Biden has another big move!
On Thursday (August 15th) local time, Biden’s government announced that it had reached a "historic" agreement with pharmaceutical companies. According to the data released by the White House, the price reduction of the first 10 drugs included in the negotiations ranged from 38% to 79%. On the same day, US President Biden and Vice President Harris held their first joint activity since Biden withdrew from the 2024 election. Biden said at the event: "We finally beat the big pharmaceutical companies."
At the same time, another news related to Biden also attracted attention. According to a number of US media reports, a few days ago, hundreds of lawyers from all over the world jointly sent a letter to US President Biden, calling on the United States to stop using unilateral economic sanctions, saying that this tool is equivalent to collective punishment of civilians and violates international law.
In the joint letter, lawyers, legal organizations and scholars condemned the United States’ increasing reliance on sanctions to punish and intimidate its opponents, and said that these measures may lead to economic instability, hunger and the reduction of basic commodities such as medicines. The letter pointed out: "At present, hundreds of millions of people live under the extensive economic sanctions imposed by the United States in some form."
Biden’s government announced heavily
On Thursday (August 15th) local time, Biden’s government announced that it had reached a "historic" agreement with pharmaceutical companies, and the negotiated new drug price could save Medicare a net of about $6 billion by 2026. In addition, the new drug price will save the insured $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket expenses.
According to the data released by the White House, the price reduction of the first 10 drugs included in the negotiations ranged from 38% to 79%. Among them, the biggest drop was Merck’s hypoglycemic drug Januvia, whose price dropped from $527 to $113 in 30 days, while Novo Nordisk’s insulin injection pen Novo Horizo, whose monthly medication cost also dropped from $495 to $119.
According to media reports, this is part of a plan that Biden praised on Thursday, aimed at easing anger over high prices before the November election. The Inflation Reduction Act signed by Biden was signed into law in 2022, which was the first bill to allow medical insurance to negotiate the price of some of the most expensive drugs covering 66 million people in the plan.
On Thursday, US President Biden and Vice President Harris held their first joint activity since Biden withdrew from the 2024 election, and supported her to replace him on the Democratic ballot.
"We know that this is not only about health care, but also about your dignity," Biden said of the policy. "This is about inner peace. This is related to security. This is about taking care of your family. This is to give people more breathing space. " Biden said that they "just started" and that he and Harris "will continue to fight against big pharmaceutical companies". He said: "I played too hard. I can’t give in now. We won’t back down. “
Reuters said that although this was an official event, Biden turned his speech in the gymnasium into a de facto campaign rally, calling Harris a "hellish president" and criticizing Republicans for not supporting the right of medical insurance to negotiate drug pricing.
The Republican House leadership, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, described this power as "price manipulation" in a statement. Their prescription drug price manipulation plan only accomplished two things: pushing up the cost of health care and smashing American medical innovation.
Hundreds of lawyers signed a letter to Biden.
A few days ago, Bloomberg, CommonDreams and other media reported that dozens of legal organizations from all over the world, as well as more than 200 lawyers and scholars jointly sent a letter to US President Biden, urging the US government to end unilateral economic sanctions, saying that such sanctions constitute a collective punishment for civilians and are illegal under international law.
The signatories of this letter include human rights lawyers, American National Bar Association, European Lawyers Association for Democracy and World Human Rights, and law professors. The signer said in the letter: "Collective punishment is the standard practice of American foreign policy today, which takes the form of extensive unilateral economic and financial sanctions." So far, the United States has imposed more unilateral economic sanctions than any other country in the world. They pointed out that although the use of sanctions is different from conventional warfare, its collective impact on civilians may be equally indiscriminate, punitive and fatal.
The letter pointed out: "At present, hundreds of millions of people live under the extensive economic sanctions imposed by the United States in some form, including ordinary people in countries such as Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela. These measures may cause serious and extensive harm to civilians. Extensive economic sanctions may trigger and prolong the economic crisis, hinder access to basic commodities such as food, fuel and medicine, and increase poverty, hunger, disease and even mortality, especially for children. This situation in turn tends to promote large-scale immigration. "
According to the letter, the United States has imposed a severe economic embargo on Cuba for more than 60 years, which has adversely affected all economic sectors of the country and seriously restricted Cubans’ access to basic necessities such as food, fuel and medicine. In the past 32 years, United Nations Member States have overwhelmingly opposed the United States embargo against Cuba. Last year’s vote was 187-2, and only the United States and Israel were against it.
It is understood that after the victory of the Cuban revolution in 1959, the US government announced the breaking of diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 and began to impose a comprehensive embargo on Cuba in 1962. Since 1992, the United Nations General Assembly has passed resolutions with overwhelming votes for dozens of consecutive times, demanding that the United States end its economic and financial blockade and trade embargo against Cuba. Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Cuba’s foreign minister, once criticized the decades-long American trade embargo against Cuba as "endless" like a hurricane, which brought huge economic losses and humanitarian disasters to Cuba. The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said that the United States has exerted extreme pressure on Cuba in recent years and strengthened its economic and financial blockade and trade embargo against Cuba, which is the root cause of the recent sharp increase in illegal immigration of Cubans to the United States; If the United States wants to stop the tide of illegal immigration, it must cancel the economic blockade that "makes life difficult for Cubans".
The signer said that according to the resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council, unilateral sanctions are suspected of violating the UN Charter. They also cited the Fourth Geneva Convention, which held that collective punishment constituted a war crime. The signatory added: "As a member of the legal profession, we call on the United States to abide by the existing international law and stop using extensive unilateral coercive measures. Seventy-five years after the signing of the Geneva Conventions, collective punishment must end. "
American sanctions and the Middle East crisis
It is worth noting that the current Middle East crisis is also related to the US sanctions against Iran.
On November 7, last year, the White House issued a statement extending the national emergency against Iran in an executive order signed by the United States on November 14, 1979 for one year until November 14, 2024. This also means that the economic sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran continue to be extended.
On June 27th this year, the State Council issued a statement announcing sanctions against entities and ships involved in Iranian oil and petrochemical trade. Not only that, but the United States and the West are also looking for excuses to increase sanctions against Iran.
After the overall escalation of the Ukrainian crisis, the United States and Europe accused Iran of providing drones and missiles to Russia; The EU believes that there is Iranian support behind the Yemeni Houthi armed forces in the Red Sea region. According to this, the Council of the European Union announced in May this year to expand the scope of sanctions against Iran, involving drones and missiles.
According to public information, Iran is the second largest natural gas reserve country and the third largest oil reserve country in the world. However, after decades of sanctions, Iran’s economy and society have been completely hit. According to data released by the World Bank, nearly 10 million Iranians fell into poverty in the first decade of the 21st century. The loss of oil revenue has led to the continuous growth of Iranian government debt and state-owned enterprise debt. In addition, the United States and the West imposed a technical blockade on Iran through sanctions. United Nations human rights experts have issued a statement saying that US sanctions forced the Iranian people to extend the use of old vehicles with low fuel efficiency, while the United States also prevented other countries from providing air pollution control technology to Iran, which endangered the health of the Iranian people.
Recently, the situation in the Middle East has become tense again. On August 12th, local time, senior US officials said that Iran would launch a "major" attack on Israel "or within this week". On the same day, Iranian President Massoud Pezehiqiyan said in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Scholz that Iran believes that it has the right to respond to "aggressors" according to international rules. Petrezhiqiyan said that the Israeli government’s continued "genocide" in Gaza and "terrorist acts" in other countries violated international law and posed a serious challenge to regional security and global peace in West Asia.
Proofreading: Zhu Tianting