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'Havana Syndrome': Diplomatic Staff Malaise In Cuba & China—A Sonic Or Microwave Weapon?

And now it hits Colombia.

US officials are investigating possible cases of Havana syndrome illness in Colombia, days before a visit by the Secretary of State, US media say.

US embassy staff in Bogota may have been injured by the mysterious illness, which causes a painful sound in the ears, fatigue and dizziness. First reported in Cuba in 2016, US diplomats around the world have since reported cases of the syndrome. Its origins are unknown, with some speculating it is a type of weapon.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal first reported that emails sent by US Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg confirmed a number of "unexplained health incidents" or UHIs - the term used for Havana syndrome by the US government - since mid-September.

Colombian President Iván Duque told the New York Times that the country is investigating the reports. He added that the US is leading the inquiry.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58893344
 
The widespread reports worldwide is more evidence that this isn't a mysterious weapons technology. It's getting to be like Bigfoot - everywhere and nowhere.

I'd add an anecdote: My husband's COVID condition last March included ringing in the ears, headaches and fatigue. The ringing never really stopped and it bothered him a lot. He has since connected it to overuse of NSAIDs.

See: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/wellness/ears-ringing-check-your-pain-pill-use/
 

Long before Havana Syndrome, the U.S. reported microwaves beamed at an embassy​


/by long before they mean all the way back to the 1970's

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/21/1047...-u-s-reported-microwaves-beamed-at-an-embassy

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"The National Security Agency confirms there is intelligence information from 2012 associating the hostile country to which Mr. Beck traveled in the late 1990s with a high powered microwave system weapon that may have the ability to weaken, intimidate or kill an enemy over time and without leaving evidence," the letter said.

"This weapon is designed to target the living quarters in microwaves, causing numerous physical effects, including a damaged nervous system," the letter added.
 
Check out this eye-opening podcast episode from Faye Flam's Follow the Science.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4NcaNTy8A262ANXcNSkTac
A neurologist says that psychosomatic illness is relatively easy to diagnose. The problem with mass psychogenic illness is that the public and non-specialists find it too hard to digest. They can accept the minor symptoms of stress (headaches, nausea, etc.), but the brain can trigger way more dramatic reactions. Examples are numerous. Anytime you see "mystery illness" affecting many, this is often a signal that mass psychogenic illness is at play.
 
Check out this eye-opening podcast episode from Faye Flam's Follow the Science.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4NcaNTy8A262ANXcNSkTac
A neurologist says that psychosomatic illness is relatively easy to diagnose. The problem with mass psychogenic illness is that the public and non-specialists find it too hard to digest. They can accept the minor symptoms of stress (headaches, nausea, etc.), but the brain can trigger way more dramatic reactions. Examples are numerous. Anytime you see "mystery illness" affecting many, this is often a signal that mass psychogenic illness is at play.
According to this web page 'Sharon,' it seems to suggest that - if there is no obvious answer found to be the cause of such outbreaks, then MPI seems to be the fall-back position?
(If you check out the 'Research' paragraph ~ it states. . . "you find a group of people getting sick, you investigate, you measure everything you can measure … and when you still can't find any physical reason, you say 'well, there's nothing else here, so let's call it a case of MPI.")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness
 
According to this web page 'Sharon,' it seems to suggest that - if there is no obvious answer found to be the cause of such outbreaks, then MPI seems to be the fall-back position?
(If you check out the 'Research' paragraph ~ it states. . . "you find a group of people getting sick, you investigate, you measure everything you can measure … and when you still can't find any physical reason, you say 'well, there's nothing else here, so let's call it a case of MPI.")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness
Wikipedia is rarely up to date on scientific findings. If you listen to the neurologist in this podcast, she states that there are clinical criteria for diagnosing neurological issues because the body acts in predictable ways. After studying many historical incidents of psychosomatic/psychogenic illness, there are now clinical criteria for diagnosing that condition. This was the first I've heard it put this way but it makes sense. We do know with a high degree of certainty that stress conditions cause illnesses.
 
Four new cases attributed to this mystery malaise have been reported from Europe.
'Havana syndrome': US baffled after new cases in Europe

Four more US diplomats working in Geneva and Paris have fallen ill with a suspected neurological illness known as "Havana syndrome", US media report.

Three diplomats became sick in the Swiss city and one in the French capital last summer, with some 200 people affected over five years.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the American government was working to get to the bottom of the mystery. ...

