Havana Syndrome : Best Explanation?

[El Presidente]

You wouldn't think it could all be a crock of crap. It also doesn't appear to be a deliberate targetting as it is happening in multiple locations including the US. 

Best explanation? 

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/two-u-s-diplomats-be-evacuated-vietnam-after-havana-syndrome-n1277539

 

At least two U.S. diplomats will be medically evacuated from Vietnam after “Havana Syndrome” incidents were reported over the weekend in the capital city of Hanoi ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ arrival, according to two senior U.S. officials.

The cases caused a brief delay in Harris’ scheduled trip to Vietnam late Tuesday evening local time. The vice president’s office said Harris’ delegation was delayed from departing Singapore because of the report of a “recent possible anomalous health incident” in Hanoi.

 

The two officials confirmed that Harris’ office was referring to the so-called Havana Syndrome, the term used for a rash of mysterious health incidents that have afflicted U.S. personnel in Cuba and elsewhere.

 

[PartagasIV]

Undecided on root cause, but I prefer to think of it as "Leaving Miyo y Tuyo at 5AM Four Days Running Syndrome."

[SpecialK]

I believe it's real... and the weapon whatever it is has to be compact and easily made with materials that on their own represent no perceived threat upon a first look..

[RolandHeadlessGunner]

I have a hard time believing it's just an attempt to cook brains. What's the point of that? Plus, if it's a demo, the point has been made. Unless the perpetrator is waiting for U.S. intelligence to write up a top-secret report of the effects, which they will then pilfer and read at their leisure. 

If I was going really dark to look for an explanation, I would say the Chinese (who are crushing Russia in tech advances) are testing out some mind reading equipment. 

It really is a mystery. 

[Fuzz]

Best way to test an ultra secret new weapon? Test it on your own people and then blame another country on the "attack".

[RolandHeadlessGunner]

"The ray….it's coming from inside the house!"

[Arctic Dude]

Shared Psychotic (Delusional) Disorder. Or…maybe not. 

[Chas.Alpha]

[El Presidente]

Russian embassy Havana is indeed impressive.......but it won't reach vietnam 😁

[Chas.Alpha]

No, but it’s occupants will... 🤔

[Corylax18]

3 minutes ago, El Presidente said:

Russian embassy Havana is indeed impressive.......but it won't reach vietnam 😁

Come on Rob, conspiracy theories aren't fun if you don't get creative. They could definitely be bouncing radio waves off the troposphere and hitting anywhere on the planet. 😆

[Edicion]

North Korea has a presence in many of those countries including Cuba. Just saying.

[Cigar Surgeon]

An interesting article from the BBC. Professor James Lin thinks it's microwave attacks, so not quite as advanced as others have theorized.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-58396698

 

Quote

 

In the 1970s, Prof Lin set to work conducting his experiments at the University of Washington.  He sat on a wooden chair in a small room lined with absorbent materials, an antenna aimed at the back of his head. In his hand he held a light switch. Outside, a colleague sent pulses of microwaves through the antenna at random intervals. If Prof Lin heard a sound, he pressed the switch.  

A single pulse sounded like a zip or a clicking finger. A series of pulses like a bird chirping. They were produced in his head rather than as sound waves coming from outside. Prof Lin believed the energy was absorbed by the soft brain tissue and converted to a pressure wave moving inside the head, which was interpreted by the brain as sound. This occurred when high-power microwaves were delivered as pulses rather than in the low-power continuous form you get from a modern microwave oven or other devices.

 

 

 

[mprach024]

Diplomats with really bad hangovers from being out drinking on a bender.  Next day....blame Havana Syndrome

[cybermadhatter]

I read a legit article in the USA 2 years ago, that it was cicadas and other insects, and hysteria (being scared and anxious  of what someone theorized what nefarious thing it might be).   It may have been Newsweek, and they intimated it was fear playing mental tricks.  
—

Nope 

 

—-

last time I was in vedado, I just assumed it was the Russians? and I was not important enough.  

[dominattorney]

7 hours ago, mprach024 said:

Diplomats with really bad hangovers from being out drinking on a bender.  Next day....blame Havana Syndrome

Accidentally ingest some wood alcohol....

[Corylax18]

6 hours ago, cybermadhatter said:

I read a legit article in the USA 2 years ago, that it was cicadas and other insects, and hysteria (being scared and anxious  of what someone theorized what nefarious thing it might be).   It may have been Newsweek, and they intimated it was fear playing mental tricks.  
—

Nope 

 

—-

last time I was in vedado, I just assumed it was the Russians? and I was not important enough.  

There is no shortage of "Theories" and Feelings here and that's the main problem. Its all Theories and feelings at this point. There simply isnt any science that backs up all these vastly different and un related symptoms caused all over the planet. The diplomat running the investigation said as much, several times. So they fired her and found someone willing to go along with "the story." The CIA fired their Vienna station chief because he "wasn't taking this seriously enough." It seems like they've reached a conclusion and are now building the investigation to match the desired result.

I was staying at an Apartment across the street from the Hotel Capri when the first Diplomats started reporting they had been attacked there. Literally 50 yards away from where these people where "attacked" on the days they where "attacked". They where blaming it on the Mosquito fogging they did in that Neighborhood over a 2 day period. So we should believe inhaling burning rubber/diesel fuel and a "highly sophisticated, directed-energy attack" generate the same symptoms? Drinking too much generates the same symptoms too. Lots of things can generate lots of the symptoms on the now page long list of them. 

Its been 5 years, but the best funded investigative agencies on the planet still haven't found a single shred of evidence. Nothing, at all, anywhere on the planet. I think its well past time to find a new boogey man. 

