Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

Robert Bartholomew about the CIA interim report:

KEY POINTS
New report links anxiety, mass suggestion and normal medical conditions to 'Havana Syndrome.'
Five years on and there is still no evidence that a foreign power has been attacking U.S. officials with a microwave weapon
Victims of mass psychogenic illness are experiencing real symptoms. It is not just "all in their heads."
(...)
While the CIA said it is continuing to investigate about two dozen cases that are unexplained, that should not be taken to suggest that there is some sinister plot against American diplomats and intelligence officers. A relevant parallel is UFO reports. A recent US Government report on UFOs found that many cases were unexplained, but that did not necessarily mean that they were of extraterrestrial origin. For instance, many cases lack sufficient information on which to base an assessment. The same is true of ‘Havana Syndrome.’
CIA Skeptical of ‘Havana Syndrome’ - Report casts doubt on mysterious ‘microwave attacks.’ (Psychology Today, Jan 20, 2022)

Like I said in post 1198:

“We assess it is unlikely that a foreign actor, including Russia, is conducting a sustained, worldwide campaign harming U.S. personnel with a weapon or mechanism,” said a senior CIA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the agency.
That leaves open the possibility that a foreign power could be responsible for cases that cannot be attributed to medical conditions or other factors, the official said.
CIA finds no ‘worldwide campaign’ by any foreign power behind mysterious Havana syndrome (Washington Post, Jan 20, 2022)

Yes, that does leave open that possibility - much the same way that unexplained aerial phenomena leave open the possibility that UFOs are flying saucers from Tralfamadore.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

The news has not made it across the border into Canada yet.

‘Havana Syndrome’: Canada cautions diplomats about mysterious illness symptoms

https://globalnews.ca/news/8532388/havana-syndrome-canada-diplomats/

Canada’s foreign ministry has advised staff serving around the world to watch for mysterious illness symptoms following unexplained health incidents among diplomats in Cuba and U.S. personnel in various countries.

Though, admittedly the report is from October, and

Pamela Isfeld, president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, said she hopes there will be a resolution to the puzzling episode.
“I share the frustration of everybody _ there just doesn’t seem to be a conclusion anywhere close in this investigation.”

 

[dann]

Calling it "the puzzling episode" instead of "anomalous health incident" ('but really, Russia and its invisible attackers are behind this, we just can't prove it yet') seems to make a difference. Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks was a much better way of ensuring that there would be a steady stream of sick spies and diplomats.

 

[dann]

A short, almost laconic, article in Granma about the CIA 'revelations':
La verdad no merece oídos sordos (Granma.cu, Jan 23, 2022)

Granma has now published an English translation:The truth should not fall on deaf ears (Granma.cu, Jan 24, 2022)

 

[dann]

That's about as unlikely as directed energy weapons themselves.

A foreign policy based on lies has never been cause for shame.

 

[dann]

Some people are doing their utmost to ignore that the lie has now been exposed for what it is:

Secretary Blinken met with afflicted employees and declared, “those suffering must be believed…” and said at a press conference this week, “There is no doubt in my mind that people have been directly and powerfully affected…” There is now also a formal government taskforce addressing the problem; and Johns Hopkins has been tasked with a further study. At least the skepticism is gone and those afflicted are no longer under a cloud for “mass psychosis.”

Unfortunately, as Blinken himself admitted, there are still no clear answers as to “why” but most especially “who.” While Blinken also noted that the issue has been discussed directly with the Russians, the US is not ready to point any fingers. Personally, I’m fully understanding of diplomatic decorum and what can be said, when. But for me – while I wouldn’t bet the ranch – history suggests a strong culprit.
Nagy: The mysterious 'Havana Syndrome' -- made in Russia? (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Jan 23, 2022)

It is not as if the lie didn't just blow up in their faces, is it? One can still dream that the reason why Blinken didn't say, "Russia did it! Putin is the culprit!" is one of "diplomatic decorum". Blinken meant to say it. History suggests so ...

