Nebojsa Malic

is a Serbian-American journalist, blogger and translator, who wrote a regular column for Antiwar.com from 2000 to 2015, and is now senior writer at RT. Follow him on Telegram @TheNebulator and on Twitter @NebojsaMalic

22 Jan, 2021 00:12

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FILE PHOTO: Members of Syria's "White Helmets" pose for a picture in Aleppo's al-Aryan neighborhood. ©  Reuters / Hosam Katan 

Americans, Canadians, Britons and Dutch sitting at home under harsh Covid-19 lockdowns can feel joy that their governments found time and money to help ‘Al-Qaeda’s medical service’ in Syria make masks and gowns for terrorists.

The ‘White Helmets’ are depicted in the West as the noble, selfless and brave humanitarian workers saving lives of innocent civilians in areas of Syria held by “moderate rebels” against the evil dictator Bashar Assad. 

In reality, documented by independent journalists and civilians liberated from their tender mercies, they are a Western-funded PR operation that specializes in staging incidents on behalf of their militant allies, such as the Army of Islam or the much-rebranded Al-Qaeda affiliate currently known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

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You wouldn’t know any of that from the latest saccharine public-relations job in the Guardian, which basically printed ‘White Helmets’ propaganda disguised as a news report about how the group is “saving lives” by manufacturing more than two million masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) against the coronavirus.

In the Guardian’s telling, Syria’s jihadist-infested Idlib province becomes “areas of the country outside Bashar al-Assad’s control” and everyone there is a “vulnerable population of more than 3 million.” These people are supposedly aided and protected by the noble ‘civil defence,’ with the generous help of a Western “nonprofit” called Creating Hope in Conflict: a Humanitarian Grand Challenge.

Behind this fluffy brand, no doubt focus-grouped to death by marketing consultants across the Anglosphere, is a “partnership” of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British, Dutch and Canadian ministries charged with foreign aid. 

In other words, while these four governments are imposing draconian lockdowns and wrecking their citizens’ livelihoods in the name of fighting Covid-19, they’ve happily found £920,000 ($1.26 million or so) to fund a terrorist PR group in Syria.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to Americans, at least, as the most recent act of Congress gave them only a single $600 payment apiece after nine months of lockdowns – while earmarking $600 million for “democracy promotion” aimed at Russia and China, for instance.

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Never mind that the US and its British, Dutch and Canadian allies have ostensibly been fighting a “war on terror” against Al-Qaeda since 9/11/2001, occupying Afghanistan and invading Iraq on that pretext, killing hundreds of thousands in the process. When it comes to bringing “democracy” to places like Libya and Syria, Al-Qaeda and other Islamist militants suddenly become “moderate rebels” more worthy of money than the struggling American, Canadian, British and Dutch taxpayers.

Nor are you allowed to notice that the ‘White Helmets’ have been accused of embezzling Western aid, because what are you, an “Assadist”? Anyone who criticized the group gets demonized by the BBC and other mainstream Western outlets, you see. 

One can’t even quote French President Emmanuel Macron, who accused the “moderate” militants of Idlib of acting as “dogs of war” for their main sponsor, Turkey, in places like Libya and the recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.

No, you should be delighted that your money is going to the heroic “rescuers” of moderate Syria, who are totally not enabling terrorists. These noble souls will in no way use the funding or the equipment to stage yet another false flag“chemical attack” so their sponsors could launch some more “humanitarian” missiles – that never ever hit civilians – while the mainstream media in the West gushes over the “beauty of our weapons” again.

 The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.