Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

Propaganda Technique 101 - Welcome to WW3!

It never ceases to amaze me how effective the most plumb propaganda techniques are. The only thing required is a complete lack of honesty. You simply pretend that the most basic lie is a fact and talk about all the details that require that your basic lie is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It doesn't matter that you are unspecific as hell. It will leave the impression that your basic assumption can't possibly not be true.

A very good example of this technique is a Fox interview with Hal Kemper, retired marine intelligence officer. At this point, much like Gregory Edgreen, he has become the CEO of his own, private company, GRIP, "Global Risk Intelligence and Planning, Inc. - Achieving Situational Awareness Superiority," and as such, again much like Greg Edgreen, he has a very vested interest in dramatizing security risks.

A mysterious illness known as “Havana syndrome” that has caused U.S. diplomats to suffer from various symptoms may be linked to possible “sonic attacks” by a Russian intelligence unit. National security expert, Hal Kempfer, joins LiveNOW to discuss.
Havana Syndrome linked to Russian military intelligence unit (LiveNOW from FOX on YouTube, April 2, 2024 - 12:54)

The basic lie, in this case, is that the 'Havana syndrome' was and is caused by attacks, be it sonic or microwave attacks or surveillance equipment somehow having evolved into becoming a secret weapon. Attacks obviously imply weapons, so those weapons, whatever they may be, are also simply assumed to be a fact. The only thing left is to let the focus of the narrative be on the culprit: Whodunnit? Where there are attacks and weapons, there has obviously got to be at least one of those evil adversaries. At this point, you can simply dismiss any objection to the attack narrative - we are way beyond that - and talk about the intricacies of Russian intelligence operations and how to respond to them.

An example towards the end of the interview (10:35). Notice how the weapons, and thus the attacks, have already become a fact - they are everywhere - and it's a smooth ride from there to military retaliation:

LiveNOW: Any final thoughts that you would like to share with our viewers, or anything in the moment that the public needs to be fearful of, more aware of, when it comes to some of these (!) advanced weapons?

Hal Kemper: Well, this is one of the, well, first off, it shows the pervasiveness of them. One of the things that the investigation was, they weren't sure if it was Russia, China, maybe North Korea, uh, you know, it was a nation state. Iran was thought about one time. It wasn't quite sure who was behind it.
It was even thought it might be a non-state actor that could be behind it as well. It wasn't sure.

And also, they looked at a variety of other things, uh, natural causes. Unfortunately, they started going towards, well, maybe mass hysteria or something. And obviously, that was not the case. They were being targeted, they were being hit with this, uh, directed-energy weapon, and it was by the GRU.

The issue is, if the GRU are doing this, we have to look at where does this stand under international law?
We now have our personnel, uh, being targeted by Russia around the world. And this gets to the questions of the U.S. response. You know, is this targeting? Does it rise up to, say, an act of war?
And I think that's what the White House has been trying to avoid for quite some time.
There's a lot of hybrid warfare that falls beneath the line, so it would not be unusual that we would say, 'No, this does not rise to that level'.
But it does rise to the level of things, like, maybe not Article 5 of NATO, but possibly article 4 of NATO where they have to confer on a threat. And this was something that happened in a number of NATO nations. So it was common across NATO. So there's a lot of International legal implications to go on with this.

It obviously wasn't MPI! How could it be when we already know that it was attacks!
Notice also how things are posed as questions after they have already been stated as facts:

They were being targeted, they were being hit with this, uh, directed-energy weapon, and it was by the GRU.
The issue is, if the GRU are doing this, we have to look at where does this stand under international law?

But we will talk more about this in Propaganda Technique 102.

 

[dann]

Correction:

It never ceases to amaze me how effective the most plumb propaganda techniques are.

After an afternoon of reading and writing in English, Danish, German and Spanish, an old Danish word, plump, slipped in and was corrected by spell-checking: plump means something like the opposite of sophisticated: primitive, boorish, crude, clumsy, awkward, uncouth ...

 

[dann]

There are still journalists who have read (or at least know about) the ODNI report and the recent NIH reports and don't buy 60 Minutes' story:
Has the Havana Syndrome Mystery Finally Been Solved? (New York Mag, Intelligencer, April 4, 2024)

Intelligence officials are capable of making mistakes, of course. (See: the Iraq War.) The scientific consensus often misses important facts. (See: COVID-19.) But the vast majority of experts who have looked into Havana syndrome concluded, fairly uniformly, that a hostile foreign power is not afflicting people with these symptoms—and we ought to treat this as a fairly robust baseline assumption. That does not mean the alleged victims are faking their symptoms, but just that the symptoms are incredibly common, and can be explained by any number of other things.

