Over the past few days, MSNBC has repeatedly fretted that the massive refugee crisis likely to result from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could lead to “the rise of far-right political movements” across Europe and falsely blamed “a misinformation campaign about immigration” following the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis for conservative wins like Brexit.
“If Russia launches a full-blown invasion....some experts are expecting that millions could potentially flee, triggering a massive humanitarian crisis,” anchor Chris Jansing warned on Tuesday, just days before the invasion began. She noted how “Poland, one of Ukraine’s neighbors, bracing for a possible wave of refugees.”
Tuning to RAND Corporation senior policy researcher Shelly Culbertson, Jansing quickly moved from warning about Russian aggression to fearing the potential political fallout of European voters electing “anti-immigrant” conservative politicians:
...the refugee crisis, 2015. People left places like Syria, Iraq, flooding western Europe. Part of the result of that was this rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric which then led to the rise of far-right political movements. If we see another potentially even bigger refugee crisis in the coming months, how do you see it playing out against that backdrop?
Culbertson commiserated: “I think that there are some risks....the risks are that if host communities in Europe become overwhelmed with an influx of people that are really hard to house, et cetera, or if there are impressions of chaos, that could really sow divisions within the E.U. along the lines of what we saw in 2015, during that migrant crisis.”
She then blamed that crisis for the nightmare of leftists worldwide – Britain leaving the European Union: “So in the 2015 migrant crisis, those large numbers of people really created a lot of divisions, it led to support for far-right parties, and a lot of polling suggests that some of the migrant crisis had even been an impetus – been one of the impetuses for Brexit.”
In the 10:00 a.m. ET hour on Thursday, just hours after the Russian invasion began, correspondent Cal Perry was reporting live from western Ukraine near the Polish border. He wailed:
I’m just reminded of what happened in 2015, when Syrians were turned away at European borders, when countries shifted to the right, their politics. That is fresh here. You know, Britain left the European Union over basically a misinformation campaign about immigration. So this is a continent that is not necessarily prepared to handle this during a pandemic.
During MTP Daily in the 1:00 p.m. ET hour, Perry appeared again to sound the alarm about Europe possibly shifting in a more conservative direction: “The political price that was paid for the Syrian refugees in Europe was a mass swing to the right. So people here are concerned and they’re talking about it.”
Millions are under threat as Russia invades another sovereign nation, sparking the largest war in Europe since World War II, but MSNBC is worrying about a Brexit-inspiring “swing to right.”
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Here are transcripts of the MSNBC coverage:
MSNBC Reports
02/22/22
9:37 AM ETCHRIS JANSING: If Russia launches a full-blown invasion, the capital, what you’re looking at, and these same people could be on the front lines. And if that happens, some experts are expecting that millions could potentially flee, triggering a massive humanitarian crisis. I’m going to bring in NBC’s Cal Perry in Poland, one of Ukraine’s neighbors, bracing for a possible wave of refugees. Also with me, Shelly Culbertson, a senior policy researcher with the Rand Corporation who’s been looking into this. Shelly, this is a country of 44 million people. So if the Russian military goes in, are there good estimates on how many people we think might actually try to flee the country? How bad could it get?
SHELLY CULBERTSON [RAND CORPORATION SENIOR POLICY RESEARCHER]: Well, the current estimates are that, if Russia invades, there could be between one million and five million refugees. And that could unfold in a couple of different ways. So if there’s a full-on, full-country invasion, there could be a sudden mass exodus of people flowing into neighboring countries, in particular Poland. Or if it’s a lower-grade, longer-term insurgency or limited in geography, there could be a slower movement of people over the coming months or years.
But regardless, this is – this could likely be one of the biggest movements of people since world War II. I think the most recent comparison we have is the 2015 migrant crisis where we saw 1.3 million asylum seekers head into the E.U. And then there was also the Balkans wars, which had about two million people fleeing. So this could potentially dwarf either one of those recent moments in history.
