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Hearing Loss of US Diplomats In Cuba Is Blamed On Covert Device (bostonglobe.com)

bsharma shares a report from The Boston Globe: The two-year-old U.S. diplomatic relationship with Cuba was roiled Wednesday by what U.S. officials say was a string of bizarre incidents that left a group of American diplomats in Havana with severe hearing loss attributed to a covert sonic device. In the fall of 2016, a series of U.S. diplomats began suffering unexplained losses of hearing, according to officials with knowledge of the investigation into the case. Several of the diplomats were recent arrivals at the embassy, which reopened in 2015 as part of former President Barack Obama's reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba. Some of the diplomats' symptoms were so severe that they were forced to cancel their tours early and return to the United States, officials said. After months of investigation, U.S. officials concluded that the diplomats had been exposed to an advanced device that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences. It was not immediately clear if the device was a weapon used in a deliberate attack, or had some other purpose.

8 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Remind me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    > Odumba had no clue about foreign policy.

    As opposed to... what?

  2. Re:Remind me... by kilfarsnar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the commies are harming our diplomats, why did Odumba normalize relations with them? As usual, Odumba had no clue about foreign policy. Castro may be dead, but the antics haven't changed. I expect the Democrats to attack me for asking this, but the question needs an answer.

    Yeah, you seem like you're up for a reasoned, civil debate...

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  3. Re:Well, that's done then by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We might want to determine who was behind the attack first, rather than simply assuming it was the Cuban government. For one thing, I can't imagine what motive the Cuban government would have for attacking American diplomats at a time when Cuba is trying to normalize relations with the USA. (I can imagine other parties wanting to sabotage that relationship, though)

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  4. Re:Poorly maintained local electronics? by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are millions and millions of transformers all over the world, in countries far poorer than Cuba, and they have been in use over the course of a hundred years. If this was remotely realistic (a transformer going bad or being repaired in such a way that it could cause subaudible soundwaves that damage hearing but in such a subtle way that no one notices it happening) then it would have been encountered many times before. Think of it - any time you would have an entire family of people going deaf at the same time, there would be extensive investigation into the cause, even in a third world country. If anything it would at least make the news, even if the cause was not found.

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  5. Re:Well, that's done then by Minupla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Cubans did

    Citation needed. The apparent attack happened in Cuba, it does not follow that it was perpetrated by the Cuban authorities, any more then an attack on a diplomat on US soil is assumed to be caused by the CIA. It might be, but at this point it appears to be he-said, she-said.

    Min

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  6. Re: Poorly maintained local electronics? by elcor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That or ultrasonic mosquito repellents. A 35$ pest repellent gives me headache and killed my high frequency earing.

  7. Re:Remind me... by Kjella · · Score: 5, Insightful

    LOL, where do you guys get this stuff?

    For most of us there's a clear barrier between imagination and reality, dreams and being awake, fact and fiction. For some, that barrier is broken. You can see that there's "fashions" in lunacy, like after Roswell lots of people claimed to have been abducted by aliens. People read about being abducted by little grey men, then they get abducted by little grey men. A lot of the seed stories aren't created by loons though, like for example there's good indication that Roswell was about making money. And it worked extremely well, maybe they weren't exactly your average tourist but a lot of people came and spent a lot of money they'd never have otherwise.

    Which is why I'm pretty sure most of the political conspiracy theories are plants, because even if they're nuts at some point Obama had to spend time and resources disputing the lunacy. And once the ball is rolling everyone can add their own flavor. Father born in Kenya? Let's start a birther theory. Middle name Hussain? Let's start some theories that he's a Muslim... and a terrorist. Black man? Let's start some "Malcom X" theories for white people, some "Uncle Tom" theories for black people. Probably some Illuminati/NWO too, that works for all people in power. The conspiracy theorists tend to love it when you pile it on. And once you get a big enough ball rolling, you start setting off the "no smoke without fire" alarms even in more reasonable people.

    The Internet has been a great boon for conspiracy theorists, because even though it's made people with very narrow interests make contact with like-minded all over the world it's also enabled echo-chambers with their entirely own alt-reality. And a lot of people think doing "research" on say #pizzagate is reading all the drivel and watching all the YouTube videos about it. Then you have the semi-reputable sites like Breitbart feeding the fire by keeping an arm's length distance from the actual conspiracies while driving people to them. So plants are the spark, conspiracy nuts the kindling and alt-sites bring the firewood. And the rest of the world wonders why the fires are so hard to put out...

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  8. Re:Remind me... by MightyMartian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I don't know at this stage how anyone could think the Russians didn't try to meddle with the election. The Russians have also attempted to muck about with recent European elections as well. The Russians are not the West's friends, and seeking division and chaos among the Western powers is critical, seeing as economically they are a midget, and even militarily they could not hope to meet the power of NATO. They have nukes, cheap oil and hackers.

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