Umm Muhammed Umar

The Russia – Ukraine situation is still a huge story both locally and internationally at every level. Radio Islam discussed it on Media Lens, with Brother Ebrahim Deen.

Deen said that a week into the war, the Ukrainian army has survived much better than expected.  He said, “The Russians took over parts of Kharkiv, which is, you know, was previously the capital of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1976; the Bolsheviks declared it.” Russia has now pushed in more forces, and are now more heavily armoured, with more heavy weaponry. Deen added, “But you know, in saying so, a big issue has been the fact that if you’re invading a country and invading its population, the population will fight longer.  It’s very often that a smaller group is able to fight better against the bigger.” He said that while that was a surprise in the current conflict, Russia ultimately, by all indications, would win the military phase of this war. However, it was unsustainable to try to quell the rest of the population, as had been seen in Iraq.

The media coverage of the conflict has been criticized as being guilty of double standards – the use of certain words, such as ‘invasion’, which would not be used regarding Israel or the US; how there’s so much more sympathy for the plight of refugees; there’s much more intense condemnation of Russia, and widespread support of Ukraine, as compared to when similar events take place in other countries, especially in the Muslim world. Deen said, “I think it’s the biggest part that, you know, when you talk about war, coverage and trials coverage, we talk about discourse. It’s how the problem is, is framed, which informs the solution.” He added, “And a big part of this discourse is the narrative.” Deen explained that this narrative runs as Ukraine fighting for statehood, fighting for democracy, fighting against a superpower, and that we have seen the sometimes unconscious, but sometimes blatant, biases being revealed. One example is when a CBS reporter spoke about, “white people like us, who are Orthodox Christian, you know, with blond, hair blue eyes.” These prejudices in the media significantly affects perspective, as the media shapes the narrative, it shapes how people view the crisis. He said, “with other war coverage, such as the invasion in Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, it wasn’t framed this way, and that’s why, you know, there wasn’t enough pressure placed on these regimes, or these countries to actually pull out.”

It seems as if about 80 percent of Russian troops are now in Ukraine. Deen speculated that the situation would become a lot more bloody and deadly. He expected that cities in the east, and close to Kiev, would be taken. He said, “I don’t think they will go as far as the West; I think NATO has supplied enough weapons.” Deen, however, projected that an insurgency and rebellion would follow, as had been witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan. He said, “it’s very difficult to hold on to a territory that doesn’t want you.”  He projected that Russia might be able to keep part of the Donbass, but that other parts would probably rebel and that that probably end Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reign. Deen pointed out: “there doesn’t seem to be an exit ramp out of the conflict for him (Putin) to save face.”