Given all this, I was surprised that the 60 Minutes report did not generate more immediate skepticism. National Review penned an editorial in response to the findings that chided President Joe Biden for not responding to this new, sinister Russian threat with enough force. The Wall Street Journal called the report "impressive." USA Today speculated that perhaps the mystery of Havana syndrome's origins had been effectively "solved." (On the other hand, some voices on both the right and left were less impressed, including Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance and progressive writer Jeet Heer.)
Be Skeptical of That 60 Minutes Report on Havana Syndrome (Reason Magazine, April 4, 2024)

(I am not impressed by J.D. Vance's response.)

 

[dann]

It is frustrating that there has never been an open debate between the proponents of the DEW-attack idea and critics like Baloh, Bartholomew, Valdés-Sosa, Della Sala, Douglas Fields, Kevin Fu and Bradley Roth. There have been podium discussions like the one at the Spy Museum, but without exception the participants on that occasion all advocated for the 'syndrome' as a brain-damaging DEW attack: "Tune in to hear perspectives from SPY historian Andrew Hammond, investigative journalist and THE SOUND host Nicky Woolf, former CIA Senior Intelligence Service Officer and sufferer of Havana Syndrome Marc Polymeropoulos, and attorney and advocate Mark Zaid."

Wouldn't it be amazing to see, e.g. David Relman and Robert Bartholomew debate this issue?
Any ideas about how something like that could be arranged?

 

[dann]

This is what Rubio and others like him choose to ignore:

“The available intelligence consistently points against the involvement of a foreign adversary,” said one senior official. “We have a lot of evidence that points the other way.”
(...)
Moreover, the senior official noted that there was increasing evidence that “pointed away” from the idea of hostile foreign involvement.
(...)
Although the Russian Federation has long been viewed as the most likely perpetrator — based on indications that the Russians had been studying the effects of microwaves on the human brain — U.S. officials could find no sign that it actually possessed such a weapon.
U.S. intel officials: 'Very unlikely' that foreign adversary caused Havana syndrome (Yahoo!News, by Michael Isikoff, March 1, 2023)

Michael Isikoff is the guy behind one of the best recent podcast series, the one that got it right: Conspiracyland: The Strange Story of Havana Syndrome (Apple Podcasts)

A short thread on X by Michael Isikov yesterday:

To summarize my argument on @spytalker on the many problems with @60Minutes piece:
1) 7 US intel agencies concluded it was "very unlikely" that a foreign adversary caused "any" #HavanaSyndrome incidents. 5 had "high confidence" The ex-DIA official interviewed was an outlier.
Michael Isikov (X, April 5, 2024)

New SpyTalk Contributing Editor Mike Isikoff pokes holes in 60 Minutes’ blockbuster story.
More Havana Syndrome Questions (SpyTalk on Apple Podcasts)

 

[dann]

The Insider: Nurse Joy, the tall, well-dressed young man and others

I had only read the first few paragraphs of the article from The Insider when I wrote the short post 2,170 about nurse Joy and the tall, well-dressed young man, and I am only halfway through it now.
I am astonished by the lack of curiosity of these so-called investigative reporters. Much like Nicky Woolf, who didn't seem to wonder about the causes of retinal bleeding and electromagnetic hypersensitivity - it was enough for him that it seemed serious and apparently debunked MPI - The Insider's team also don't seem to look into what may have caused the ailments of the 'syndrome' victims - other than their favorite diagnosis: DEWs.

As the story continued, it wasn't nearly as titillating as I had hoped it would be:

Among this investigation’s core findings is the fact that senior members of the unit received awards and political promotions for work related to the development of “non-lethal acoustic weapons,” a term used in Russian military-scientific literature to describe both sound- and radiofrequency-based directed energy devices, as both would result in acoustic artifacts in the victim’s brain.
Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU's assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on Americans, at home and abroad (The Insider, April 1, 2024)

The term acoustic artifacts makes it sound even more like science fiction, and I don't know what it's supposed to mean. It may just be something lost (or added) in translation from Russian.

But let's get back to Joy:

Joy has suffered from headaches every day for the past three years. She has also undergone two surgeries for semicircular canal dehiscence (the appearance of holes in the bony walls that encase her inner ears).