 

[Orphia Nay]

I love this thread. It's fascinating, and I'd say it's the best resource in the world for this topic. Thanks, dann.

 

[dann]

China about the most recent development of the story about the 'Havana Syndrome':

Regarding the report of the CIA, Mitchel Valdés-Sosa, director of the Cuban Center for Neuroscience, said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency in Havana on Friday that "the result was exactly what we expected. The whole story is too fantastic."
Cuban scientist says whole story about Havana Syndrome "too fantastic" (GLOBALink on YouTube, Jan 23, 2022)

The latest CIA finding, which ruled out "the role of a foreign power" in most cases, overturned a finding more than a year ago by a team from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, which was "commissioned" by the U.S. government to investigate the matter.
The team had linked the syndrome, reportedly experienced by U.S. diplomats in Cuba starting in 2016, to alleged "directed" radio frequencies, setting off sustained, worldwide concern.
The Havana syndrome has become the latest episode of the U.S. centuries-old lying saga. As former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo boasted, "I was the CIA director, we lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment."
Xinhua Commentary: Havana Syndrome just another episode in U.S. lying saga (Xinhua, Jan 24, 2022)

Now, it doesn't really surprise me anymore that Google won't show an article about 'Havana Syndrome' from Chinese Xinhua News, Russian RT* or Cuban Granma unless I add the names of these news sites to my search terms. However, it does surprise me that I only found the latest article about 'Havana Syndrome' by Robert Bartholomew (see post 1221) because I added his name to my Google search.


ETA:
*Secret of ‘microwave weapons’ targeting US diplomats revealed: The rise and fall of ‘Havana Syndrome’ is a story of lazy assumptions and sloppy reporting (RT, Jan 23, 2022)

 

[dann]

Interview with Robert Baloh and Robert Bartholomew

I have seen them both before, but this is the first time I remember seeing both of the authors of the book Havana Syndrome - Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story behind the Embassy Mystery on the same show. (It probably isn't easy when one is in Los Angeles, California, and the other is in Auckland, New Zealand.)

It was a story straight out of a spy novel. A mysterious weapon used by hostile agents to target US diplomats around the world. A previously unknown technology in the hands of the enemies of the free world. It even has a name straight from the thriller section: 'The Havana Syndrome.'
Back in 2016, US staff of the American embassy in Cuba started complaining of severe headaches, nausea and other symptoms after hearing high pitched sounds. An official report backed up reports of brain damage, possibly caused by a sonic weapon. The syndrome has been reported from various locations across the globe since then.
It's become a political issue too. Politicians have pointed their finger at Russia as possibly being behind the attacks. Christopher Miller, the former Acting Defense Secretary under Donald Trump called the suspected directed energy attacks an 'act of war.'
But now in the latest twist in this murky saga, a large scale CIA report into the Havana Syndrome reportedly says that those suffering from the condition were not targeted in a global campaign by a foreign power. In fact, it concluded that the vast majority of cases were the result of stress or other conventional medical explanations.
Was 'Havana Syndrome' a case of mass hysteria? (DW News on YouTube, Jan 22, 2022)

Bartholomew: The doctors at the State Department went for the most exotic hypothesis early on. They went on a search for unicorns when they should have stuck to mundane explanations. And people say, 'Well, the U.S. government has been experimenting with microwaves for years.' That may be true. But the U.S. government also experimented for 20 years trying to develop psychic soldiers, doing remote viewing. And how did that work out? It didn't work out very well. Just because they're experimenting with it doesn't mean it's tru because there's something called the laws of physics.
And the other thing I'd like to point out here is that this shifted from Cuba to other parts of the world later on because the State Department and the Department of Defense issued alerts around the world to be on lookout for anomalous health incidents. And then people all over the world started reporting anomalous health incidents because because people have unusual health incidents all the time. And just because they have a health incident doesn't mean they have a mass psychogenic illness. A couple of these cases are simply people waking up in the morning having a headache of feeling unusual and attributing it to this new condition, Havana Syndrome.

