Editor's note: Thomas W. Pauken II is the author of the book "U.S. vs. China: From Trade Wars to Reciprocal Deal", and a consultant on Asia-Pacific affairs and geopolitical commentator. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

"To sanction a Russian or not to sanction a Russian" has become an all-consuming question for the Western world today. International arts, sports, and even cats' associations have jumped in to condemn Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine but they are punishing innocent Russian citizens and Russians living overseas, which raise concerns over their civil rights and freedom of speech protections.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the American civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. led peaceful protests and boycotts to call for support on equal rights of all races in the United States and he strongly opposed racial segregation that prevented people of different races, colors and nationalities from eating, shopping or conducting business together.

His campaigns inspired the U.S. Congress and Senate to approve Civil Rights legislation that had outlawed segregation in housing, commercial businesses and employment, which were signed by then U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had set such practices in stone later on. The United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) member states have all followed up on similar legal measures implemented as well.

Liberties for all, except for Russians

Nevertheless, the U.S., UK and EU have concluded that Russians are not deserving of the same civil rights' protections. According to Athens News, last week the owner of a German restaurant called "Traube" in Bietigheim (Kreis Rastatt) posted an announcement on the establishment's Website saying, "visitors with a Russian passport are not welcome in our house."

The publicity stunt sparked a severe backlash as many local residents and Russian speakers complained the restaurant was stirring up xenophobia. Shortly afterwards, the restaurant was expelled from membership of the Bietighiem CDU and association of restaurateurs.

Meanwhile, many Russian athletes, musicians, artists, entertainers, writers and journalists are getting blacklisted and suspended from participating in international events. They have been labelled as "outcasts" and cannot escape the repercussions of the anti-Russia hysteria that is sweeping across Europe and North America for the moment, whether those particular Russians are supportive of Russia's military activity in Ukraine or not.

The Munich Philharmonic Orchestra had recently terminated the contract of Russian-born chief conductor Valery Gergiev. He was asked to issue a public statement "condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine" but he chose to remain silent. His firing appears to be a violation of Germany's employment laws, according to Christian Solmecke, a Cologne-based media lawyer.

"An employer can't force a musician to say something political that he doesn't stand for," Solmecke said. Additionally, laws to protect the freedom of expression for all people living and working in Europe were clearly enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and the German constitution.

Going overboard on bans against Russia

People in Western society have long cherished the principles of freedom of speech and media, while routinely citing from the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Nonetheless, we are confronting a new world order, in which "cancel culture" proponents and the politically-correct censorship class led by the technocrats in California's Silicon Valley have become the final arbiters of thought speech in the North American, UK and EU markets.

Accordingly, Facebook and Google have imposed strict bans on RT and Sputnik News. You can no longer use the Google search engine to open up from these Russian media Websites and that sets a disturbing turn for future media freedoms. We are living in times when Westerners would pronounce, "we support free speech, but only if you agree with me," and they may not notice the contradiction here.

Meanwhile, the public shaming campaigns cast a looming shadow of fear for all Russians. They must denounce Russian President Vladimir Putin or face severe rebuke and condemnation from Westerners. Sadly even Russian born and bred cats are deemed "feline non grata" by the Federation International Feline (FIFe). They have been banned from all cat exhibitions organized by FIFe, which was founded in 1949 and on annual average hosts over 700 shows with 200,000 cats exhibited.

When will the madness end?

Westerners taking sides with Ukraine should surprise no one, but their over-zealousness to dis-invite Russians to public events seems so childish. Organizers of the Cannes International Film Festival, Venice Art Biennale and European Film Academy have all announced that Official Russian delegations or some artwork from Russian can't attend some of their following ceremonies.

The concept of ostracizing the Russians and to stereotype them as villains on the world stage could not de-escalate the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Such actions will only remind the Russians that the West can't be trusted, while the cultural divide between the two civilizations will widen and that could lead to more catastrophic results.

Wang Wenbin, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, said "All countries' sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected and upheld and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be jointly safeguarded." Although it's not acceptable to disrespect other countries' sovereignty, the consequences should not be to harm innocent people, which would come at the cost of trampling on the West's own values.

We may assume that we have now entered a cold war II era and let's hope it does not lead to a World War III.

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