Much like in earlier cases of medical symptoms in the 'syndrome' narrative, I had never heard about this disease. Wiki tells me:

According to current research, in approximately 2.5% of the general population the bones of the head develop to only 60–70% of their normal thickness in the months following birth. This genetic (!) predisposition may explain why the section of temporal bone separating the superior semicircular canal from the cranial cavity, normally 0.8 mm thick, shows a thickness of only 0.5 mm, making it more fragile and susceptible to damage through physical head trauma or from slow erosion. An explanation for this erosion of the bone has not yet been found.
Superior canal dehiscence syndrome: Causes (Wikipedia)

Genetic! And an explanation has not yet been found!!! Was the writer of this Wikipedia article paid by Putin?! We know all too well what causes it, don't we: Russian Unit 29155 with Russian directed-energy weapons!

So what can Wikipedia tell us about the symptoms?

Autophony – person's own speech or other self-generated noises (e.g. heartbeat, eye movements, creaking joints, chewing) are heard unusually loudly in the affected ear
Dizziness/vertigo – chronic disequilibrium caused by the dysfunction of the superior semicircular canal
Tullio phenomenon – sound-induced vertigo, disequilibrium or dizziness, nystagmus and oscillopsia
Pulse-synchronous oscillopsia [oscillopsia]
Hyperacusis – the over-sensitivity to sound
Low-frequency conductive hearing loss
A feeling of fullness in the affected ear
Brain fog
Fatigue
Headache/migraine
Tinnitus – high pitched ringing in the ear

Many of those symptoms are the same as in AHI (see post 2,174) - and in an awful lot of other vestibular diseases.

It turns out that a better term for the 'Havana Syndrome' would have been the 'Frankfurt syndrome', but I doubt that the Senate Committee will agree to change the acronym of the HAVANA Act to the FRANKFURT Act (Finding Random Americans Neurologically Kerfuffled by Frightening Undercover Russian Terrorists). After all, Germany is an NATO ally.

The Frankfurt Attacks

One victim, according to Lenzi and other sources, was a U.S. government employee at the consulate, whom The Insider will call Taylor. For Taylor, the symptoms began as an intense feeling of pressure, which started in the torso and radiated up to the head and neck. Then there was nausea, followed by a “high-pitched squeal.” Taylor raced to a bathroom to vomit before collapsing unconscious on the floor. At St. Marie Hospital, located within minutes of the consulate, Taylor was diagnosed by German doctors on November 4, 2014 with vestibular neuronitis, the sudden onset of vertigo, replete with nausea, vomiting, and a rise in blood pressure. Once back in the United States, Taylor was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury.

Vestibular neuronitis is another one of those medical terms that I never heard about, and once again I had to resort to Wiki:

Vestibular neuritis is inflammation of the vestibular nerve (the nerve in the inner ear that sends messages related to motion and position to the brain). (...) It can occur as a single attack, a series of attacks, or a persistent condition that diminishes over three to six weeks. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, and eye nystagmus.
The cause is often not clear. It may be due to a virus, but it can also arise from bacterial infection, head injury, extreme stress, an allergy, or as a reaction to medication. 30% of affected people had a common cold prior to developing the disease. Either bacterial or viral labyrinthitis can cause a permanent hearing loss in rare cases. This appears to result from an imbalance of neuronal input between the left and right inner ears.
Labyrinthitis (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia mentions virus infections as one of the causes, but considering that the number of 'syndrome' cases all over the world skyrocketed in 2021, I find it particularly interesting that the Cleveland Clinic mentions COVID-19 specifically:

What are the risk factors for vestibular neuritis?
Having a viral infection is the main risk factor for vestibular neuritis. Examples of viral infections include:
Flu (influenza).
COVID-19.
Herpes simplex virus type 1 (the same virus that causes cold sores).
Hepatitis.
Polio.
Measles.
Mumps.
Vestibular Neuritis (ClevelandClinic)

It is obvious that COViD can't have caused the two cases in Frankfurt in 2014, but it may have contributed to many of the post-2019 cases.

I expect to finish reading the article from The Insider today or tomorrow, but so far there has been nothing to suggest that any of the alleged victims of DEW attacks were actually attacked by anything other than general indisposition and/or what the ODNI report described as "factors that did not involve a foreign adversary, such as preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors."

 

[dann]

A fierce battle appears to be going on at Wiki:

This article is currently protected from editing until April 19, 2024 at 18:44 UTC.
See the protection policy and protection log for more details. Please discuss any changes on the talk page; you may submit an edit request to ask an administrator to make an edit if it is uncontroversial or supported by consensus. You may also request that this page be unprotected.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
* This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. (April 2024)
* The neutrality of this article is disputed. (April 2024)
Havana syndrome (Wikipedia)

For the time being, skeptics appear to be in control:

Causes
A review article of 2023 said the scientific literature has proposed several possible causes of Havana syndrome, with the most plausible being a radio frequency weapon, a functional disorder, or a psychogenic origin.[23] A 2024 review said that Havana syndrome was no more that a health scare fuelled by "moral panic", and that Havana syndrome was no more than "a socially constructed catch-all category for an array of pre-existing health conditions, responses to environmental factors, and stress reactions that were lumped under a single label".[24]

Note 24 is a link to Baloh and Bartholomew's article, “Havana Syndrome”: A post mortem (International Journal of Social Psychiatry/PubMed Central, Dec 25, 2023).