Interviewer: Well, Dr Bartholomew, what do you think prompted these physicians when these cases were first reported, what made these physicians think of the zebra instead of the horse?

Bartholomew: Incompetence, really, and look, you have the National Academy of Sciences panel. No one invited us to present on that panel. You had a panel that was essentially loaded with believers and not skeptics. This is a clear case of politics being mixed with science, and whenever that happens, the outcome is not good. I'm sure professor Baloh and I would love to speak before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Man, I would love to see that! If it ever happens, I hope that it will be an open hearing.

 

[Checkmite]

Checkmite is simply making things up at this point:

1) The CIA dismissed anything that didn't support the idea that its operatives were being attacked.

At which point did a CIA representative begin "laughing"? What specifically did they "laugh" at?

2) An FBI report and the JASON report were kept secret. The latter only "obtained by Buzzfeed News via a Freedom of Information Act request" three years later.

I realize they both have three letters, but you should probably know that the FBI and the CIA are not the same agency. Additionally, your article cites a declassified report. As in, not classified. If it had still been classified, it would not have been eligible for release in response to the FOIA request (and no, classified materials are not declassified directly as a response to FOIA requests). And the State Department is not the CIA either; the CIA has no say over which State Department memos are classified at release, nor if or when they become declassified afterwards.

3) The CIA and State Department investigations didn't begin till last year during the Biden administration.

I don't know how true that is about the CIA; but, the State Department investigation report cited in the article you just linked right up there ---^ says that it was completed in 2018. I'm admittedly not the best at math but my unqualified impression is that 2018 predates the Biden administration.

4) The CIA investigation is not complete. I don't know what it is about the word interim that Checkmite does not understand.

You think it's possible the CIA is going to change its mind X-number of months from now and say "okay never mind, those cases we said were completely explainable, suddenly are not"? Do you think it's plausible that they will do so? If not, this is hair-splitting.

5) If the CIA investigation had started when the others did, it would have taken much longer, not just a little longer, than the others. Some of those finished in 2018.

Like the State Department report?

6) The investigations could have stopped with the JASON report, which wasn't released for a reason: It didn't support the CIA fairy tales about its agents being attacked.

Is that what the report says, or are you going all JFK-assassination-theory on me now?

7) This irrational thinking was what made the State Department, the CIA and the Pentagon warn its millions of employees about being attacked and encouraging them to come forward with their symptoms, which made hundreds of them believe that they themselves were attack victims. No wonder that they now feel let down by their employers, who exposed them to MPI on a gigantic scale.

I'm sure telling the employees depending on them for support while inexplicably experiencing symptoms of what medical doctors examining them called "traumatic brain injury" would never have felt "let down" had their employers started proclaiming that not only was nothing actually wrong with them at all, but that no investigation was going to be conducted into their apparent illnesses either, lol!

Let's do a fun little exercise.

Premise: this scenario - government employees suddenly apparently succumbing to a mysterious illness with a broad spectrum of psychosomatic symptoms - has happened before, and to make the analogy a little more congruent let's place it in the recent past, but not too recent that any fallout would still be making news-cycles - say a decade or two prior to the Havana events. In this earlier instance, in contrast to the Havana situation, let us imagine the government's chosen approach to the initial complaints is to fairly immediately, unambiguously, and consistently dismiss the existence of an actual physical illness, and attribute the alleged various symptoms to various already-existing factors, including at least some amount of MPI; and let's further say that as with Havana, there are several medical and scientific studies over a several-year period supporting that there is nothing unusual actually happening to the employees experiencing the "illness", except that of course the government's position is in agreement with this scientific consensus rather than contradicting it.

How do you hypothesize the government employees who report experiencing the "symptoms" would react to the government's position that there is nothing happening to them? How do you think their reaction would compare to how those who believe they are victims of "Havana Syndrome" have reacted to the present-day government's initially-affirmative, later-negative response?

