, I get the impression that it ought to be right down my alley, but somehow it isn't:

Chapo Trap House is an American left-wing political podcast founded in March 2016 and hosted by Will Menaker, Matt Christman and Felix Biederman with Amber A'Lee Frost as a recurring co-host. The show is produced by Chris Wade and formerly by Brendan James. The podcast is aligned with the dirtbag left, a style of contentious left-wing political discourse that eschews civility in favor of a more casual—and often vulgar—speaking style.
(...)
The Chapo hosts and producers identify with radical left-wing politics and frequently deride conservative, neoliberal, moderate, and liberal pundits.
Chapo Trap House (Wikipedia)

Unfortunately, it's neither funny nor educational. It replaces knowledge and criticism with mere disrespectful attitude much like Trump's many nicknames to his opponents. Coming up with them requires no knowledge at all, and they don't even have to be apt, just demeaning. One of the hosts reads from the WP article about the ODNI report, and the others come up with lame jokes that require no insight into what the 'Havana syndrome' actually is, politically, medically or scientifically. It is supposed to be really funny to claim that the alleged victims just came up with it to get free health care, and that it's the same thing as calling in sick when you have a hangover.

No matter how ignorant about the 'syndrome' people are, the only thing they'll learn is from the few paragraphs they hear being read aloud from WP. You could read the whole article faster than that, and the jokes are of the kind that will serve to make you more stupid if you put in the effort to persuade yourself that they are funny.

For the full episode, subscribe at https://www.patreon.com/chapotraphouse
CLIP from Episode 711 - Bayesian Prior Movers feat. Jacob Bacharach (3/3/23)
CIA Admits Havana Syndrome Isn't Real (Chapo Trap House on YouTube, April 4, 2023 - 9:30 min.)

 

[dann]

In Nicky Woolf's podcast series, the cases of Karen Coats and Kate Husband (see post 1,666) were used as proof that 'Havana syndrome' wasn't mass psychogenic illness but a directed energy attack.

The Norwegian Supreme Court recently dismissed a case where EHS sufferers (Wikipedia) complained about AMS/AMR readers being installed in people's houses. In case you don't know what AMR is:

Smart and AMR meters are the new generation of energy meters which provide many benefits, including improved billing accuracy, better visibility of energy consumption and an end to manual meter reads.
Going Smart: The Future of Metering in the Energy Industry (TotalEnergies Gas & Power)

But now, Einar Flydal (Folkets Strålevern, Aug 21, 2015), who appears to be some kind of spokesperson for the Norwegian community of EHS sufferers, feels vindicated by the recently declassified report about the 'Havana Syndrome', the one from David Relman's 'expert panel' (see post 1,845):

«Havana-mysteriet»: Også USAs hemmelige tjenester går god for el-overfølsomhet (Einar Flydal, April 5, 2023)
The "Havana mystery": The US secret services also recognize electromagnetic hypersensitivity

Besides AMR meters, Einar Flydal (Wikipedia) also objects to Wi-Fi, 5G and skitten strøm, i.e. dirty electricity (Nature, Mar 24, 2010).
Trump would love this guy. He would tell us how power from windmills is particularly dirty but gets much cleaner if you wash it in bleach and hydroxychloroquine before ingestion.

 

[dann]

Apropos of Norwegian EHS sufferers, a podcast from Conspiracy Clearinghouse about Gangstalking, Targeted Individuals & Havana Syndrome reminded me of what is probably the most prominent Norwegian case, former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland:

Let me tell you how I became electrically sensitive. In my case, it was an accident with a microwave oven. While making lunch for my husband and myself, I placed some food in the microwave oven on a plate that had blue flowers. The plate began to spark, and foolishly, I went closer to have a look. My eyes were damaged and I was blinded for one year. I still have poor eyesight. It turned out that the flowers were made of cobalt blue paint and we know not to put metal into a microwave oven. This happened only two months after I become Director-General of the World Health Organization. I had researched before putting a microwave oven in my home and had convinced myself that it would not be dangerous—which was not correct.
Gro Harlem Brundtland talks at the University of Waterloo (DR. Magda Havas, Thursday April 19, 2012 on the occasion of the Opening for the new School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo.)

I wonder if any of this is real. (And, as always, I don't doubt her symptoms, which I assume are real to her.) Was she actually physiologically "blinded for one year" or was it the conversion disorder that used to be called hysterical blindness, in this case triggered by the sparking plate and maybe her fear of microwaves? (Researching safety issues before buying a microwave oven.)
She will be 84 this month, so I'm not surprised that she "still" has "poor eyesight".