For a long time after David Relman's NAS study, Wikipedia's article about the 'syndrome' claimed that DEW attacks were the most plausible explanation. I don't remember when it changed, but it may have been after either the CIA interim report in January '22 or the ODNI report in March '23.

 

[dann]

Dear @ollywiseman
Re your piece today on Havana Syndrome:
Here is the latest debunking of it in Skeptic by Robert Bartholomew (you reference his book but that's 4 years ago). Go to http://Skeptic.com and search "Havana Syndrome" to find more.
IT’S THE RUSSIANS! The Latest 60 Minutes Episode on Havana Syndrome Engages in Tabloid Journalism (Skeptic, April 2, 2024)
Michael Shermer (X, April 4, 2024)

Shermer's tweets with links to Bartholomew's articles really rile up the TIs!
I don't know what 'piece' by Oliver Wiseman he is referring to. I haven't found anything.

If I had watched this story with only a superficial knowledge of Havana Syndrome, I probably would have finished watching the episode convinced that there really have been Russian attacks on Americans using a secret weapon. But the facts point to a far more mundane explanation.
What happened to journalistic integrity? For years many journalists have reported that American citizens have been hit with a mysterious energy weapon. Scott Pelley has filed no less than three such reports for 60 Minutes. At the very least, viewers are entitled to hear from prominent skeptics whose voices were silenced. A news program that interviews eight believers and no skeptics isn’t a news program—it’s propaganda.
IT’S THE RUSSIANS! The Latest 60 Minutes Episode on Havana Syndrome Engages in Tabloid Journalism (Skeptic, April 2, 2024)

 

[dann]

It is frustrating that there has never been an open debate between the proponents of the DEW-attack idea and critics like Baloh, Bartholomew, Valdés-Sosa, Della Sala, Douglas Fields, Kevin Fu and Bradley Roth. There have been podium discussions like the one at the Spy Museum, but without exception the participants on that occasion all advocated for the 'syndrome' as a brain-damaging DEW attack: "Tune in to hear perspectives from SPY historian Andrew Hammond, investigative journalist and THE SOUND host Nicky Woolf, former CIA Senior Intelligence Service Officer and sufferer of Havana Syndrome Marc Polymeropoulos, and attorney and advocate Mark Zaid."

Wouldn't it be amazing to see, e.g. David Relman and Robert Bartholomew debate this issue?
Any ideas about how something like that could be arranged?

Today on X:

I would love to debate Dr. Relman or Mark Zaid or Scott Pelley for that matter - if you can set it up - I would be happy to debate them.
Robert Bartholomew (X, April 7, 2024)

 

[dann]

Podcast with Natalie Shure:

Danny and Derek welcome back Natalie Shure, writer and researcher whose work focuses on history, health, and politics, for an update on where we stand with Havana Syndrome. When Natalie (along with Bob Wright) first chatted with us in December 2021, little was known about the condition. It turns out, we still don’t know much, but stories contending connections with Russian intelligence endure despite the U.S. intelligence community being skeptical of such claims. In this episode, the group discusses the conflicting narratives, the phenomenon of mass sociogenic illness, the government response, the role of Covid and psychosocial factors in the condition, and more.
Special - Havana Syndrome Update w/ Natalie Shure (American Prestige Podcast, April 6, 2024)

Probably good, but ... paywalled.

But there's this short X thread:

I see we’re doing this again. I don’t care how many spooky Russian people your reporting turns up, it doesn’t make them the cause of common symptoms of general malaise!!! this shouldn’t be so hard to understand AND YET
You don’t have to invent imaginary Russian ray guns to explain headaches, tremors, fatigue, or brain fog!!! these symptoms are debilitating but *incredibly common*
symptoms these people are experiencing are real, and are clearly driving suffering. The “victims” are wrongly ascribing these symptoms to imaginary ray gun attacks that never happened. This doesn’t mean they’re “lying” or “crazy.” It means they’re fixated on a false cause
Natalie Shure (X, April 1, 2024)

 

[dann]