 

[Orphia Nay]

China about the most recent development of the story about the 'Havana Syndrome':







Now, it doesn't really surprise me anymore that Google won't show an article about 'Havana Syndrome' from Chinese Xinhua News, Russian RT* or Cuban Granma unless I add the names of these news sites to my search terms. However, it does surprise me that I only found the latest article about 'Havana Syndrome' by Robert Bartholomew (see post 1221) because I added his name to my Google search.


ETA:
*Secret of ‘microwave weapons’ targeting US diplomats revealed: The rise and fall of ‘Havana Syndrome’ is a story of lazy assumptions and sloppy reporting (RT, Jan 23, 2022)

Do you have a Google Alert set up for "havana syndrome"?

 

[dann]

No, I don't have Google Alert set up for anything.

 

[dann]

While Cuban officials rarely agree with anything their longtime nemesis, the CIA, says, Carlos Fernández de Cossío Domínguez, a vice minister at Cuba's foreign ministry, told CNN that the report should provide enough evidence for US President Joe Biden to order the reopening of embassies and normalize relations.
"The logical step by the US government with this evidence, with what they know now would be to put aside the excuse used at the time about attacks and then normalize the functioning and the operating of their embassy in Havana and to normalize our embassy in Washington," said Fernández de Cossío, who served as director general of US affairs at the Cuban foreign ministry.
(...)
"Cuba is the only country that is being punished because of this, which proves there was no justification -- which proves that this was a government delivered operation to use the excuse of symptoms suffered by diplomats to take action against Cuba," Fernández de Cossío said.
(..)
A senior CIA official said the agency hasn't ruled out that a smaller subset of incidents could be attacks, and the intelligence community continues to investigate "whether any device or mechanism plausibly could cause the symptoms reported."
Fernández de Cossío said the CIA may once again try to accuse the communist-run island of being involved in the incidents: "It's an agency known for its tricks and not for its honesty so one would think that they are leaving room for themselves to produce whatever version in the future."
Cuba calls on Biden to restaff embassies, normalize relations following CIA 'Havana Syndrome' report (CNN, Jan 26, 2022)

One would, indeed!

Video:

A high-ranking official in Cuba's foreign ministry is calling for the Biden administration to restore relations with the island in light of a recent CIA report that found most "Havana syndrome" cases were unlikely to have been caused by a foreign power. CNN's Patrick Oppmann reports.
Cuban official reacts to CIA report on Havana Syndrome (CNN, Jan 27, 2022)

 

[dann]

These new admissions from the CIA aren’t complete, though. Because not only haven’t there been any “attacks” on U.S. diplomats and spies in Havana or elsewhere, there isn’t actually a “syndrome” either, despite the U.S. Congress having passed a law compensating the supposed “victims” of that “syndrome.” As we wrote in our previous article, one of the original symptoms claimed for this “syndrome” was hearing loss. When the 21 diplomats in the U.S. Embassy in Havana were asked, nine claimed hearing loss. But when tested, only three actually had hearing loss, with no proof that their hearing was any worse than it had been before the alleged incidents.

Even more egregious are repeated references in articles over the years to “traumatic brain injury,” TBI. But in fact, brain scans showed no evidence of brain damage. Two individuals showed mild signs (small spots on an MRI image) and a third one showed moderate signs that, according to a report in the prestigious journal JAMA, were not specific, are present in many diseases and could be attributed to processes that occurred before those persons traveled to Cuba. There was zero evidence of actual TBI. In all likelihood, “Havana Syndrome” was just a combination of job stress combined with mass psychosis. That combination can produce real symptoms (though not hearing loss or TBI), but does not result from being “attacked.”
Havana Syndrome claims exposed … by the CIA! (Liberation News, Jan 26, 2022)

I didn't know about this letter from Dec 14, 2021, which is mentioned in the article:

In December, even before this new revelation, 114 members of Congress signed a letter to President Biden, calling on him to rescind the changes in Cuba policy that have taken place in the past five years, and to “move towards normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations.”

