US cultural infiltration threatens global security

Since World War Ⅰ, the US has been continuously exporting the universal values of freedom and democracy, pushing the absurd idea that human beings can only achieve progress by adopting the American political and economic systems.

Over the years, however, these "universal values", which are linked with the country's national strategies, haven't actually brought much progress to mankind. Instead they have become a great threat to global security and are the main reason behind the suffering of people in many countries.

Internet freedom, used as a cannonball for exporting democratic values, has broken the tranquility in the Middle East.

In 2011, the US released the International Strategy for Cyberspace, in which it confirmed the implementation of cyber diplomacy action lines and made the Internet a major battlefield for spreading American values and ideas.

From 2008 to 2012, the US State Department spent nearly $100 million on Internet freedom related activities, according to the Brookings Institution. These activities included support for the notorious "shadow" Internet project.

Using devices that can fit into a suitcase, the US helped activists bypass controls and communicate freely during the Arab Spring protests. Opposition groups took part in several mass events for objectives that included rumor-mongering and instigation, a cheap and quick way to start a color revolution.

Some scholars have been blunt in pointing out that the Arab Spring was an invisible war fought with computers.

Various foundations have had intermediary roles in the country's efforts to export American values, disturbing social stability in many countries, including countries in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Fifty percent of the 700 grants given by American foundations were from the CIA, revealed British writer Frances Stonor Saunders in her book The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters published in 2000.

These foundations would support people like social elites and students of other countries to visit and study in the US, and then select and cultivate "opinion leaders" who could serve the interests of the US and train them in the tactics of street politics.

With efforts by the Open Society Foundations to extend "democracy penetration" into Eastern Europe and Central Asia, after the start of the millennium, color revolutions took place one after another.

By taking advantage of its strength in Internet communication, the US has forced or lured world civilizations into developing according to its wishes.

The US has also collected and exaggerated mishaps of other regimes to sabotage political stability in these countries by disturbing public opinion through means including Internet water armies and viral videos.

Early in 2011, The Guardian revealed that the US military was "developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda."

The US signed a contract with a Californian corporation to develop an "online persona management service" that will allow one US serviceman to control up to 10 separate identities in different parts of the world, according to an article published on The Guardian website in March 2011.

From the "peaceful evolution" strategy during the Cold War to color revolutions in the 21st century, those countries that were poisoned by US democracy exports have all tasted the bitter fruit of economic recession and social decline.

"We will advance American influence because a world that supports American interests and reflects our values makes America more secure and prosperous." That line from the US National Security Strategy published in 2017 shows the world that what the country really wants is not democracy, but prosperity and hegemony for itself.

The exposure of the infamous PRISM program, under which the US National Security Agency (NSA) collects data from various US Internet companies, and XKeyscore, another NSA surveillance program that has 700 servers deployed at 150 sites around the world, fully demonstrates that what the country is really after is not the free flow of information on the Internet, but the free flow that suits the needs of the US.

The pursuit of freedoms, democracy and human rights reflects mankind's aspirations for peace and happiness. However, these aspirations have never been realized in societies where the US has threatened peace and security under the guise of justice.

In fact, the idea of talking about "universal values" in societies with different religions and civilizations is a pseudo-proposition.

The US itself has not truly adhered to these "universal values".

How can the country brag about its human rights situation when more than 200,000 American people have died from COVID-19 and shooting incidents continue to occur in the country?

How can it still boast about its democracy and equality when a black man can be suffocated to death by a police officer in the country, the mortality rate of African-Americans from the COVID-19 pandemic is several times higher than that of white Americans, and a presidential election costs the country several billion dollars?

How can the US even dare to talk about freedoms after its PRISM scandal?