Given all we have read so far, the first answer that comes to mind is Racism. It seems it is Racism that causes Europe welcome Ukrainian refugees and leaves other migrants caught between two deaths. It seems it is Racism that caused: "Even within Ukraine's refugee population, African exchange students and other nonwhite residents have faced racist violence and segregation as they attempt to leave the country, with many reporting being blocked from crossing borders while their white peers are welcomed with open arms" (Granger). It seems it is because of Racism that we have never heard of refugees in detention centers, like concentration camps in Libya. It seems it is Racism as the reason for: "the Department of Homeland Security to promise Temporary Protected Status to all Ukrainians currently present in the United States, a designation yet to be extended to Afghans, among others whose home countries the U.S. played a direct role in destabilizing" (Granger).
But beyond that, I would say it is materialism and imperialism that fuels politicians to increase Racism among people because racists can digest colonial policies of their government smoother than anti-racists. It is power seeking and greed that encourage western politicians to keep other people of the world, like middle eastern people, in misery to take control of their natural resources.
Western countries advocate for the Ukrainian people because they are victims of Russia, which has always been an archrival of them in having power over the world. Still, no western countries care about other emigrants because they know how their policy and their colonization play a role in displacing these emigrants. For example, the U.S. doesn't care about emigrants from the middle east because if they react to it, more people will understand what they did in the middle east and the effect of their policy on displacing people there, so there is nothing for them in it. Moreover, there is no archrival on the other side of displacement.
Nicholas De Genova argues in "The "War on Terror" as Racial Crisis, Homeland Security, Obama, and Racial(Trans)formations," discusses this correctly:
"The imperial project of the United States and its compulsive war-making, globally, have been a constant source of reanimated and reenergized struggles over race-making "domestically." Thus, the subtle meanings and putative substance of "race," however treacherously misleading in its apparently "national" involution, have become ever more transnationally convoluted." (p: 17)
Given that statement, it is easy to understand how they benefit from spreading Islamophobia. They need to justify what they did in the middle east. In a video produced by The Intercept, Jeremy Scahill examines the six decades of U.S. policy in Iraq and what 11 different U.S. presidents did in the Middle East. I strongly agree with him as he argues in a video that: "The victims of U.S. policy in Iraq right now are the same as they were in 1963 when the U.S. overthrew the government of Abu Karim Qasim; it's ordinary Iraqis, all U.S. proclaimed victories in Iraq had been one with planting the flag of victory on piles of corpses of ordinary Iraqi people. That's been the one consistent in American policy in Iraq. The one central truth is that the U.S. position has always been anti-Iraqi people". I would argue that the U.S. position is not only anti-Iraqi people but also anti-middle eastern people. All the sanctions that the U.S. imposed against Iran in order to stop the progress of nuclear energy were against the people of Iran, not politicians. I witnessed how my people suffered from a lack of medications in hospitals and how inflation caused by sanctions hit the ordinary people while politicians' families and the bourgeois were leading a luxurious life, traveling to western countries freely, and nothing affected their type of life. The only victims of their sanctions were, are, and will be ordinary people.
To sum up, I reaffirm that Racism might be an answer to the question of why some wars matter and some do not?" However, beyond that, materialism and imperialism are the main reasons that lead politicians to fuel Racism in societies.
Resources:
Granger, Max. “As Europe Welcomes Ukrainian Refugees, It Leaves Other Migrants Caught ‘between Two Deaths.’” The Intercept, The Intercept, 8 Mar. 2022, https://theintercept.com/2022/03/08/ukraine-refugees-europe-border-policy-libya-sally-hayden/.
Jeremy Scahill “A Brief History of U.S. Intervention in Iraq over the Past Half Century” produced by The Intercept.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYAlSNiFpTc
HoSang, Daniel, et al. “‘The ‘War on Terror’ as Racial Crisis, Homeland Security, Obama and Racial (Trans)Formations.’” Racial Formation in the Twenty-First Century, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2012.
Marzi, I completely agree, the war is with race. Although we can try to solve this issue, it continues to show its true colors. Like with the difference of coverage and care of the people, when comparing the war in Afghanistan and the middle east, compared to the war in Ukraine. Not only are these the ones who are being affected, it is people of all races that are not white in appearance.
Marzi, I agree completely! Racism has long had it´s roots in imperial and colonial projects, as a way of "Othering" those colonized to justify foreign meddling (which includes neocolonialism, like we have seen in the Middle East). As you have so astutely mentioned, in terms of race, the country with which we have conflict, becomes a "racializer" and therefore inherently evil. Thus, in U.S. political discourse, all Middle Easterners are Iraqi or Afghani, all Latin Americans are Mexicans, all Asians are Chinese, etc.
Marzi, I agree that not only race, but also politics and capitalism play a role in the way middle easterners are portrayed. The greed for oil what got the US to begin to interfere in Iraq's affairs and it's only caused that country pain. I also thought it was important that you compared the Ukrainian's public image to that of other war refugees, since it demonstrates the influence race has on the treatment of a community.
Totally agree Marzi. It is much more than racism, it is the government and/or leaders wanting more power, the ‘want and have’ factor that is the real problem causing these atrocities. I like how you bring Russia as this country that has always had this 'powerful' profile and for this reason there is more empathy towards Ukraine. Of course, we can't forget the position that the United States plays first and foremost in the middle east situation and how the emigrants are treated after they have been literally taken from their homes. Thank you and amazing job Marzi!