The 'Havana syndrome' takes up only a few minutes of the podcast, which is mainly about all things related to the current TIs and the gangstalking delusion and historical precedents. The 'syndrome' isn't mentioned until 36:00, but I found the historical cases very interesting. The idea seems to be as old as the discovery of actual invisible rays.

Targeted individuals, who are either suffering a psychotic break, have schizophrenia, or have done something to royally piss off some very powerful people who possess technology so advanced, it borders on magic.
Paranoia, the Destroyer – Gangstalking, Targeted Individuals & Havana Syndrome (Conspiracy Clearinghouse on Apple Podcasts, July 10, 2022 - 48:30 min.)

Also on YouTube:

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Also on YouTube:

"Sometimes I wake up, usually, exactly one hour after falling asleep."

OMG, that happens to me all the time! Could it just be because I'm 65? Or...

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Apropos of Norwegian EHS sufferers, a podcast from Conspiracy Clearinghouse about Gangstalking, Targeted Individuals & Havana Syndrome reminded me of what is probably the most prominent Norwegian case, former prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland:

Let me tell you how I became electrically sensitive. In my case, it was an accident with a microwave oven. While making lunch for my husband and myself, I placed some food in the microwave oven on a plate that had blue flowers. The plate began to spark, and foolishly, I went closer to have a look. My eyes were damaged and I was blinded for one year. I still have poor eyesight. It turned out that the flowers were made of cobalt blue paint and we know not to put metal into a microwave oven. This happened only two months after I become Director-General of the World Health Organization. I had researched before putting a microwave oven in my home and had convinced myself that it would not be dangerous—which was not correct.

Well that sucks. Imagine buying a microwave oven and the instruction manual not saying anything about only using approved cookware? I hope she doesn't put plastic containers in the conventional oven...

Maybe if she watched for long enough her retinas could have been burned, though this would be a really stupid thing to do. Anyway she probably wasn't completely blinded, just suffered temporary blindness from the bright light and then attributed subsequent poor eyesight to it.

How this equates to being electrically sensitive is unclear. But this is what humans do. Where there's an effect there must be a cause, and it will be whatever 'anomaly' is noticed or imagined at the time - whether it's actually responsible or not. Sometimes this saves our bacon, other times it leads to a lifetime of avoiding things for no reason.

Once the brain latches onto a 'cause', it can be very hard to dismiss it. And it may not even be under conscious control. I used to love deep-fried oysters. One day I ate an oyster which had a bit of shell left in it. From that day on I couldn't look at one without wanting to throw up. I knew it was silly, but my stomach wasn't listening to reason.

 

[dann]

I think I could have done that, i.e. "placed some food in the microwave oven on a plate that had blue flowers", without considering that the "flowers were made of cobalt blue paint." I know that you shouldn't put metal in a microwave oven, but I would not have considered the relevance of paint.

As for "How this equates to being electrically sensitive," the Conspiracy Clearinghouse podcast mentions that it is not uncommon for TIs to develop EHS. It is weird that the doctors Nicky Woolf talked to let him continue to think that the EHS of Karen Coats and Kate Husband was caused by a microwave attack instead of being the next step in the paranoia that they themselves (i.e. the doctors) had instilled into them.

 

[dann]

Podcast with transcript, based on the Entous & Anderson's VICE series.

This episode is built from reporting for an eight-part VICE World News podcast series by the same name.
The reporters begin by tracking down one of the first people to report Havana syndrome symptoms, a CIA officer working in Cuba. This “patient zero” explains the ways Cuban intelligence surveil and harass American spies working on the island and his own experience of suddenly being struck with a mysterious, painful condition. When he reports the illness to his bosses at the CIA, he learns that other U.S. officials on the island are experiencing the same thing.
(...)
Transcript
Reveal transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. Please be aware that the official record for Reveal’s radio stories is the audio.
Havana Syndrome (RevealNews, April 8, 2023 - 50:45)

This would be one of the more obvious errors:

During the Cold War, Russia had spent a lot of time and energy working with Cuban officials to improve their trade craft despise, but since then, Cuban intelligence was said to become so good that they had outgrown their KGB trainers.

My guess is that it should have been: "... to improve their trade craft, their spies, but since then ..."

