Havana Syndrome

[ex-khobar Andy]

For years now the prevailing wisdom has been that Havana Syndrome is really only mass hysteria in a new format and possibly just a new vehicle for lawsuits designed to get USG payouts for frivolous claims.

I'm normally cautious when I see this sort of stuff on the intertubes but this has, at least on first reading, the appearance of being legit.

https://theins.ru/en/politics/270425

The Insider has a lengthy piece on this titled "Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU's assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on U.S. officials and their families." I haven't been to all the links and they have not provided all the evidence (some of it they just say 'leaked') but it is compelling and has the appearance of being well researched. Basically their conclusion is that the mysterious nausea, headaches and mental turmoil suffered by (mainly) US diplomats going about their lawful (?) business in such places as Havana, Tbilisi, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, et al is due to a microwave or acoustic weapon developed and used by Russia's Unit 29155. This is an arm of GRU (successor to the KGB) which does the dirty deeds which mainstream GRU's dainty hands will not touch - such as Novochuk assassinations of targets in Salisbury, England and elsewhere.

It's worth a read.

[Burning Petard]

I think there is a heavy case of self pride here. As a very young kid I was sold a bill of goods on the superiority of the good ol' USA in everything. Japan only made cheap junk. Then in 1961 I was shocked to see parked on the street in Germany a Honda motorcycle with the tach clearly redlined at 9,000 RPM. Before that everybody knew Lysenko was the height of Russian science until we all heard the sound of Sputnik beeping over our head.

"The prevailing wisdom " seems to me to be heavily blinded by the assumption that if 'we' cannot figure it out, then nobody else can possibly have weaponized it. Must be all in their heads."

snailgate

[BoSoxGal]

On a related topic, what do people think are the source of the unidentified flying anomalies that US government has finally openly acknowledged?

Is is some kind of new technology our rivals have figured out long before us, or are we being visited by highly intelligent beings as they do advance planning to harvest our Earth's resources?

[liberty]

I think there is a heavy case of self pride here. As a very young kid I was sold a bill of goods on the superiority of the good ol' USA in everything. Japan only made cheap junk. Then in 1961 I was shocked to see parked on the street in Germany a Honda motorcycle with the tach clearly redlined at 9,000 RPM. Before that everybody knew Lysenko was the height of Russian science until we all heard the sound of Sputnik beeping over our head.

"The prevailing wisdom " seems to me to be heavily blinded by the assumption that if 'we' cannot figure it out, then nobody else can possibly have weaponized it. Must be all in their heads."

snailgate

That is dangerous thinking; that is the kind of thinking that will kill freedom. Most people, civilians, can't see it but I feel certain that wars are won and lost long before the first shot is ever fired.

Here I've posted an excerpt from an article. I provided the link so you can read the whole thing if you want. But this is the part to think about. Please set aside your liberal Orthodoxy and think about it:

John Kerry and US military rot (msn.com)

Data aside, I encourage the reader to perform a thought experiment in the privacy of his own home. If, as several Republican presidential hopefuls recently urged, the United States were to use military force against Mexico’s drug cartels, is it at all likely that we would win that war? Or consider the China conflict into which we are sleepwalking. Can the American military, in anything like its current form, really be expected to defeat a disciplined, ruthless superpower in its own backyard, 8,000 miles from our shores?

[MajGenl.Meade]

If, as several Republican presidential hopefuls recently urged, the United States were to use military force against Mexico’s drug cartels, is it at all likely that we would win that war?

No, because it's unwinnable. Mexico is a sovereign nation at peace with the USA. To invade Mexico would be an act of aggression condemned worldwide (including in the USA) and quite rightly

Or consider the China conflict into which we are sleepwalking. Can the American military, in anything like its current form, really be expected to defeat a disciplined, ruthless superpower China in its own backyard, 8,000 miles from our shores?

No, because it's unwinnable. The article you quote ends by exhorting the army to go win a war so it becomes popular again. So it seems the "conservative" writer and you would like the US armed services to go beat up Luxembourg

Can hardly believe I'm taking this rubbish with anything like respect

[Burning Petard]

No amount of military action in Mexico, Columbia or even China will 'win the war on drugs.' The flow of illegal drugs is powered by the almighty dollar and the high demand for that product. As long as the demand is there on the streets of America, somebody will supply it.

snailgate.

[Big RR]

Agreed, so long as the demand exists and the profit is high enough, someone will always supply it. It's pretty simple, but people keep arguing to provide increased funding for the "fight" (maybe even start wars with our military) rather than do the obvious and address this demand/profit side.

[liberty]

No amount of military action in Mexico, Columbia or even China will 'win the war on drugs.' The flow of illegal drugs is powered by the almighty dollar and the high demand for that product. As long as the demand is there on the streets of America, somebody will supply it.

snailgate.

Don't be silly he's not talking about fighting drug cartels in Mexico or anywhere else it's about the inability of this country to defend itself. The civilian population is militarily worthless and now it appears the army is going to rot as well!.

"What if they gave a war and no one came?" What a beautiful world that would be. Can you imagine shit head as a soldier?

[MajGenl.Meade]

A week in lib-world

Friday 12 April

If, as several Republican presidential hopefuls recently urged, the United States were to use military force against Mexico’s drug cartels, is it at all likely that we would win that war?

Thursday 18 April

Don't be silly he's not talking about fighting drug cartels in Mexico or anywhere else

Short term memory loss?

[Big RR]

[Burning Petard]

MEANWHILE, as Steven would say, the Havana Syndrome remains a scary collection of data points.

snailgate.