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Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

theguardian.com

71–80 of 94 posts

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#71
post #60
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_auditory_effect This is the best bet I've seen since this story broke.

White matter is the deep part of the brain. Microwaves wouldn't penetrate more than a couple cm. Personally I think something much more benign is probably the answer. Maybe someone introduced drugs into their food/water? Sometimes a noise is just a noise.

I don't know, if this is some kind of sophisticated multiple-beam system using constructive interference (https://xkcd.com/1922/), it might have more penetrative ability than you'd assume.

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#72

Maybe CIA were testing their new weapon? Diplomats working in Cuba would be the perfect subjects of those tests. CIA would be able to question the victims about the experience and get access to medical records without raising suspicions.

That's absurd. Why would they target diplomats when they could use criminals in foreign countries, or Guantanamo Bay detainees? Why use useful diplomats?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#73
post #4

> As Cuba works to limit damage to its reputation and economy, its government has produced TV specials and an online summit about its own investigation. I guess if is deliberate, it might be interesting to look who would benefit from it? It hurts American diplomats but it also hurts Cuba's position. Would stand to benefit from Cuba looking bad or from hurting the improved relationship between Cuba and US. There was t…

Venezuela, China and the Russia come to mind. Cuba is an incredibly undervalued asset. They have a well educated population, resources and are a political gateway to Latin America, which is an incredibly valuable, undervalued market. When Cuba finally opens up the economy, they are going to be an incredibly strategic target for all of the global power blocs.

North Korea seems to be more likely. If you want to make a statement you can attack an embassy from a country that is both communist and also sanctioned. The implication of the demonstration is that this could be deployed within the US. NK can’t wage a conventional war, but they can wage a guerrilla war against US citizens around the world.

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#74

Maybe CIA were testing their new weapon? Diplomats working in Cuba would be the perfect subjects of those tests. CIA would be able to question the victims about the experience and get access to medical records without raising suspicions.

That's absurd. Why would they target diplomats when they could use criminals in foreign countries, or Guantanamo Bay detainees? Why use useful diplomats?

Because that is the only way to be able to interview the subjects about how they experienced it without raising suspicions.

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's absurd. Why would they target diplomats when they could use criminals in foreign countries, or Guantanamo Bay detainees? Why use useful diplomats?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment

Again, these weren't active diplomats. This was more of an act of racism and terrible ethics by the experimenters.

But the backlash from it caused several changes to the law and the formation of commissions to regulate this kind of behavior.

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#76
post #14

I think it's interesting that this was immediately framed as an "attack," with of course the implication being that the Cuban government attacked American diplomats, since Cuba has so much to lose from attacking diplomats and literally nothing to gain.

Cuba seems to be cooperating with the US during the investigation. Perhaps it was a false flag attack?

there was no flag involved

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#77
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cuba seems to be cooperating with the US during the investigation. Perhaps it was a false flag attack?

Doesn't "false flag" in this scenario indicate the US did this to its own diplomats, in order to frame Cuba (to what end?). I think it's much more like that's it's a third party, either without Cuban knowledge or a don't-ask-don't-tell type of thing. Probably without Cuban knowledge. As others have said, Cuba has very, very little to gain from something like this and a lot to lose.

It doesn't have to be the US. It could easily be Russia or some other country wanting Cuba to take the fall for the attacks

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#78
There's a longer version of this AP report that includes the below quotes. The fact that there were cases of two people in a room where one heard the sound and the other did not was something I had not seen mentioned before. It was a question I had been curious about and would seem to indicate something different going on - rather than an acoustic weapon unexplained by current science that affects some people but not others.

> U.S. officials told the AP that investigators have now determined:

> — The most frequently reported sound patients heard was a high-pitched chirp or grating metal. Fewer recalled a low-pitched noise, like a hum.

> — Some were asleep and awakened by the sound, even as others sleeping in the same bed or room heard nothing.

> — Vibrations sometimes accompanied the sound. Victims told investigators these felt similar to the rapid flutter of air when windows of a car are partially rolled down.

> — Those worst off knew right away something was affecting their bodies. Some developed visual symptoms within 24 hours, including trouble focusing on a computer screen.

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#79
post #27
post #14

I think it's interesting that this was immediately framed as an "attack," with of course the implication being that the Cuban government attacked American diplomats, since Cuba has so much to lose from attacking diplomats and literally nothing to gain.

Cuba has been a long time ally of Russia, and Russia has been aggressively trying to reassert their power on the world stage. The other thing is, that a large part of the spy game is that intelligence agents often work out of embassies. The way the game is played is that as long as intelligence personnel stay in their lane, there's no trouble. The US has spies working out of embassies around the world, and foreign in…

For context, read up on Obama expulsion of Russian "diplomats", and subsequent events leading up to current Mueller investigation.

To track news minute-by-minute:

https://www.memeorandum.com/m/

Re: Brain abnormalities found in victims of US embassy attack in Cuba

#80
post #14

I think it's interesting that this was immediately framed as an "attack," with of course the implication being that the Cuban government attacked American diplomats, since Cuba has so much to lose from attacking diplomats and literally nothing to gain.

The perpetrators are repeatedly performing an activity that hurts specific targets. It's hard not to consider this an attack. I agree that it's probably not Cuba itself doing it though. My own suspects, based on nothing but wild speculation, is that this is Russia, rogue elements in Cuba, China, or the CIA testing experimental technology.

Why would Russia, China, or CIA test it on American diplomats though? They all have access to plenty of people on whom they could test this, in a way that no one would have ever heard about it. Supposing it is some kind of weapon, by testing on American diplomats they just revealed its existence.
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