JANSING: And, Cal, that idea that it could dwarf those moments in history is pretty terrifying. So take me to Poland. What’s being done to prepare for refugees and how are U.S. troops involved?
CAL PERRY: You know, I was thinking back to those Pentagon press conferences we had in the last few weeks when we heard John Kirby saying that these are multi-mission capable forces. We’re gonna show you some video from Reuters in eastern Poland, just close to where I am, of members of the 82nd Airborne. We’ll remind our viewers, the United States has basically doubled its NATO presence here in Poland. These troops, and we’ll remind folks, are not intended to be in the Ukraine or to come across Russian troops at all. This is to bolster American support for NATO.
Now, in addition to that, Chris, what you are talking about, certainly on the minds of both Polish and American commanders here. We heard from the Secretary of Defense on Friday in Warsaw talking about this issue, the possibility of an influx of refugees if we see that wider invasion. And so the 82nd Airborne, which is used to working with its Polish counterparts, these NATO missions are, by definition, multinational, so the communication is there. They are preparing, picking sites, getting ready in the eventuality that we could see refugees.
In addition to that, the Polish government also identifying some sites here in case we see an influx. It is worth reminding our viewers, there are roughly 2 million Ukrainians who live in Poland. A lot of those folks are economic refugees. But what we're talking about now, Chris, and the conversation you’re having, is a very different one. If there is some sort of wide-scale invasion, we could see that influx coming across the border. And in that case, you would need the infrastructure of camps and that’s where the 82nd Airborne could assist here.
JANSING: And, Shelly, you mentioned the refugee crisis, 2015. People left places like Syria, Iraq, flooding western Europe. Part of the result of that was this rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric which then led to the rise of far-right political movements. If we see another potentially even bigger refugee crisis in the coming months, how do you see it playing out against that backdrop?
CULBERTSON: I think that there are some risks. First of all, right now, sentiment seems to be pretty positive. There’s a lot of sympathy for Ukrainians who might be forced out of their country if there is a Russian invasion. But the risks are that if host communities in Europe become overwhelmed with an influx of people that are really hard to house, et cetera, or if there are impressions of chaos, that could really sow divisions within the E.U. along the lines of what we saw in 2015, during that migrant crisis.
So in the 2015 migrant crisis, those large numbers of people really created a lot of divisions, it led to support for far-right parties, and a lot of polling suggests that some of the migrant crisis had even been an impetus – been one of the impetuses for Brexit. So the E.U., in that circumstance, never really managed to come up with a common asylum policy to deal with these circumstances, instead focusing on strengthening their borders against migration and then working with transit countries to keep people out. So, there is a risk, in particular during COVID, when there are a lot of strains on countries, that such a large number of people coming through could create some pretty significant political tensions.
Jose Diaz-Balart Reports
02/24/22
10:36 AM(...)
CAL PERRY: I’m just reminded of what happened in 2015, when Syrians were turned away at European borders, when countries shifted to the right, their politics. That is fresh here. You know, Britain left the European Union over basically a misinformation campaign about immigration. So this is a continent that is not necessarily prepared to handle this during a pandemic.
(...)
MTP Daily
02/24/22
1:14 PM(...)
CAL PERRY: Now, 50 miles away from me, Poland and the NATO border. American troops say they will help welcome any refugees that come across that border. The Polish government is starting to drop some of the requirements for Ukrainians to enter. They say, for example, you don’t need to come with a COVID test but you would need to quarantine.
How big this goes, how wide it goes, still unclear. But as you look at pictures of people sheltering in subways, it is important to remember that that’s who’s going to lose this conflict, the civilians are gonna lose this conflict. They are the ones who are going to be on the move. And as you said, a refugee crisis in Europe, a place where, in 2015, we saw Syrian refugees come by the millions, it’s just unclear how this is going to play out. How these neighboring countries are gonna handle that, how they’re going to handle it economically, how they are going to handle it politically. The political price that was paid for the Syrian refugees in Europe was a mass swing to the right. So people here are concerned and they’re talking about it.
(...)