The latest cases include one person who was evacuated from Switzerland to the US for treatment, media reports say. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59986297
 
Is two hundred people a lot for a psychosomatic illness, or is there something physical happening (so to speak)?
 
A small, relatively weak, country with a low GDP is at odds with the USA for ideological reasons, aware the USA's ideological position is utterly opposed to the existance of Cuba in its current form. its admnistration knows it can't match the US on big-ticket military items as it lacks the resurces and the infrastructure to do this. So it thinks creatively and asks what it can do, within its means, to find low-tech low-cost weapons to fight with, ideally things the USA hasn't attempted to create or research and can't easily replicate - things that offer an edge, however small. I'm wndering. Has this effect been replicated among people stationed at Guantamero, the American foothold on the island? Pointing them at the Americans here might be the next stage. If the word gets out the Cubans have some sort of weapon that we don't and it can induce illness from a distance, that's also good psy warfare!
 
Is two hundred people a lot for a psychosomatic illness, or is there something physical happening (so to speak)?
Not at all, considering the internet transmits fears worldwide in an instant.
 
It's definitely real, people are ill. But there is no good evidence at all to conclude it's due to a weapon of any sort.
I'm just wondering, if the so-called 'Havana Syndrome' might somehow be related to affecting some people (exposure wise) by overusing a computer, or mobile device for far too long a period?
Only, I came across some relevant reports (online) that eyes, brain and physical damage can, and does occur by continual overuse, and by being far to close to a screen device, as symptoms seem not that far away from H' Syndrome damage, or so it seems?
 
Curiouser and curioser.

But a CIA official told the BBC's US partner CBS the agency had "so far not found evidence of state-actor involvement in any incident".

Most cases of a mysterious illness striking US officials dubbed "Havana syndrome" were not caused by a foreign power, CIA officials say.
Since 2016, US diplomats around the world have reported symptoms - sparking suggestions Russia, China or another adversary could be responsible.
But a majority of 1,000 cases looked at by the CIA can be explained by stress or natural causes, officials say.
The release of the findings has angered some of those who fell ill.
The CIA is still looking into a small number of unexplained cases, where the role of a foreign power has not been ruled out.
Americans who have been hit by Havana syndrome have described dizziness, headaches and an intense and painful sound in their ears. First reported in Cuba in 2016, cases have since been reported in Geneva, Berlin and elsewhere.

Some US officials have previously suggested the illness could be caused by microwave attacks, fuelling speculation the illness could be a kind of weapon from a foreign actor such as Russia. Moscow has always denied any involvement.

But a CIA official told the BBC's US partner CBS the agency had "so far not found evidence of state-actor involvement in any incident".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60068483
 
Havana Syndrome may be caused by ‘pulsed energy’.

Pulsed electromagnetic energy "plausibly explains" some of the cases of the mysterious "Havana Syndrome" illness, a new US intelligence community report says.

There has been a contentious debate over whether symptoms afflicting US staff around the world were caused by some kind of device or were psychological in nature.
The latest report from a US Intelligence Community panel of experts says the symptoms are "genuine and compelling" and may have been caused by an external source.
But the panel does not look at who might be responsible.
Beginning in Havana, Cuba in 2016, US intelligence officers and diplomats began complaining of an array of unusual symptoms. At first, the claims were largely dismissed within government.
(c) BBC '22
 
As l posted here, China is busily working on “brain control warfare”:

"Brain science is being used to extend warfare in the sphere of human consciousness “causing the brain to become the main target of offense and defense of new concept weapons”.

maximus otter
 
Fran analyses the possibility of the use of technology to produce the Havana syndrome:

 
There was an article in the Torygraph about this on Saturday. In the mag, not the main paper, but even so, interesting it is creeping through the mainstream press.
 
US intelligence: Energy weapons or attacks very unlikely to have caused ‘Havana syndrome’

Just a year after the United States reopened its embassy in Havana, Cuba, in 2015, some diplomats began experiencing a painful ringing in their ears. This “Havana syndrome” was first reported at that embassy in 2016, and included symptoms like dizziness and headaches, incapacitating diplomats and the spies who worked alongside them. It was reported across several embassies over multiple years.

One immediate hypothesis was that the symptoms were the result of a deliberate attack by another nation against the diplomats and spies of the United States. Today, that theory is as close to being fully dismissed as it has ever been. On March 1, the Washington Post reported that five US intelligence agencies determined that Havana syndrome was very unlikely to be the result of action by a foreign adversary.

With the new reporting, while the actual origins of all injuries attributed to it cannot be pinned down, it is safe to say the majority of the intelligence community does not see the symptoms as resulting from malicious action by a hostile nation.