 

[Andy_Ross]

Well, it seems to be collapsing surprisingly quickly!

 

[dann]

Another WP opinion piece: Havana syndrome’s source should not be so easily dismissed (Washington Post, Letter to the Editor, Jan 26, 2022)

 

[dann]

Checkmite is simply making things up at this point:
1) The CIA dismissed anything that didn't support the idea that its operatives were being attacked.

At which point did a CIA representative begin "laughing"? What specifically did they "laugh" at?

I don't know what it is about the word "dismissed" that Checkmite doesn't understand ...

I realize they both have three letters, but you should probably know that the FBI and the CIA are not the same agency. Additionally, your article cites a declassified report. As in, not classified. If it had still been classified, it would not have been eligible for release in response to the FOIA request (and no, classified materials are not declassified directly as a response to FOIA requests). And the State Department is not the CIA either; the CIA has no say over which State Department memos are classified at release, nor if or when they become declassified afterwards.

Checkmite doesn't appear to have heard about the first FBI report, which is why he thinks that I confuse it with the recent interim CIA report. He also doesn't appear to understand the meaning of the word declassified. I am surprised that he knows that the State Department is not the CIA.

I don't know how true that is about the CIA; but, the State Department investigation report cited in the article you just linked right up there ---^ says that it was completed in 2018. I'm admittedly not the best at math but my unqualified impression is that 2018 predates the Biden administration.

At this point, I am also surprised that Checkmite is so good at math that he is able to tell that the JASON report predates the Biden administration. I am not surprised that he doesn't seem to know that two groups were commissioned to investigate the 'Havana Syndrome' during the Biden adminstration.

4) The CIA investigation is not complete. I don't know what it is about the word interim that Checkmite (still) does not understand.

You think it's possible the CIA is going to change its mind X-number of months from now and say "okay never mind, those cases we said were completely explainable, suddenly are not"? Do you think it's plausible that they will do so? If not, this is hair-splitting.

Why on earth would I think that? Checkmite still seems to have problems with the word interim, which is why he resorts to hair-splitting.

5) If the CIA investigation had started when the others did, it would have taken much longer, not just a little longer, than the others. Some of those finished in 2018.

Like the State Department report?

Maybe this will help:

The State Department report was written by the JASON advisory group, an elite scientific board that has reviewed US national security concerns since the Cold War. It was completed in November of 2018, two years after dozens of US diplomats diplomats in Cuba and their families reported hearing buzzing noises and then experiencing puzzling neurological injuries, including pain, vertigo, and difficulty concentrating.
A Declassified State Department Report Says Microwaves Didn't Cause "Havana Syndrome" (Buzzfeed News, Sep 30, 2021)

But I won't get my hopes up ...

Is that what the report says, or are you going all JFK-assassination-theory on me now?

I leave the conspiracy theories to Checkmite, the State Department and the CIA.

I'm sure telling the employees depending on them for support while inexplicably experiencing symptoms of what medical doctors examining them called "traumatic brain injury" would never have felt "let down" had their employers started proclaiming that not only was nothing actually wrong with them at all, but that no investigation was going to be conducted into their apparent illnesses either, lol!

1) They didn't "inexplicably" experience symptoms. There was nothing inexplicable about it.
2) What the doctors called "traumatic brain injury" wasn't traumatic brain injury.
3) Something was wrong with them, MPI, which was exacerbated by the doctors proclaiming that their alleged "traumatic brain injury" was caused by attacks.
4) And instead of investigating it properly, the CIA had people removed from the investigation if they were open to MPI as a possible explanation of the alleged syndrome.
5) "lol" Really?!

Let's do a fun little exercise.