"60 Minutes" was the most watched show across all of television in the week of March 25 to March 31 with 10.37 million live and same day viewers, Nielsen data shows, almost 3 million more than the 7.8 million people who watched the Alabama vs. North Carolina NCAA game last Thursday and the 7.3 million who tuned in to watch Duke upset top-seeded Houston on Friday.
Havana Syndrome Episode Made "60 Minutes" The Week's Most Watched Show - Beating UNC And Houston NCAA Games (Forbes, April 6, 2024)

Not as popular as the 60 Minutes interview with Stormy Daniels, which was watched by 22 million people, but still ...
Since not even reporters seem to be aware that not one piece of halfway reliable evidence of Russian attacks on diplomats' brains was shown, I wonder how many of the 10 million viewers noticed. Probably a minority.
Judging by the social media posts I have seen, the war mongers are having a field day, as are the targeted individuals and Mark Zaid. However, the Tis are upset that they still don't get to share the recognition that the Havana cohort and the alleged 'syndrome' victims interviewed by 60 Minutes have received.

 

[dann]

Robert Bartholomew:

The woman said that since the incident she suffers from headaches, “brain fog,” and balance problems, including difficulty walking down stairs and finding the steps, especially at night. These are classic symptoms of vestibular dysfunction, which often become worse at night. The term “brain fog” is a common description given by people suffering from anxiety. Pelley said that the woman was later hospitalized with “holes in her inner ear canals.” Could this have been caused by a directed energy weapon? Perhaps, but there are known conditions that can cause such holes, including perilymphatic fistula, where fluid from the inner ear leaks causing balance problems. It can also be caused by barotrauma from a change in air or water pressure from flying or scuba diving. Other triggers are head trauma and strenuous physical exercise.
Smoke and Mirrors: The 60 Minutes ‘Breakthrough’ on Havana Syndrome Exposed (Skeptic Enquirer, April 3, 2024)

I picked a quotation about nurse Joy, but there is much more, for instance about David Relman.

 

[dann]

Cuban media never wrote much about the 'syndrome'. They knew very early on that it wasn't real, i.e. that no attack had taken place. I have never met anybody in Cuba who thought that U.S. diplomats had been attacked.

El síndrome de La Habana es, verdaderamente, el síndrome de Washington (Granma.cu, April 2, 2024)
The Havana Syndrome is actually the Washington syndrome

The article has been translated into German: Das Havanna-Syndrom ist in Wahrheit ein Washington-Syndrom (Granma.cu, April 3, 2024)
I haven't come across an English translation yet.

Now I have:

WHAT WAS DELETED FROM CBS' STORY
The Cuban diplomat denounced the non-inclusion, in that audiovisual, of the existence of solid scientific reports, commissioned by Donald Trump's government, which had it shelved for two years, such as the Jason Report, which concludes that the symptoms that could have been genuine cannot be attributed to an extraordinary cause, such as an attack, but are linked to natural conditions, to pre-existing diseases or to environmental issues.
She also mentions investigations by the Cuban Academy of Sciences, a committee of Cuban experts, the two reports of the U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Government.

Tablada recalls the words of the U.S. National Intelligence Director, Avril Haines, who confirmed that, as a result of the "exhaustive studies of several national security agencies", there is no evidence to support or confirm that the reported symptoms are due to external actions.
"Also the testimonies of people who were allegedly affected and that have been published by the press in the past are omitted in this story, such as the letter that is made by people who were in Havana at the time, and ask the State Department not to take them away, since they did not feel attacked or in danger. That was also deleted from this story", she added.
Havana syndrome is really Washington syndrome (en.granma.cu, April 4, 2024)

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Watch out for this:

A Double Emergence of Periodical Cicadas Isn’t Cicada-geddon—It’s a Marvel

Late spring and early summer in the forests of the eastern half of the U.S. have been eerily quiet for the past two years. In most years, long-lived periodical cicadas thrum through the region, but a quirk of timing means these insects have been sparse since 2021. This year, though, they’re roaring back.

Expect lots of reports of damaged brains.

 

[dann]

The main problem with cicadas does not appear to be the sound. The main problem seems to be that they stink, literally.
But smells smells are probably even more 'triggering' than sounds.

