Western Media Criticized for Racist ‘Blonde Hair Blue Eyes’ Coverage of Russia's Invasion

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, international media outlets have not missed the chance to go live with wall-to-wall coverage of this war.

The great support for Ukrainians has been clear across much of Europe, Australia, and the West as a whole, and also on mainstream media.

Back to recent episodes, the war began on Thursday, February 24, 2022, when Vladimir Putin ordered his army to enter Ukraine, after months of a heavy military intensification on the border.

As Russian attacks began targeting cities, Ukrainians have been fleeing the fighting while news sites have pumped out non-stop breaking news.

Ukraine’s health minister said, “at least 198 Ukrainians, including three children, have been killed so far during the invasion.”

More than 1 million Ukrainians have escaped the war, with the majority crossing the border into neighboring Poland, according to the United Nations.

But as the war has spread, several Western channels, radios and newspapers have aired racist views, according to Middle East Eye (MEE).

Media critics and political figures have been accused of “double standards,” using their outlets to not only praise Ukraine’s armed resistance to Russian troops, but also to express their horror at how a “civilized” nation could encounter such a conflict.

 

Double Standards

On Friday, CBS News senior correspondent in Kyiv Charlie D’Agata said: “This isn’t a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan that has seen conflict raging for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European—I have to choose those words carefully, too—a city where you wouldn’t expect that, or hope that it’s going to happen.”

Charlie’s comments were met with anger on social media with people referring to his statements as a contribution to the further dehumanization of non-white, non-European people suffering under a conflict like in Afghanistan and Palestine.

Charlie D’Agata later apologized and said that he spoke in a way he regretted.

However, this was not the only racist and problematic statement, journalist and former Conservative politician Daniel Hannan wrote in Telegraph on Saturday:

“They seem so like us. That is what makes it so shocking; Ukraine is a European country. Its people watch Netflix and have Instagram accounts, vote in free elections and read uncensored newspapers. War is no longer something visited upon impoverished and remote populations. It can happen to anyone.”

Prominent social media users quickly pointed out the racist tropes in this and other coverage, like on BBC when the channel hosted Ukraine’s former deputy general prosecutor, David Sakvarelidze.

The latter expressed his deep pang of sorrow for what is happening to Ukrainians.

“It’s very emotional for me because I see European people with blonde hair and blue eyes being killed every day with Putin’s missiles and his helicopters and his rockets,” Sakvarelidze said.

The answer of the BBC presenter was not as neutral as it should be, instead, he shared the same feeling and the same racist views, saying: “I understand and of course respect the emotion.”

 

Suddenly Welcoming!

Russia’s recent war on Ukraine has forced tens of thousands of Ukrainians to leave their homes and flee across borders.

But suddenly, Europe is opening the doors for them, the opposite of what European countries did to the non-European refugees who are still trying to reach a peaceful place over the past decade.

Europe is suddenly welcoming Ukrainian refugees, because according to NBC News correspondent Kelly Cobiella, "these are not refugees from Syria, these are refugees from Ukraine…they're Christian, they're white, they're very similar,” she said.

Cobiella came under fire from many journalists after her statement on air.

The same countries welcoming Ukrainians, have for years resisted accepting refugees from wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, NYT has read.

Now, they are happily opening their doors to Ukrainians after the Russian's invasion of Ukraine.

UN and American officials justified their concerted diplomatic push for Ukraine’s neighbors and other European nations under the pretext of responding to the outpouring need.

President Biden “is certainly prepared” to welcome Ukrainian refugees, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said on Thursday, noting that most of them would probably choose staying in Europe so they could return home more easily when the fighting stopped.

Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN refugee agency also commented: “Heartfelt thanks to the governments and people of countries keeping their borders open and welcoming refugees,” warning that “many more” refugees from Ukraine were moving toward the borders.

On France's BFMTV on Friday, February 25, 2022, one analyst said: “we’re not talking here about Syrians fleeing the bombing of the Syrian regime backed by Putin, we’re talking about Europeans leaving in cars that look like ours…to save their lives.”

Another commentator on the same channel added: "We are in the 21st century, we are in a European city, and we have cruise missiles fired as if we were in Iraq or Afghanistan, can you imagine?”

Ukrainians fleeing the war are being described as “refugees” while Afghans who fled their country last year were described as “migrants,” as mentioned by a French sociologist.

Not only accepting them, but with open arms, as Jean-Louis Bourlanges, a member of France's National Assembly, said during a broadcast that Ukrainians would be “an immigration of great quality, intellectuals.”

In other words, thousands of refugees will end up in countries headed by nationalist governments that refused, in past crises, to welcome refugees.