Still, I really appreciate even slightly flawed transcripts, and there were a couple of things that I didn't notice when I was listening to all the VICE episodes. This one's important:

Adam Entous: Tony [= Patient Zero] is there for about two months when he experiences something new, and frankly, terrifying on December 29th, 2016.
Speaker 9: We were on a skeleton crew at the embassy as a whole because everyone had cleared off for the holidays and for New Years. And I’d come home and my pattern was to come home and then go to the gym and I would usually come home and watch a few episodes of a downloaded show or something. I’m just laying on my bed with my laptop next to me and I’m watching this show. I’m in my dress clothes, I’m in a shirt and my suit. And then, all of the dogs in the neighborhood started barking. They would bark periodically, but I’d never heard them all go off at once, and I think that struck me immediately as unusual. And then this loud sound just blasted into my bedroom. I guess my gut reaction was that it was LRAD.

We already know that it was the sound of crickets, and that he recorded it and played played it for his colleagues at the embassy on New Year's Eve (see post 1,741). From that point on, New Year's 2016-17, all U.S. embassy employees can be assumed to have been aware of the 'sonic attack'.

 

[dann]

An imprint of Simon & Schuster has won the rights to publish a book about the "Havana Syndrome," a mysterious illness that has affected US diplomats and intelligence officers in various locations around the world. The book, titled "Soldier of Havana Syndrome," is written by an anonymous author who claims to have experienced the illness firsthand while working for the US government in Cuba. The author's account will provide an inside look at the events surrounding the illness and the government's response.
johnnysantiabo (on Reddit, April 10, 2023)

A lot going on here in this coming memoir of a military intelligence official who doesn't remember his time in the Air Force and claims to have cured his Havana Syndrome through "remote viewing."Heidi N. Moore (on Twitter, April 10, 2023)

As he sought more information about his health, Andrews came across a file compiled for him by his late father. It contained records from a past he did not remember, including documents indicating he was removed from school for weeks every year, from the first through 12th grades. The records also contained a shocker, that he received an honorable discharge from the U.S Air Force and worked in space intelligence communications as a minor. Andrews maintains he has no memory of having served in the U.S Air Force.
(...)
Soon after connecting with the doctor, Andrews says he experienced symptoms associated with the Havana Syndrome, a phenomenon first reported by military personnel working at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, in 2016.
Simon & Schuster Imprint Wins Bidding War For Twist-Filled Memoir By U.S. Intelligence Officer Tangled Up In Mysterious Military Program (Deadline, April 10, 2023)

The comments give me the impression that people are beginning to understand that it is nonsense.

 

[dann]

Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI)

In post 1,808, I mentioned this article by Robert Skvarla: The U.S. is spending millions on ‘Havana Syndrome’ research – but it’s not clear if it exists (GeoPolitical Economy, Mar 17, 2023).


Since the article, he has filed this request:

Robert Skvarla, Jr. filed this request with the Defense Intelligence Agency of the United States of America.
Submitted March 23, 2023
Due April 20, 2023

You are receiving this correspondence as a request under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. subsection 552. I am requesting the following:
All Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) records for an Anomalous Health Incident (AHI) Program, referenced in a Statement of Work (SOW) published by the DIA's Virginia Contracting Activity (VACA) on sam.gov. You can find the SOW attached in PDF format; however, I am also including a link here for your convenience:
https://sam.gov/opp/14da5e59d127411680b7823630aab90e/view#classification
The SOW, dated January 2023, identifies a contracting opportunity for a 26-person team to work with the DIA on the AHI Program, to include: 2 credentialed physician assistants; 2 credentialed registered nurses; 2 certified industrial hygienists; 2 credentialed psychologists; 2 credentialed epidemiologists; 2 credentialed physicians; 2 medical technicians; 2 AHI lead case managers; and 10 AHI case managers.
An earlier RFI on the same sam.gov listing is dated for October 2019 and includes a request for a smaller 10-person team to assist the Office of the Surgeon General on the AHI Program. My request includes all records generated by the DIA and VACA during preparation for or consultation on this earlier version of the program.
(...)
However, there is no consensus within the scientific community if anomalous health incidents exist;
AHI Program 3.23.23 (MuckRock)

 

[dann]

At first glance, this "research article" looks legit, but I found it strange for a number of reasons:
Havana Syndrome: New Recommendations and Enrollment Criteria for a Shared Study of Possible Cases (European Society of Medicine (ESMED), March 31, 2023)

One of the reasons was that I couldn't find a Wikipedia article about ESMED. As it turns out, it's probably a scam:

European Society of Medicine (ESMED) Congresses and Events
It is not obvious what the "European Society of Medicine" is. It might be a creation of the alleged predatory publisher Knowledge Enterprises, Inc. (KEI).