[Chibearsv]

[GolfT3]

I’ve got a number of state dept/foreign service friends and very few degrees of separation from some of those impacted, it’s no joke. The person running the investigation was fired because she coined it mass hysteria without consulting the interviewing physicians, all of whom said mass hysteria was, at best, incredibly unlikely.  That was her solution to a difficult problem she didn’t want to deal with, an easy out. The first dozen cases were reported with extremely similar symptoms by people who could not have contacted or discussed their symptoms with each other prior to reporting them.

I’m not saying every suspected case is legitimate, and I’m not saying it’s Russia, but someone is screwing with our FSOs. Anyone with any actual knowledge of diplomatic work and foreign service knows that other countries do things to disrupt the lives of our diplomats and FSOs all the time (slashing tires, directed noise/light pollution, tailing, breaking into apartments or hotel rooms). The idea that this is a new approach in the same vein shouldn’t be hard to believe at all.

[Fuzz]

When the man upstairs cuts your budget, making it look like you're under attack, so you can get an increase in your budget above pre-cut numbers. Bonus dollars if you add injury to sell the story.

[Cigar Surgeon]

11 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

When the man upstairs cuts your budget, making it look like you're under attack, so you can get an increase in your budget above pre-cut numbers. Bonus dollars if you add injury to sell the story.

If it was only happening to Americans, possibly. But it's been happening to Canadian diplomatic staff as well. 

[Corylax18]

44 minutes ago, GolfT3 said:

The first dozen cases were reported with extremely similar symptoms by people who could not have contacted or discussed their symptoms with each other prior to reporting them.

12 people working at the same place, living in the same area(some in the same home), doing similar jobs couldn't have contacted each other or discussed symptoms? Ok.....

Even the government's own reports are clear about discussions had with Neighbors and family members of the issues(weird, loud, mechanical sounds being heard), months before they where reported to the press. People supposedly complained to the front desk at the Hotel Capri as well. 

She said it was Mass Hysteria because that's what most of the early reports stated, and there hasn't been anything other than 1 low quality and now ignored Cat Scan study to support the claims.

There simply isn't a sound Scientific or Medical explanation that aligns with the huge range of symptoms and huge range of timeframes that these symptoms are reportedly experienced. Lots of scientist (independent ones, not those on the government payroll) have agreed. 

After a while, we're going to need more than: "I know they did it." We can even come up with what "It" is, let alone provide a single word of solid evidence to support that "It" was done by a foreign actor, maliciously.

Again, its been YEARS and the highest paid/most sophisticated investigators on the planet haven't generated anything of substance, at all. So why are we still ignoring the science? Why are we still ignoring the medical professionals? So we can keep listening to the "diplomats" (Spies) who need this narrative to live to ensure they have a job?  

[rjake100]

This article summarizes a segment I saw on "60 Minutes" (US news show) a while back.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brain-trauma-u-s-diplomats-abroad-60-minutes-2021-06-27/

It raises more questions than it answers.  The part I found most interesting was the claim that the NSA put out a statement about a "microwave system weapon" in 2014, and then a few years later NSA employees suit-up, claiming to have been victim to the weapon they warned about.

I am not sure what to believe.

 

A clue that supports that theory was revealed by the National Security Agency in 2014. This NSA statement describes such a weapon as a "high-powered microwave system weapon that may have the ability to weaken, intimidate, or kill an enemy over time without leaving evidence." The statement goes on to say "…this weapon is designed to bathe a target's living quarters in microwaves." The NSA disclosed this in a worker's compensation case filed by former NSA employee Mike Beck.

[GolfT3]

19 minutes ago, Corylax18 said:

 So why are we still ignoring the science? Why are we still ignoring the medical professionals? So we can keep listening to the "diplomats" (Spies) who need this narrative to live to ensure they have a job?  

Likely because the scientists and physicians studying the issue (most of whom are not government employees) disagree with your analysis. Namely the Stanford neurologists who came up with the radio wave theory as it fits the most common symptoms the most closet. The Stanford neurology team has also directly assessed many of the victims while many of the naysayers have not.
 

The idea that the CIA, State Department, and Nat Sec budgets need Havana Syndrome in order to get a few extra million dollars in funding and save some jobs? The government throws out money for nothing and can’t fire careerists for literally anything. Unlikely.

I’m sure that we are already deep into agree to disagree territory though, different perspectives on this one.

 

[Enduin]

While it's established that a psychological or psychosomatic phenomenon can explain a wide range of "issues", I feel very wary with labeling health issues as psychological in etiology unless there is some VERY good evidence for it. Kind of like an innocent until proven guilty sort of deal. This is because it's all too easy for medical professionals to label as "psychosomatic" anything that they don't understand (which is a lot), which routinely results in some very real and very disabling illnesses to be ignored.

Case in point: my wife had to go to the hospital a couple of months ago due to extreme abdominal pain, which also caused her to hyperventilate. After running some bloodwork and an EKG they gave her Valium and discharged her 6 hours later with a "panic attack" diagnosis. She has no history of panic attacks and they completely ignored her severe pain. They couldn't find the issue so it had to be psychological in nature. After we saw more doctors in the following week it turned out that she has gallstones. Go figure.

This is to say it certainly is a possibility that some sort of mass hysteria COULD be the cause of those symptoms, but it could also be a plethora of other things. Not necessarily things deployed intentionally either. We keep discovering new things that make us sick. For all we know those "spies" could have been given something by the government (a piece of technology or a drug) that unexpectedly resulted in those symptoms.