Another sonic attack on US diplomats? This time in China.

The US Consulate in Guangzhou, China. Reuters. 

At least two people have been sent home from Guangzhou, China after suffering a mysterious illness possibly related to a sonic attack. Reuters. Only one of those people have been confirmed to be injured but a second one was sent home. The incident is similar to the attack last year in Cuba that injured 24 US government employees and family members. It is unclear who is responsible for that attack and the new one in China. In all the cases the victims have symptoms of brain damage that may have been caused by some kind of sonic weapon. 

My Comment:

Very strange that this is happening again. It is very clear that someone has a sonic weapon and is using that weapon against US diplomats. I can't think of any other explanation for this attack. If it had only been in Cuba it could be a natural or non-hostile explanation. But two attacks in two cities halfway across the world? That's enemy action. 

So the question is who is the responsible party? Before I would have said for sure it was Cuba. They had the motive and opportunity, though I don't know if they have the means. But I doubt they would travel halfway across the world to attack another US Consulate. They hate America but I don't think they have access to a sonic weapon. It also doesn't make sense to attack targets in China when they have targets that are much closer to them geographically. 

China is another suspect as well. I wouldn't be surprised at all if they had sonic weapons. They are an advanced country with a powerful weapons research industry and they could certainly have the technology to do this. But why would they want to attack US diplomats? Doing so is almost an act of war and is not in the best interests of China. They are committed to diplomacy with the United States and though there are some obvious tensions, President Xi has a decent personal relationship with President Trump. 

It is also possible that this is some kind of terrorist attack by a non-government actor. Though that is possible as well, there are several obvious arguments against it. The most obvious one being is that terror attacks need to be claimed in order to be effective. It doesn't make sense to attack a bunch of US diplomats in the name of a cause if you never publicize what your cause is!

I also think that a high tech sonic weapon is outside the capabilities of a terror group. The technology is relatively new and I don't think there are that many terror groups that are that high tech. I would be shocked if it wasn't a state actor. 

But who? It doesn't seem very likely that it will be the Cubans or Chinese. Could it be the Russians? They occasionally do stupid things, but I doubt they would attack diplomats. That would be quite a line to cross. It could also be a middle eastern country like Syria or Iran. I could easily see the Iranians doing this but there isn't any proof either way. And though the North Koreans could do this as well, I seriously doubt they would be trying it now as relations are improving. 

No matter who is responsible, these attacks are very disturbing. They are extremely targeted and there seems little way to defend against them. The security for US Embassies and Consulates must take action to defend against these kinds of attacks and find the people responsible and bring them to justice.