Via NY Post:
At least 16 Americans stationed at our Havana embassy have suffered hearing loss or brain damage from an unknown sonic weapon or acoustic surveillance device. At least one Canadian diplomat also was harmed.
But that’s just one small part of a great, grave problem: Around the world we’re experiencing the breakdown of diplomatic norms and inter-state behaviors that have kept the peace between major powers and blocs for seven decades.
First, the Cuban problem. The one thing the creaking Castro-designed government does well is spying, whether on its own people or on foreigners. Nothing much happens without the knowledge of Cuba’s KGB-schooled security services (the Cubans, in turn, have taught their tradecraft to Venezuelan and other police-state thugs).
Yet it’s unlikely that Cuba, where technology lags severely, was employing its own sophisticated weapon or spycraft tool. The device that harmed our diplomats probably came from the Russians or the Chinese, both of whom share the distaste of Cuba’s hardcore security elements for any opening to the United States.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants Cuba as a Caribbean nest close to our shores, while Chinese President Xi Jingping plays a longer game, from the Panama Canal to the Malecon, of forward presence and economic control.
In this ugly affair, there are darker forces behind the dark forces.
As for the injurious devices, they either were surveillance tools that had unexpected effects or were outright weapons meant to do physical harm. Either way, the Cubans knew, and the Cubans weren’t alone.
Given how little we grasp of the Cuban government’s inner workings, this scandal may relate to an internal power struggle over the island’s future, with foreign players muscling in. And all of the usual suspects dread the appeal of American culture and promise.
Yet what should concern us even more than the startling attack on our diplomats are the global implications.
The Cuban actions nakedly violated the Vienna Convention of 1961, which protects accredited diplomats. But the protected status of envoys dates back thousands of years, literally beyond recorded history. Early tribes and primitive states grasped that they had to communicate between themselves to resolve disputes short of massacre. So envoys had to be granted a unique protected status to enter the enemy’s territory without undue fear of bodily harm — and to return home with the other side’s response.