Syria’s Serious Response to World War C Debunks Alt-Media’s COVID-19 Conspiracies

The democratically elected and legitimate government of the Syrian Arab Republic is taking World War C very seriously because of the acute threat that COVID-19 poses to the war-torn country’s people, which completely debunks the fake news narratives actively circulating throughout the Alt-Media Community claiming that this virus either isn’t that big of a deal (let alone even real according to some commentators) or is simply a convenient pretext for carrying out a worldwide conspiracy that every government — including rival ones such as Syria’s and “Israel’s” for instance — is supposedly “in on”.

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The Two Main COVID-19 Conspiracies

It’s become fashionable nowadays for many in the Alt-Media Community to latch onto the fake news narrative that COVID-19 either isn’t that big of a deal (let alone even real according to some commentators) or is simply a convenient pretext for carrying out a worldwide conspiracy that every government — including rival ones — is supposedly “in on”. The gist is that governments have either been tricked by others into panicking or have all agreed to coordinate their efforts in order to bring about a global dictatorship. The author elaborated on some of the possible consequences of World War C in his piece about how “The COVID World Order Is Coming“, which was intended to give credence to those who fear that their newly lost liberties will never be returned. That, however, does mean that COVID-19 is harmless or fake, or that every government in the world is “in on” some global conspiracy, but simply to point out a few observations that appear increasingly obvious as time goes on. The problem is that the aforementioned fake news narratives continue to persist, even in spite of the fact that the democratically elected and legitimate government of the Syrian Arab Republic ended up taking World War C very seriously last week.

The Syrian Consensus

Syria is used as a case study in this analysis because of its power to bring together the disparate “factions” of the Alt-Media Community under a common banner in support of the same cause. Some people from Central & Eastern Europe despise Russia for historical reasons, diehard anti-communists will never support China, and sectarian Muslims are loath to support the majority-Shiite Islamic Republic of Iran, but there’s interestingly a general consensus among these Alt-Media “interest groups” that Syria is the victim of an externally provoked HybridWar of Terror. That’s not to say that every single person who participates in the Alt-Media Community believes this, but just that it’s among one of the few dogmas that few disagree with. While some people might be inclined for whatever their personal reasons may be to speculate upon whether or not Russia, China, and/or Iran would be part of a global conspiracy, practically nobody would ever seriously countenance this about Syria simply because of the fact that it’s been horribly victimized by an actual conspiracy for nearly a decade already, which is why its recent actions in response to World War C deserve to be looked at in detail so as to debunk the fake news narratives that stubbornly persist about this topic.

Standard Procedures

Syria was one of the last countries to report any cases until it detected its first one on 22 March, which then grew to a total of ten by 29 March, the day that the first patient died. Two days before World War C officially came to the country, the government announced that it was banning certain categories of foreigners from entering Syria for between 1-2 months, and that all returning Syrians must self-quarantine for two weeks. Prime Minister Imad Khamis also discussed coordinating Damascus’ response to this crisis with the Chinese Ambassador just a day before the news broke about the first case. Al Jazeera reported that “Earlier, the government shut down schools, parks, restaurants and various public institutions, and called off army conscription”, which were reasonable proactive measures to protect the country’s people as much as possible. The next steps were reported on by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the state’s publicly financed media outlet. They included the decision “to allocate cars for the distribution of bread in the city centers and towns” in order to “ease over crowdedness” as well as the imposition of price controls, the emergency import of 5000 tons of potatoes, and prioritizing the production of disinfectants and other related products.

12-Hour Daily Curfew Across The Republic

The “Ministry of Information launched an awareness campaign to avoid the infection through road boards”, which was complemented by “civil society carrying out campaigns to distribute protective supplies and sterilize facilities, markets, and streets.” The state, however, went even further in the interests of public safety by imposing a daily 12-hour curfew from 6pm-6am. To ease the social burden that this drastic decision might bring upon the population, the government launched “The Cinema at Home” initiative that Director General of the General Establishment for Cinema Murad Shahin said “came in response to the government’s directives and the decisions of the Cabinet regarding the necessity of taking all required preventive measures to prevent spread of Coronavirus, its keenness on the safety and protection of the citizens and to facilitate their staying at home.” Nevertheless, 153 people violated the curfew on the first day that it was announced, resulting in them being detained by the authorities. In other words, Syria is basically following the same policy as practically all other countries when it comes to confronting COVID-19, which is to encourage “social distancing” in order to “slow the spread”.

Is Syria’s Social Distancing Stricter Than The West’s?

It was with this noble goal in mind that the government intensified its efforts by “preventing the commuting of citizens between province centers and all other urban and rural areas at all times excluding those with clearance”, which Interior Minister Mohammad Khaled el-Rahmoun said “seeks to reduce crowding and contact among individuals in cities to prevent the spreading of contagion.” He also clarified that “the decision restricts movement between each province center and its rural areas, and not movement between provinces”, and that “people were given 48 hours before the decision comes into effect so that they could resolve any business they have at city centers.” According to the official, this decree “excludes exceptional cases such as patients who need urgent medical attention, as well as the cases that are essential for the work of the health and production sectors”, and “the movement of vehicles that transport petroleum products, food, and supplies” is of course naturally permitted too. The “Syrian style” of social distancing is therefore in this instance even stricter than its Western variant in the US and Europe, though the same Alt-Media commentators who criticize those two aforementioned cases haven’t (at least not yet) remained consistent by criticizing Syria too.

A Challenge To The Alt-Media Community

Therein lies the entire point of this analysis apart from its obvious educational purpose. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but the blatant employment of double standards without explaining the reason thereof reeks of an agenda-driven motivation to mislead others for reasons that only each perpetrator can account for if publicly challenged. It’s inexplicable that many in the Alt-Media Community who remain convinced of the fake news narrative that COVID-19 isn’t that big of a deal (let alone even real according to some of them ) and/or is a convenient pretext for initiating a worldwide conspiracy (one that’s supposedly coordinated between rival government’s such as Syria’s and “Israel‘s” for instance) are silent about Syria’s response to World War C. The most influential among them are obligated in the interests of transparency and professional integrity to explain to their audience what either makes the Syrian case “exceptional” or why they think that Damascus is “going along” with their conspiracy of choice. Those who shape public opinion, especially in support of Syria’s democratically elected and legitimate government, have a responsibility to account for their silence lest it be interpreted as tacitly condemning Damascus for doing the exact same things that they criticize the West for.


By Andrew Korybko
Source: One World

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