A Clash of Civilizations?

In any case, being "white" is a relative thing — especially among racists and supremacists. Let's remember that for Adolph Hitler, as set out in Mein Kampf, the Slavs of Eastern Europe, like both Russians and Ukrainians, were inferior peoples.

The radical right in the developed world remains stuck in the Clash of Civilizations thesis proposed by the writer Samuel Huntington, in spite of that failure to explain a good many contemporary conflicts. Huntington underestimated the probability of war between Ukraine and Russia precisely because the countries emerged from the same civilization and have had centuries of close social, cultural and religious ties.

Race and religion appear to be distractions in the conflicts.

And it is for their dogged acceptance of Huntington's theses that people like Tertsch are unable to properly conceptualize events in Ukraine. Indeed, events long before the war in Ukraine revealed the shortcomings in Huntington's thesis, both in 1993 when his article appeared and in 1996, when that turned into a book.

Counter-examples from history

In those years, NATO (white Christians) intervened in Bosnia-Herzegovina on the side of a coalition of Muslims and Croats, against the Serbs (with Christians on both sides). All the warring sides, including the Muslims, were white Slavs. In 1999, NATO intervened on behalf of the Kosovars (mostly Muslims), against the Serbian ruler Milošević (purportedly the "Christian" side).

Before Huntington's article, the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan backed Muslim rebels (who included in their numbers people like Osama bin Laden) in Afghanistan, fighting the Soviet Union (whose people were white and, in many cases, Christian). It was pointed out at the time that strong Protestant influences in the Reagan administration were instrumental in its finding closer affinity with God-fearing Muslims than the atheist Soviet regime.

Race and religion appear to be distractions in the conflicts cited, and have no role in the forging of alliances like NATO. Religion did not cause the wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan or Ukraine, and as for race, neither the Afghans nor the Soviets noticed skin color as they fired at each other.