What’s that smell?
The one aspect of these cicadas that most cicada sites don’t discuss is the odor that their rotting corpses produce, to paraphrase John Cooley. Cicadas can get real funky, and by funky I don’t mean Parliament-Funkadelic funky, or even Red Hot Chilli Peppers funky — I mean “someone filled running sneakers with cheese and pork fried rice and left it in the trunk of their car in July” funky. Cicadas do stink, especially when their bodies pile up at the base of trees, and get soaked with rain, and then baked in the late-spring heat. They smell like a rotten pork roll, bacon, and cheese sandwich to me. They really do. They’re fleshy insects — get a pile of them together, and it’s just like having a rotten pile of meat and fat in your yard.
Where are they now, and what is that smell? (CicadaMania, June 4, 2008)

 

[dann]

For those of you who understand German:
A podcast with the guest physicist Florian Aigner.

Bereits im Sommer 2021 haben wir uns mit dem Havanna-Syndrom beschäftigt.
Zwischenzeitlich hat das Thema im Jahr 2022 und zuletzt vor wenigen Tagen eine größere mediale Aufmerksamkeit erfahren.

Die Fragen bleiben dabei immer die gleichen:
* Was verbirgt sich hinter den Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI)?
* Wer ist dafür verantwortlich – wenn es überhaupt jemanden gibt?
* Wie entstehen die Gesundheitsbeeinträchtigungen?
Wir haben die neuesten Forschungsergebnisse einer internationalen Journalist*innengruppe kritisch gesichtet und bewertet. Für eine kommentierende Einordnung konnten wir den renommierten österreichischen Wissenschaftsjournalisten und Physiker Florian Aigner gewinnen.
Hoaxilla #338 – Havanna Syndrom II (Hoaxilla Podcast, April 8, 2024 - 1:10:14 )

Relevant links in German and English at the Hoaxilla website:
Das Havanna Syndrom in der dt. wikipedia
Zusammfassung des ORF: Neue Theorie zum „Havanna-Syndrom“ (ORF.at, April 1, 2024)
The Insider: Unraveling Havana Syndrome (April 1, 2024)
60 Minutes: Havana Syndrome mystery continues as a lead military investigator says bar for proof was set impossibly high (CBS News, Mar 31, 2024)
Statements of White House, FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence to 60 Minutes (CBS News, March 31, 2024)
Spiegel: Setzten russische Agenten Mikrowellenwaffen gegen US-Diplomaten ein? (paywalled!)
GRU: Glawnoje Raswedywatelnoje Uprawlenije in der dt. wikipedia
Vestibularisstörungen (Vestibular.org)
Der Frey-Effekt in der dt. wikipedia
Die Bücher von Florian Aigner (Amazon.de)

 

[dann]

Mark Zaid Wants War; Jeanne Shaheen Has Become Slightly More Reserved

Zaid doesn't quite get the answer from FBI that he wants, but he is doing his utmost to keep the pot boiling.

FBI Director Christopher Wray was asked about Havana Syndrome and the role of foreign adversaries in these attacks.

Mark Zaid: One threat that you didn't mention was that of Anomalous Health Incidents or AHIs. Uh, full disclosure. I represent a lot of American personnel, including FBI officials, who have been diagnosed with this and are receiving medical treatment from the US government for it and just simple question of what if anything the FBI is doing that you can discuss to try and pursue those who we believe are criminally attacking our person(nel??? dann).

Christopher Wray: Well, I won't, uh. Given your, your role, you will be well familiar with the I the IC's assessment, um, of, of the origin of the tax. But let me be clear, uh, I am firmly convinced and I don't need any persuading that the uh the symptoms and experiences that both our employees and other employees uh of the US government have experienced are, are very real and very serious. That's not an open question. The, the harder part is figuring out just what caused it and whether a foreign adversary is responsible in some way. And we continue throughout the US government to do work on this and to continue to try to pursue leads that come in and so forth, so that that work continues. There's not really much I could talk about in a setting like this on that. But then we're also trying to make sure that we're very focused on um doing whatever we can to try to ensure that our employees have uh the care that they, I think, very much deserve. Uh, the FBI didn't initially get the same authority, for example, that some of the other agencies had gotten. That was changed, and now DoJ uh is, I think, imminently supposed to be putting out regulations that would allow some of these benefits to start flowing. I think that needs to happen as quickly as possible, uh. So we're kind of going at it on two fronts: one is the uh sort of intelligence assessment investigative front, and then the other is the, I guess, what I would call the patient care uh front, so ...
FBI Head: 'Havana Syndrome' Is 'Very Real And Very Serious', Foreign Involvement Remains Unclear (Forbes Breaking News on YouTube, April 9, 2024)