BEST COMMENTS RECEIVED
Financial complaints
January 26, 2021: Seeing that COVID was going to keep the border closed ... , I wrote Dr. Osman and asked for my $849 USD back. Still asking. He asked me to present virtually and I'm not interested. Still waiting for my money.
May 10, 2021: Unfortunately I paid $271.00. I then got an email saying that the bank had cancelled my payment and asking me to repay. ... I checked with the bank. There was no cancellation of payment. Unfortunately my 271 is gone. ... I should have been smarter.
July 16, 2021: contracted AMEX to dispute the registration charge. Within minutes, I got a response from AMEX: "We're writing to let you know that, as a result of our investigation, we've credited your account for $699.00, which will appear on your next statement." Clearly, AMEX is aware of the scam!
European Society of Medicine (ESMED) Congresses and Events (Flaky Academic Conferences, Nov 27, 2020)

Similar to Research Review Requests, solicitations to submit research to the "European Society of Medicine" and/or present at its General Assembly could result in lost money or time, as reported on Flaky Academic Conferences. The site notes that "It is not obvious what the "European Society of Medicine" is. It might be a creation of the alleged predatory publisher Knowledge Enterprises, Inc. (KEI)." These kinds of solicitations have also been reported by ResearchGate and the University of Groningen.
We recommend that if you receive such a request, forward it to the Phish Bowl and then mark the email as phishing (open the message in a browser, click on the stack of three dots to the right of the REPLY button and select "Report phishing").
European Society of Medicine solicitations (Brown University, Office of Information Technology, Oct 26, 2021)

 

[dann]

This article doesn't mention the 'Havana syndrome' at all. It also doesn't mention mass psychogenic illness (MPI). It only popped up in a Google search because it links to two Bartholomew articles about the 'syndrome' and MPI.

The impact of the media coverage was sudden. In the five weeks after the first news report in August 2021, the reporting rate of chest discomfort had increased by 190 percent
(...)
Research shows that knowing about the nocebo effect means you are less likely to experience it, so you’ve protected yourself from unnecessary side effects just by reading this article.
Protect yourself from side effects just by reading this article (Newsroom.co.nz, April 16, 2023)

The article is mainly about Covid vaccinations and the nocebo effect, but it should accompany every statement saying that the symptoms of 'Havana syndrome' are real even though the foreign adversaries with rayguns aren't. The 'syndrome' symptoms are real the same way self-reported myocarditis symptoms after Covid vaccinations are real.

 

[dann]

Sickening Noises

19 of the Strangest Unsolved Mysteries of All Times (Reader's Digest, Feb 10, 2023)
I wonder how many of the other 18 alleged mysteries are neither mysterious nor unsolved.

 

[dann]

Webinar: The Havana Syndrome - A Disorder of Neuropolitics

Remember to sign up for the online lecture tomorrow, April 19.
I assume that it will be at a much more convenient hour of the day (apparently 1:00p.m. - 2:00p.m.) if you are closer to California than I am:

Center for Neuropolitics Lecture Series
Date & Time Apr 20, 2023 02:00 AM in Copenhagen
Description The Havana Syndrome: A Disorder of Neuropolitics

Featured Speakers:
Robert W. Baloh, MD
Professor of Neurology (Emeritus), UCLA

In one of the most extraordinary cases in the history of science, the mating calls of insects were mistaken for a “sonic weapon” that led to a major diplomatic row. The lecture will trace the origins of the syndrome, the response of the U.S. government, the results of scientific investigations and opinions, the evolution of the syndrome over time and similar phenomena that have occurred in the past.

Robert W. Baloh, MD is Professor of Neurology and Head and Neck Surgery (Emeritus) at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Author of 14 books and more than 350 articles in peer reviewed journals, he is a pioneer in the study of the vestibular system and clinical neurotology. He has a recent book on Havana Syndrome co-authored with Robert Bartholomew, a sociologist from New Zealand. Two other recent books are: “Medically Unexplained Symptoms” and “Exercise and the Brain”.

For more information, please visit: https://sites.uci.edu/centerforneuropolitics/
The Havana Syndrome: A Disorder of Neuropolitics (UCI Center for Neuropolitics)