US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'
I find it hard to decide where this belongs:
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Your headline belongs in the bin. The rest of the OP deals with rather an interesting series of happenings in Cuba. You might just have got more response if your title had reflected the events.
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Alien Attack? Mass Hysteria? Conspiracy?
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Alien attack is absurd. Mass hysteria among trained diplomats is unlikely. So it's probably conspiracy rather than either of the other two. Quote:
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I have read about this strange story a few weeks ago and really wondered why there was no thread here already.
No one has a guess about what this could have been? I mean the technical explanation, not who or why. |
I'm torn between mass hysteria and maybe something real. But I certainly don't accept this is a real thing just yet. I've seen too many similar maladies like people with multiple chemical sensitivities and the majority of people who think they've been poisoned by mold.
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theprestige: Why is mass hysteria (allegedly) unlikely among trained diplomats?
Let's take a look at the symptoms: "Some felt vibrations, and heard sounds — loud ringing or a high-pitch chirping similar to crickets or cicadas." When I'm in Cuba and hear chirping similar to crickets or cicadas, I usually suspect them to be caused by … crickets or cicadas - unless I've been to a salsa or rumba concert the night before and forgot to bring ear plugs. "vibrations", "grinding noises" Yes, now and then I hear those too, in Copenhagen or in Havana, but in Havana probably more so since it is a very noisy place. "Some victims awoke with ringing in their ears" Cause or effect? These are the symptoms of tinnitus Quote:
Tinnitus seems to decrease when there are other kinds of background noise, or when you stop focusing on it. http://sjogrensworld.org/forums/index.php?topic=14696.0 I don't understand why they appear to have refrained from investigating these alleged noises and vibrations in Havana at the time when they occurred. By the way, I myself suffer from hearing loss, but I'm not a diplomat. My ear doctor claims that it is congenital and age-related, so until now it really didn't occur to me to blame the Cubans. :) |
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Cicada infestation - 140dB
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I snipped the rest of your post because I can't figure out how it's relevant. Can you summarize your thesis? This signature is intended to irradiate people. |
US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'
What is really going on here?
The US State Department is claiming that, over the last year or so, several of the U.S. Embassy staff in Cuba are suffering from 'health attacks' of a mysterious nature that penetrated invisibly through the walls of their residences. 2 Cuban diplomats were expelled in retaliation in May when the Cubans didn't take action to protect the Embassy staff. It started with 1 or 2 Americans affected, then a Canadian was added, and is now up to 21 members of mostly American staff and family that claim they also suffered attacks at home and hotels, mostly at night, with a wide array of differing scenarios and symptoms. So far, no one can offer a reasonable method or motive. Science has no explanation. Castro requested an urgent meeting with a US envoy and was uncharacteristically gracious about an FBI investigation. He welcomes them to come. This response is surprising to the U.S. experts as Cuba has never done anything like this. Even our allies do not throw open the door to the FBI. As for Trump, he is quiet. Today, SoS Tillerson said the potential closing of the Embassy is under review: Quote:
I am highly skeptical that any 'real' attacks at all took place but none of the media reports are questioning it. |
I just posted about this in US Politics (had not seen this thread).
The political (over)reaction and lack of skepticism is what I find most interesting. We'll see how it plays out. My take: there are no 'remote attackers' to be found in this story. |
Yesterday I was watching some YT vids, and in one (an MSNBC report? Can't recall) this story was highlighted. Apparently the 'attack' would seem to be sonic, and pretty tightly focused. Supposedly some individuals have suffered some medically diagnosed hearing degradation. One of the American personnel reported a rough, screeching sound while in bed that would not be heard out of bed.
It was mentioned that the Cuban government was most willing to have the FBI send investigators down to look into it. Early days, yet; be interesting to see where this goes... |
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Russia develops weapons for the future Quote:
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I predict it will turn out to be BS, I've seen it before when people think the new carpet at work or some mold in their walls is causing a mysterious illness.
Yes, it's possible there will be something to this, I give it ~1% odds. :rolleyes: But I'm not going to buy into it just because the news media is reporting it as if it is something more than hysteria. |
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Some years ago I read about the East German "Stasi" using low frequency "infrasonic" sound waves to disturb foreign diplomats and people they suspected of being spies. (I don't have a reference, sorry)
Given that this is a US diplomat in an "unfriendly" country that had close ties with the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War, this sort of malarkey would not surprise me. Infrasonics can cause people to feel strange and upset. |
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Sadly, now that the news media has taken it seriously it's going to be hard to get valid medical data on these folks. |
Personalizing? :confused: :boggled:
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Another Thread about this in Science, Math, Med & Tech.
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The other injuries will follow knowledge of the first ones and will have been 'medically confirmed" through self-reporting. There will be no children affected. The union rep will support claims 100%. And I think Castro knows all of this already which is why he welcomes the FBI to find the answer. |
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As for intelligent educated adults being susceptible to hysteria, it's well documented. As for personal expertise, actually it is part of my field, occupational health. Workplace hysteria is an uncommon but not unheard of problem. Peter Sandman has done some important work in the field. Some of you may remember the outbreak of events where schools and a 911 dispatch center were not only closed but the buildings torn down over mold fears. If the initial crisis is not handled properly the hysteria cascades out of control. Are there ever health issues with mold? Yes, but not the overreaction that occurs on a regular basis. |
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The "news media" isn't pulling stuff out of thin air. Foreign Service officers belong to a professional association/union, and that group sounded the first alarms. Injuries like hearing loss and brain injury can be measured objectively. And there's some evidence that they were injured in their homes, not in the office. At least one Canadian diplomat was also affected. https://www.voanews.com/a/us-diploma...a/4012333.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/01/politi...cks/index.html There's no reason to think that this isn't real. Who's responsible is a different question. |
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There's also the matter of some medically-verifiable long term symptoms the alleged victims have suffered. The actual, apparently permanent, hearing degradation some of them have experienced may typically accompany tinnitus (I don't know); but it was reported that some of the alleged victims, including one of the Canadians, were diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury (i.e., concussions, or something that presented like a concussion). I don't think tinnitus could do that a person. It's my understanding, though, that some things which are capable of causing concussions, can also cause tinnitus. |
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How thorough is thorough - "brain scans"? |
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I'm not a sciencelord, but one thing I read quoted some scientist who worked with sonic stuff and he said the only way this would happen as a result of sonic..uh, stuff...is if the victims had been underwater at the time. They said air just doesn't transmit enough to do this kind of thing.
They suggested it could be the result of radiation, though. Focused radiation beam? Perhaps it's listening devices gone bad. |
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