It is unfortunate that Wray pretends that they haven't already figured out what caused 'it' (i.e. the majority of the 1,000+ cases that were investigated and found to be caused by "medical, environmental, and social factors") and that it is still an open question.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence:
We continue to closely examine anomalous health incidents (AHIs), particularly in areas we have identified as requiring additional research and analysis. Most IC agencies have concluded that it is very unlikely a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs. IC agencies have varying confidence levels because we still have gaps given the challenges collecting on foreign adversaries—as we do on many issues involving them. As part of its review, the IC identified critical assumptions surrounding the initial AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC's understanding of this phenomenon, but were not borne out by subsequent medical and technical analysis. In light of this and the evidence that points away from a foreign adversary, causal mechanism, or unique syndromes linked to AHIs, IC agencies assess those symptoms reported by U.S. personnel probably were the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary.
Statements of White House, FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence to 60 Minutes (CBS News, Mar 31, 2024)

Jeanne Shaheen also seems to believe the 60 Minutes story. (The CAPS are hers, and she has abbreviated the transcription slightly):

Shaheen: ONE OF THE THINGS WE SAW WAS THE CBS NEWS INVESTIGATION THAT WAS THE FIRST PUBLIC REPORT THAT POINTED TO EVIDENCE OF RUSSIA'S RESPONSIBILITY AND THE INCIDENCE KNOWN AS HAVANA SYNDROME.
OUR OFFICE HAS BEEN IN TOUCH WITH VICTIMS AND WHAT WE HAVE HEARD FROM A NUMBER OF THOSE VICTIMS IS THEY BELIEVED THAT THERE WAS AN ADVERSARY INVOLVED IN THOSE INCIDENTS. COULD YOU TELL ME, IN LIGHT OF THE REPORTS, DO YOU THINK THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT ITS ASSESSMENT?
YOU HAVE OVERSIGHT OVER DEFENSE AGENCIES, HAVE YOU ENCOURAGE THEM TO TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE REPORTS AND PROVIDED RESOURCES TOWARDS THAT ACTION?

>> I TAKE THE HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF THE FORCE EXTREMELY SERIOUSLY.
I HAVE SPOKEN TO LEADERS IN THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AND ADDRESS THIS ISSUE WITH THEM. THEY HAVE ASSURED ME THEY WILL CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE ANY NEW EVIDENCE THAT PRESENTS ITSELF.
THEY WILL CONTINUE TO ASSESS.
IN MY INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THE OVERALL EFFORT.

SEN. SHAHEEN: DO YOU CONSIDER THE REVELATIONS FROM THAT REPORT THAT INCLUDES THEIR NEWS OUTLETS, THAT WOULD WARRANT FURTHER INVESTIGATION?

>> THEY DO. THEY ARE LOOKING INTO THOSE THINGS. EACH ELEMENT OF THAT REPORT.

SEN. SHAHEEN: THANK YOU, DO YOU HAVE ANY SENSE OF WHEN YOU MIGHT REPORT BACK TO THE COMMITTEE ON WHAT THEY FOUND? DO YOU HAVE ANY TIMELINE FOR THAT?

>> I DON'T. I WILL GET WITH THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY AND GET A FEEL FOR PROGRESS.

SEN. SHAHEEN: I APPRECIATE
Shaheen Questions Secretary Austin on Havana Syndrome Investigation (SenatorShaheen on YouTube, April 9, 2024)

60 Minutes doesn't point to any actual evidence. Shaheen leaves out the may and might that Scott Pelley uses to hide behind, but she uses his trick of hiding behind the alleged victims' statements: "They (!) believed (!) ..."
That is a kind of progress since she (and her Senate colleagues Collins, Warner and Rubio) used to refer to the Havana incidents as actual DEW attacks:

U.S. personnel and their loved ones who’ve fallen victim to these directed energy attacks deserve access to the care they need to recover – full stop,” said Senator Shaheen.
(...)
Symptoms of these directed energy attacks have included severe headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, visual and hearing problems, vertigo and cognitive difficulties, and many affected personnel continue to suffer from health problems years after the attacks. The HAVANA Act will give the CIA Director, the Secretary of State and other agency heads additional authority to provide financial assistance to those suffering from brain injuries as a result of these attacks.
U.S. House Passes Shaheen-Backed Legislation to Support ‘Havana Syndrome’ Victims (Jeanne Shaheen Press Releases, Sep 21, 2021)

It goes without saying that Mark Zaid, his clients and the TIs will nevertheless continue to see Shaheen's questions as confirmation that U.S. personnel abroad and in the USA are being attacked by DEWs that damage their brains. The two YouTube clips above came to my attention because they were posted by TIs on X!

 

[dann]

Robert Bartholomew has been very active this month!

