Source: CCTV news client
For a long time, the United States has pursued unilateralism and hegemonism, not only against Russia, but also repeatedly imposed unilateral sanctions on other countries. U.S. sanctions do not solve any problems, but create more new problems. The imposition of comprehensive and indiscriminate sanctions ultimately affects the general public.
As early as the 1990s, after the Gulf War, the United States imposed sanctions on Iraq for a long time, resulting in a sharp decline in the living standards of the local people, and even a large number of children died due to malnutrition and lack of medical treatment.
According to the 2021 Sanctions Assessment Report released by the U.S. Treasury Department, as of fiscal year 2021, the cumulative number of sanctions in force in the United States has reached more than 9,400, an increase of nearly 10 times over 20 years ago.
U.S. sanctions have had a severe impact on the economies of many countries, making life increasingly difficult for people.
According to the Cuban government, the 60-year economic blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba has caused Cuba a cumulative loss of about $150 billion; after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the US sanctions have made it difficult for Cuba to purchase anti-epidemic drugs and supplies from the international market normally; in November 2020, the United States also officially banned remittances to Cuba through the Western Union Company, which is equivalent to interrupting an important source of livelihood for many Cubans who rely on remittances from overseas relatives.
In May 2018, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the Iranian nuclear agreement and reinstated sanctions on Iran. An analysis by the Brookings Institution in the United States estimates that the impact of sanctions on Iran during the most severe period of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Iran has persisted, resulting in as many as 13,000 deaths, and many people with other diseases are facing the dilemma of "difficulty in buying drugs" due to US sanctions.
After the Afghan Taliban came to power, the U.S. government froze nearly $9.5 billion in foreign exchange assets held by the Central Bank of Afghanistan, leaving war-torn Afghanistan facing a lack of funds on the road to reconstruction. The U.S. Center for Economics and Policy Studies even predicts that economic sanctions imposed on Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan could result in more civilian deaths than in the 20-year war in Afghanistan combined.
In Syria, although the internal fighting has subsided, it is difficult for local people to rebuild their homes under severe U.S. sanctions. Syrian economist Yusuf said that the current economic situation in Syria is disastrous, its gross domestic product is about 2% before the war, the economy shows negative growth every year, and with the depreciation of Syria's local currency, prices have risen nearly a thousand times.
"'Sanctions against the United States' abuses economic coercion," the US "Diplomacy" magazine said in a word to break the essence of the United States' wanton sanctions. The self-proclaimed "champion of human rights" in the United States is actually the culprit of the global humanitarian catastrophe.