Premise: this scenario - government employees suddenly apparently succumbing to a mysterious illness with a broad spectrum of psychosomatic symptoms - has happened before, and to make the analogy a little more congruent let's place it in the recent past, but not too recent that any fallout would still be making news-cycles - say a decade or two prior to the Havana events. In this earlier instance, in contrast to the Havana situation, let us imagine the government's chosen approach to the initial complaints is to fairly immediately, unambiguously, and consistently dismiss the existence of an actual physical illness, and attribute the alleged various symptoms to various already-existing factors, including at least some amount of MPI; and let's further say that as with Havana, there are several medical and scientific studies over a several-year period supporting that there is nothing unusual actually happening to the employees experiencing the "illness", except that of course the government's position is in agreement with this scientific consensus rather than contradicting it.

How do you hypothesize the government employees who report experiencing the "symptoms" would react to the government's position that there is nothing happening to them? How do you think their reaction would compare to how those who believe they are victims of "Havana Syndrome" have reacted to the present-day government's initially-affirmative, later-negative response?

Why make this hypothetical? Why invent a complicated thought experiment?
From Wikipedia's List of mass hysteria cases 1950 to 2000:

San Diego (1988) — The U.S. Navy evacuated 600 men from barracks; 119 were sent to San Diego hospitals with complaints of breathing difficulty. No evidence of toxins, food poisoning, or any other cause was found.

The Navy evacuated 600 men from the barracks starting at 9:30 p.m. and alerted county medical emergency authorities, who routed more than 50 ambulances to the scene by about 11 p.m. County Hazardous Materials officials found no evidence of toxic fumes, food poisoning or any other cause, Luchka said.
“We still don’t know what caused it. We are thinking on the contention that the unit had physical training together and could have spread a virus. Particles in the air from fires, a smog alert, and the heat could have combined to make some sick. There is a possibility the others might have thought they were sick after that,” he said.
“There were no toxic chemicals in their blood, so there is a possibility of mass hysteria.”117 of Ill Recruits Returned to Base (L.A.Times, Sep 5, 1988)

I bet they also didn't find any evidence of directed microwave energy weapons or sinister perpetrators. Nor did any government agency try to persuade them and the rest of the world that those 600 (!) men had been attacked by Russian agents.
I haven't heard of any support groups for the 600 MPI sufferers from 1988. I don't think a SAN DIEGO Act was passed in Congress. Maybe the paranoia of U.S. governmental institutions was not as excessive back then as it is now.

 

[dann]

Natalie Shure (see also posts 1219, 1142 and 1048) writes about the politicians and government institutions that have been much too willing to accept the story about the 'syndrome' and to take advantage of it:

The fact that the agency is now explicitly declaring that no international plot to trigger common symptoms of general malaise among U.S. government employees exists underscores what many of us outside “the Blob” already knew: that there’s never been a lick of credible evidence backing the imagined nefarious cause of Havana Syndrome.
Washington’s “Havana Syndrome” Promoters Have a Lot to Answer For (The New Republic, Jan 28, 2022)

 

[dann]

Why not?
Maybe they should also consider an evaluation to determine the extent to which the DoD has developed guidance and implemented procedures to identify and evaluate similar stupid ideas:

We plan to begin the subject evaluation in January 2022. The objective of this evaluation is to determine the extent to which the Department of Defense has developed guidance and implemented procedures to identify and evaluate DoD personnel who may have “Havana Syndrome.” We may revise the objective as the evaluation proceeds, and we will also consider suggestions from management for additional or revised objectives.
Project Announcement: Evaluation of the Department of Defense’s Response to “Havana Syndrome” (Jan 24, 2022)

MEMORANDUM FOR DISTRIBUTION (Inspector General, Department of Defense, Jan 24, 2022)

 

[dann]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I would love to hear more about the cases in France and Switzerland! All of a sudden, the reports just stopped coming.

US Seeks ‘Havana Syndrome’ Answers After Cases in Geneva and Paris (The Switzerland Times, Jan 13, 2022)
Blinken says US working on Havana Syndrome after diplomats' illnesses (The Jerusalem Post, Jan 13, 2022)
US diplomats in Geneva and Paris allegedly hit by ‘Havana Syndrome’ (Swiss Info, Jan 14, 2022)

It is almost as if some kind of conspiracy is trying to suppress the truth about these cases.