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Hearing loss of US diplomats in Cuba blamed on covert device
Associated Press ^ | Aug 10, 2017 1:46 AM EDT | Matthew Lee and Michael Weissenstein

Posted on 08/09/2017 11:39:06 PM PDT by Olog-hai

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 re-establishment 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.

The U.S. officials weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. …

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: Cuba; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cuba; deaf; deafness; diplomats; ears; hearingloss; obama; obamalegacy; sonicweapon
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1 posted on 08/09/2017 11:39:07 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai
It was not immediately clear if the device was a weapon used in a deliberate attack, or had some other purpose.

Do they always, always have to play dumb?

2 posted on 08/09/2017 11:49:03 PM PDT by Bullish (Whatever it takes to MAGA)
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To: Olog-hai

Reading the whole article...no one knows nothing...and this sonic-device is simply a suggestion by the US. The fact that this has affected five foreign service employees and their wive (but not the kids of those employees)...would invite the question if all five live in the same apartment house or building. In the end, there’s a strong suggestion that this was a third group (suggesting Russia perhaps) that caused this.

Scripted like the opening of a James Bond thriller, with the evil Doctor ‘Juan’ at work.


3 posted on 08/09/2017 11:51:35 PM PDT by pepsionice
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To: Bullish
Do they always, always have to play dumb?

Yes they do.

4 posted on 08/09/2017 11:53:57 PM PDT by Mark17 (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning GOD....And the rest, as they say, is HIS-story)
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To: Mark17

“Do they always, always have to play dumb?

Yes they do.”

Except it isn’t an act. They are not playing dumb.


5 posted on 08/10/2017 12:09:17 AM PDT by Fai Mao (I still want to see The PIAPS in prison)
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To: Olog-hai

Several of the diplomats were recent arrivals at the embassy, which reopened in 2015 as part of former President Barack Obama’s re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba.


6 posted on 08/10/2017 12:10:12 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: Olog-hai

That’s pretty scary, a device that can just take your sense of sound away, with you not knowing it is happening.

Super scary.


7 posted on 08/10/2017 12:11:42 AM PDT by FreedomStar3028 (Somebody has to step forward and do what is right because it is right, otherwise no one will follow.)
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To: Bullish

WHAT?!??!!?

:)

Yes, they do.

I’m pretty much deaf in my right ear and you can do pretty well with one good one.

Still feel bad for the guys.


8 posted on 08/10/2017 12:16:12 AM PDT by dp0622 (The Left should know that if Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: Bullish

It doesn’t have to be a weapon they could be using something like ultrasound or UWB radar to look through walls and spy, and the hearing loss is a side effect.


9 posted on 08/10/2017 12:21:07 AM PDT by Wayne07
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To: dp0622
I've been 80% deaf in my right ear and 20% deaf in my left since birth. Doctors say it's prenatal nerve damage and nothing can be done.

I was given lip reading lessons all throughout school starting in second grade. I've adjusted well, I don't hear as well as other people but you wouldn't really notice it because I've adjusted to it so well. I'm even quite a good musician. I'm a guitarist and pro bassist and I also sing well.

So yes, you CAN do very well with a hearing handicap if you don't let it get the best of you. You can overcome it.

10 posted on 08/10/2017 12:28:37 AM PDT by Bullish (Whatever it takes to MAGA)
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To: Olog-hai

Time to bomb some Cuba goverment buildings. You don’t attack diplomats.


11 posted on 08/10/2017 12:45:00 AM PDT by JohnyBoy
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To: Olog-hai

This is real covert operations stuff; the kind the iron curtain countries did but probably usually to their own people.


12 posted on 08/10/2017 1:02:11 AM PDT by BeadCounter (Trump; most pro-life president ever.)
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To: Bullish

That’s awesome and impressive.

Good for you!


13 posted on 08/10/2017 1:12:55 AM PDT by dp0622 (The Left should know that if Trump is kicked out of office, it is WAR!)
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To: Olog-hai

DJT: “Make America Great Again”

BHO: “Make Americans Deaf At Least”


14 posted on 08/10/2017 1:29:01 AM PDT by Oscar in Batangas (12:01 PM 1/20/2017,,,The end of an error.)
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To: Bullish

That is amazing and fantastic! Well done!


15 posted on 08/10/2017 1:30:40 AM PDT by mairdie
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To: Olog-hai

But...but...President Obama ended all this strife and mistrust between Cuba and the USA. What gives Raoul? My gosh, we thought we were friends now...


16 posted on 08/10/2017 1:32:22 AM PDT by Netz ( and looking for a way ti IMPROVE mankind.)
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To: dp0622

Well, thank you. That’s appreciated.

I’ve always thought that my hearing loss was made a little better for me because I was born with it unlike other people who have had hearing loss for other reasons during their lives. Having never known ‘good’ hearing I think it made it easier to adjust to the hearing I have.

One big problem for me is that I have trouble hearing high pitches such as smoke alarms. I really have to be very close to one to able able to hear it. Other than that I get along like anyone else and never complain about it. God has blessed me in so many other ways.


17 posted on 08/10/2017 1:35:32 AM PDT by Bullish (Whatever it takes to MAGA)
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To: mairdie

Thank you mairdie.

Please see my #17 on this thread.


18 posted on 08/10/2017 1:37:52 AM PDT by Bullish (Whatever it takes to MAGA)
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To: Fai Mao
Except it isn’t an act. They are not playing dumb.

The media play dumb all the time. Just about every time there is a terrorist attack, even if some dip wad is yelling, Allahu Akbar, the media play dumb, and say they have no idea the motive was.
This was quite possibly a deliberate attack by the Cuban commie bastards, and the media play dumb.

19 posted on 08/10/2017 1:50:21 AM PDT by Mark17 (Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. In the beginning GOD....And the rest, as they say, is HIS-story)
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To: pepsionice
The devices are real.
20 posted on 08/10/2017 2:21:13 AM PDT by Lazamataz (The "news" networks and papers are bitter, dangerous enemies of the American people.)
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