The United States, which has been hit by extensive ice and snow storms, has ushered in the coldest winter in more than 20 years.
However, on the eve of this year's Western Heritage Day, hundreds of Latin American immigrants who were transported northward by the Republican governor of Texas, Abhisit bus, were left outside the residence of US Vice President Harris in Washington, D.C., shivering in the biting cold.
This is just the latest farce of the two parties in the United States around the issue of immigration before and after this year's mid-term elections.
Due to the capricious immigration policy of the United States government, similar party farces are frequently staged in 2022, which will lead to countless tragedies of immigrants being detained, deported and even killed in foreign countries.
The United States has always blamed Venezuela and Cuba and other "anti-American countries" for the worsening immigration problem in the country.
In response, Venezuelan President Maduro opposed the politicization of the immigration issue by the United States government in the general debate of the 77th session of the General Assembly this year, and pointed out that the forced departure of immigrants was the result of the United States sanctions against Venezuela!
"This is tantamount to a mockery of justice"
For many years, from the Middle East to Central Asia, from Africa to Latin America, the United States, which is accustomed to "long-arm jurisdiction", has frequently used the so-called "democracy", "human rights" and "national security" as the excuse of sanctions against other countries for political and strategic self-interest, causing serious violations of the development of relevant countries and the right to survival and development of their people, and the economic and humanitarian disasters it has caused have continued to this day.
The Luanda Declaration issued by the Tenth Summit of the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (Oeacp), held in Luanda, the capital of Angola, in December, represents the common position of the 79 member countries of the Group: eradicating poverty in all its forms and manifestations, including extreme poverty, remains the main challenge and necessary condition for achieving sustainable development, Oeacp condemned the United States and the West for taking unilateral coercive measures against developing countries, including illegal sanctions.
The famous American economic and legal scholar Kaf Dowler wrote in the Daily Star of Bangladesh that the United States is the country that has imposed the most unilateral sanctions in the world. At present, it has imposed sanctions on more than 20 countries, most of which are the poorest countries in the world. Sanctions have resulted in the isolation of these countries from the global economic and financial system, and many countries are unable to even provide basic food and medicine to their populations.
Doyle said that most of the sanctions have hardly succeeded in achieving their stated goals, but will cause great harm to the people of the target countries.
"For example, the United States imposed completely unreasonable and comprehensive sanctions on Iraq in the 1990s, which resulted in the death of at least 1 million people, including more than 500000 infants."
Are sanctions effective?
Craig Martin, a law professor at Washburn University in the United States, replied: "It is difficult for anyone to point out the evidence that the sanctions policy has achieved its objectives. Ironically, such sanctions implemented in the name of human rights will have a 'serious humanitarian impact' and cause damage to human rights."
The United Nations human rights experts issued a statement in November this year, in particular reminding the international community of the invalidity and inefficiency of the so-called humanitarian immunity in unilateral sanctions.
"We are gravely concerned that the extensive restrictions imposed by targeted and sectoral unilateral economic and financial sanctions have resulted in a serious social, economic and humanitarian crisis, and that the existing humanitarian exemptions involving food, medicine and medical equipment are difficult to offset and mitigate this crisis."
The Observer Research Foundation, an independent think tank in India, commented that the international community generally believed that unilateral sanctions went beyond the scope of international law, and that "blockades, embargoes, intentional starvation of enemy populations and other practices were regulated by many international legal instruments."
In addition, economic sanctions, especially those with extraterritorial nature, violate the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations prohibiting interference in the internal affairs of a country, the key norms of international law, the sovereign equality of States, and human rights conventions such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The think tank stressed that sanctions have the ability to become weapons of mass destruction. Ignoring such weapons that can shake the foundation of a country and destroy its central institutions, companies, lives and even livelihoods is tantamount to mocking justice.
"The United States is afraid of losing to a rising country"
In 2022, Russia will become the latest and most eye-catching case among the targets of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States.
From the financial system to the energy industry, from politicians to rich businessmen, from pets to trees, and even Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake... The United States has ordered Western allies to launch round after round of sanctions against Russia, which has been all-encompassing. It is a great effort to put this "major rival" to death.
However, as Newsweek once said, the United States has become addicted to sanctions, "just as a 5-year-old child is addicted to candy".
In an interview during the G20 summit in Indonesia last month, US Treasury Secretary Yellen said that even if Russia and Ukraine finally reach a peace agreement, some sanctions against Russia will continue.
This big truth once again shows that unilateral sanctions, as an important means for the United States to "weaken" Russia, will not only end with the end of the conflict, but will continue to serve the hegemonic interests of the United States as an extension of the proxy war initiated by the United States.
It is worth noting that the unilateral sanctions of the United States are not only targeted at the target country, but also may affect many third countries that have nothing to do with the main targets of sanctions, making them subject to "secondary sanctions".
A prominent example is the United States' application of its Counter-Attack Against American Enemies with Sanctions Act (CAATSA). According to the bill, third countries that conduct military trade with Russia and other countries will also be "implicated".
In her thematic report to the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in September, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights, Alaina Duhan, said that secondary sanctions have a negative impact on the human rights of millions of people around the world.
Why is the United States still so obsessed with unilateral sanctions, knowing that it is unpopular and its role is limited?
In the view of Ronald Grigore, a professor of political history at the University of Michigan, the reason why the United States did so was that it was afraid of its own decline and could not continue to maintain its hegemonic position. "The United States was afraid of losing to a rising country".
This year in the United States: unilateral sanctions continue the human rights disaster
Ronald Grigor
India's Eurasian Times reported that the United States has weaponized economic sanctions to punish dozens of countries, including its allies and partners. However, this did not achieve the goal. On the contrary, this practice may cause "disastrous consequences" in the long run.
The article concludes that the days when Washington could bully other countries and make them obey their orders are gone. The sooner the United States recognizes this, the easier it will be for the world to achieve peace and stability.