The new report suggests that, while there may be no single explanation for the symptoms, there are likely other, identifiable causes. One possibility, instead of a weapon causing the harm, was simply the conditions of people in an embassy breathing air passing through clogged ducts.

https://www.popsci.com/technology/havana-syndrome-causes-according-to-us-intelligence/

maximus otter
 
US intelligence: Energy weapons or attacks very unlikely to have caused ‘Havana syndrome’

Just a year after the United States reopened its embassy in Havana, Cuba, in 2015, some diplomats began experiencing a painful ringing in their ears. This “Havana syndrome” was first reported at that embassy in 2016, and included symptoms like dizziness and headaches, incapacitating diplomats and the spies who worked alongside them. It was reported across several embassies over multiple years.

One immediate hypothesis was that the symptoms were the result of a deliberate attack by another nation against the diplomats and spies of the United States. Today, that theory is as close to being fully dismissed as it has ever been. On March 1, the Washington Post reported that five US intelligence agencies determined that Havana syndrome was very unlikely to be the result of action by a foreign adversary.

With the new reporting, while the actual origins of all injuries attributed to it cannot be pinned down, it is safe to say the majority of the intelligence community does not see the symptoms as resulting from malicious action by a hostile nation.

The new report suggests that, while there may be no single explanation for the symptoms, there are likely other, identifiable causes. One possibility, instead of a weapon causing the harm, was simply the conditions of people in an embassy breathing air passing through clogged ducts.

https://www.popsci.com/technology/havana-syndrome-causes-according-to-us-intelligence/

maximus otter
It has always been my guess that they would find nothing because there are too many potential causes but NO secret super sonic weapon that could do all the extreme things they claim of Havana Syndrome. However, it's also my guess that this will never be officially "resolved" in the public eye. People want to believe in extreme explanations instead of mundane ones. See, UFOs.
 
It has always been my guess that they would find nothing because there are too many potential causes but NO secret super sonic weapon that could do all the extreme things they claim of Havana Syndrome. However, it's also my guess that this will never be officially "resolved" in the public eye. People want to believe in extreme explanations instead of mundane ones. See, UFOs.
Totally agree. I personally subscribe to the most boring explanations when it comes to government stuff. This may be because I am a UK civil servant who just doesn't think my colleagues are mentally capable of the evil genius sometimes ascribed to them. It means that when something outlandish is proven beyond doubt it is the most incredibly delicious meal of surprise and delight.
 
Totally agree. I personally subscribe to the most boring explanations when it comes to government stuff. This may be because I am a UK civil servant who just doesn't think my colleagues are mentally capable of the evil genius sometimes ascribed to them. It means that when something outlandish is proven beyond doubt it is the most incredibly delicious meal of surprise and delight.
Wonder if this outbreak has similarities with the Havana Syndrome, or just coincidence of yet another unknown mystery of cause?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/indian-mystery-illness-over-300-hospital/
 
That time when it really was a microwave weapon.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/03/10/russians-americans-microwaves-00086482

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There was one thing, though, that hung in the back of Schumaker’s mind. A year before his arrival, State Department officials had told embassy staffers and their families that the Soviet Union had been blasting some kind of microwave beam at the embassy for up to 14 hours per day. But American higher-ups said there was little reason for concern. Issuing a “Fact Sheet,” the State Department said that this microwave beam — later dubbed the “Moscow Signal” — was “no cause for concern,” as “no causal relationship had been established between these microwave transmissions and any health problems.”
....
It was only years later, when Schumaker received a surprise leukemia diagnosis — and after multiple American ambassadors had already died from cancer, with the another diagnosed with a “severe blood disorder” — that Schumaker realized that microwave radiation, and the U.S.’s lackadaisical response, was far more disastrous, and even fatal, than he ever thought. And in recent months, that realization only deepened, for a pair of reasons.
 
Two new medical studies have found that US government officials suffering from Havana syndrome symptoms did not show any discernible physical damage or alteration.
That shoots down that claims made in the poorly done and widely criticized previous study that said they had discernable brain changes.
The previous study of the people said to be suffering from the condition did not use a control group. This study did and that was significant. (Several commentators noted that this was going to be the ultimate conclusion which supports a psychosomatic cause.) Interesting that there was an additional level of unethical behavior in the previous studies: "Several of my clients were told they had to participate in the study if they wanted to receive medical treatment for their injuries, a significant faux pas in a medical arena that promotes informed consent,” he said.
 
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