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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.

7 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Damn that Roadrunner... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Another mishipment by the ACME Corporation.

  2. An eye for an eye? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "They sent us some Kanye West cd's, let's pay them back in kind"...?

  3. 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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    "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
  4. Doubtful it was the Cubans by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think it is very doubtful it was the Cuban government. They want money from the USA, in the form of tourism, the ability for people in the USA to send money back home to family in Cuba, etc. Obama already set all that in motion and gave it to them for free (IE without any worthwhile conditions or concessions from the Cuban government). The Castros should be tickled pink with the state of things - they still have full control, yet are now getting some respect and official acknowledgement from the superpower next door, and money, goods and services are beginning to flow into their country.

    So it makes absolutely no sense for them to do something as petty as this - injuring diplomats from the USA for no good reason whatsoever, with the only possible result being harm to relations between the two countries. If the Cuban government didn't want these diplomats there, they would simply tell them to leave - it is a dictatorship after all.

    IMO this is the action of some other government, with sophisticated technology and deep covert capability, doing this because it is in their best interest for Cuba and the USA to not have good relations. I'll leave the exercise of figuring out who those players could be to you.

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    Better known as 318230.
  5. Same thing happened at the Canadian Embassy. by Dr+Caleb · · Score: 5, Informative

    Global Affairs Canada has confirmed at least one Canadian diplomat in Cuba has been treated in hospital after suffering headaches and hearing loss.

    The information comes a day after the U.S. government said it believed some of its diplomats in Havana had been targeted with a covert sonic device that left them with severe hearing loss.

    The Canadian diplomat's family members were also affected and treated.

    "We are aware of unusual symptoms affecting Canadian and U.S. diplomatic personnel and their families in Havana. The government is actively working - including with U.S. and Cuban authorities - to ascertain the cause," said Brianne Maxwell, a Global Affairs Canada spokesperson.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

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    "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
  6. 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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    On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
  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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    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings