By Lao Du
The 77th United Nations General Assembly recently adopted a resolution demanding the US to end the economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba with 185 votes in favor, 2 votes against, and 2 abstentions. This is the 30th consecutive time that UN member states have overwhelmingly supported the end of the US embargo against Cuba.
The US has already become a "United States of Sanctions" in the real sense of the word. It has applied economic, financial and other traditional tools to implement sanctions, while continuously upgrading sanctions in the cyber world. In August 2022, a special rapporteur of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on human rights submitted a special report entitled Unilateral Sanctions in the Cyberworld: Tendencies and Challenges, detailing the unilateral cyber sanctions by the US-led countries and condemning their violations of human rights.
The special report has noted "the accelerating expansion of unilateral sanctions involving cyber means or in cyberspace". From 2011 to 2021, the US sanctioned 303 individuals and entities from 10 countries, including Russia, for the so-called reason of engaging in "malicious cyber activities". The means of sanctions are various, including blocking access to public online platforms, banning trade in software or information and communication devices, and blocking social media accounts.
In addition, the US has also expanded the list of restrictions on software trade, and it is more commonly seen to block the social media accounts of targets under sanction.
The US has insisted that the targets under its sanctions all have engaged in "malicious cyber activities". However, the special rapporteur found after investigation that the US tends to widely spread negative information about relevant individuals and enterprises with no sufficient evidence while "bypassing the presumption of innocence and due process guarantees". This move is in a flagrant violation of international conventions.
Unilateral sanctions in the cyber field have seriously violated the human rights of other countries, including the right to information, education, health, life and development.
As evidenced by the special report, there are an increasing number of measures to prevent citizens of sanctioned countries from accessing online platforms targeting scholars and professionals (including medical personnel). As of July 2020, at least 300 companies have restricted Iranian users from accessing their services. Scholars from Iran, Russia, Syria, Venezuela and other countries exposed to "sanctions clauses" due to nationality, were prohibited from submitting articles for publication, including to online journals.
The special report has also noted that these sanctions have indirectly prevented access to the Internet and information. Due to a lack of necessary equipment, software and limited financial transactions, the coverage of Internet communications has been shrinking. For example, Internet coverage in Venezuela has dropped from 50%-90% before the sanctions in 2015 to 10%. In Syria, fixed communication services have declined by 38% and mobile Internet coverage decreased by 15%.
The abuse of unilateral sanctions in cyberspace is but a tip of the iceberg where the US manipulates cyber hegemony. For a long time, as a "hacker empire" and "big secret stealer" widely recognized, the US, relying on its absolute advantage in the Internet field, has implemented indiscriminate network control and secret stealing around the world to seek political, military, diplomatic and commercial interests. The cyber "black hand" of the US has become a growing concern to the international community.
From the "Prism Gate", "Irritant Horn Program", "Stellar Wind Program", to the "Telescreen", "Honeycomb" platform and quantum attack system, the US has infringed on its citizens' freedom of communication and speech through digital monitoring, and engaged in network attacks and eavesdropping around the world.
In August 2022, the Cyber Observation Room of Stanford University released a report, disclosing that the US has built a huge propaganda network targeting China, Russia, Iran and other countries on social media for many years, and launched political propaganda and spread rumors through means like the establishment of false accounts, the dissemination of similar information, and hyping up hot topics. Americans themselves know this well. In May 2022, US Republican Senator Rand Paul said frankly at a congressional hearing that the US government is the "greatest disseminator" of misinformation.
Editor’s note: Originally published on haiwainet.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