KEY POINTS
* The Havana Syndrome narrative feeds longstanding fears about foreigners and new technology.
* Confirmation bias appears to play a major role by reinforcing existing beliefs.
* Reticence to admit mistakes may be a driving factor behind the recent surge in Havana Syndrome media reports.
Havana Syndrome: A Story That Refuses to Die - Why the myth endures. (PsychologyToday, April 9, 2024)

 

[dann]

Of Fact and Fiction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) announced a hearing next Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at 2:00 PM ET, to receive testimony from experts and former government officials regarding anomalous health incidents (AHIs), also known as ‘Havana Syndrome,’ the symptoms of which have been reportedly experienced by an increasing number of Americans that have been targeted abroad and in the homeland.

“The possible (!) targeting of Americans resulting in anomalous health incidents, especially on U.S. soil, is a chilling reminder of the potential (!) lengths adversarial regimes could go to undermine and disrupt our diplomatic, military, or intelligence activities,” Chairman Pfluger said. “If (!) caused purposefully by foreign actors, these (!) attacks are a clear and blatant violation of our national sovereignty. This Subcommittee has a responsibility to examine these incidents and the potential (!) technology and culprits behind them. I look forward to hearing the testimony from our witnesses and gaining a clearer understanding of this possible threat to our homeland security.”
MEDIA ADVISORY: CHAIRMAN PFLUGER ANNOUNCES SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING TO EXAMINE HOMELAND SECURITY THREATS POSED BY HAVANA SYNDROME (homeland.house.gov, April 11, 2024)

The poor guy is obviously confused by the many stories he has already heard about the syndrome and now he'll have to listen to even more. It reminds me a little of the many times I had students write essays about fiction based on real events and they had difficulties distinguishing between fact and fiction, as would often be the case when they were writing about historical fiction.

My FTFY version of Chairman Pfluger's announcement:
“The possible--> hypothetical targeting of Americans resulting in hypothetical anomalous health incidents, especially on U.S. soil, is a chilling reminder of our constant fear of the hypothetical potential lengths hypotheical adversarial regimes could go to undermine and disrupt our diplomatic, military, or intelligence activities. If actual attacks had actually taken place and were not merely hypothetical and if these hypothetically actual attacks were caused purposefully by hypothetically actual foreign actors, these hypothetical attacks are-->would be a hypothetical clear and blatant violation of our national sovereignty. This Subcommittee has a responsibility to examine these incidents, i.e. the hypothetical attacks, and the potential technology and hypothetical culprits behind them. I look forward to hearing the testimony from our witnesses and gaining a clearer understanding of this possible threat to our homeland security.”


I can empathize with Chairman Pfluger as I used to do with my students because it isn't always easy to distinguish between fact and fiction, and it is particularly difficult when the two become intertwined as in the case of the 'syndrome' narrative.
Unfortunately, this guy doesn't seem to have the skillset that is required for this job. He should seek the assistance of professionals.
I know that James Benford's identical twin brother writes science fiction, but I don't know if he is suited for this particular job. It may not be the best idea considering how important it is in this case to distinguish between things that may appear to be similar but actually aren't.


ETA:

DETAILS:
What: A Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence hearing entitled, “Silent Weapons: Examining Foreign Anomalous Health Incidents Targeting Americans in the Homeland.”
When: Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at 2:00 PM ET
Where: 310 Cannon House Office Building

WITNESSES:
Witnesses will be announced and are by invitation only.
Witness testimony will be added here. The hearing will be livestreamed on YouTube. The hearing will be open to the public and press.

I wonder who the witnesses will be. Scott Pelley's 'syndrome' sufferers? David Relman? And/or the competent investigators from the ODNI and the two JASON reports? Will the committee exclude all actual experts? Will it pretend that these guys don't exist? Baloh, Bartholomew, Valdés-Sosa, Della Sala, Douglas Fields, Kevin Fu, Bradley Roth, Kenneth Foster.

This title is ominous! SILENT WEAPONS: EXAMINING FOREIGN ANOMALOUS HEALTH INCIDENTS TARGETING AMERICANS IN THE HOMELAND

ETA2: It doesn't even make sense on its own terms.
How can AHIs target anybody anywhere?
Aren't AHIs supposed to be the result of targeted attacks?
And if those AHIs are foreign, how can they target Americans in the Homeland?
Are the AHIs confused with the silent weapons? i.e. is it supposed to mean that foreign silent weapons are targeting Americans in the Homeland causing AHIs?

I hope this is some kind of prank.

 

[dann]

Not a prank, apparently.
But the hearing appears to have been cancelled in the announced form:
However, the two links are still up - except for the YouTube link having been deleted, probably because it will no longer be an open meeting, i.e. now behind closed doors.