Closer Scrutiny Reveals How Close to State Power Sacha Baron Cohen Is

The article repeatedly contrasts Cohen as white (white supremacist even) vs. people he mocks as people of color.

This seems to be a standard point of view, but I don't understand how or why it came about, as both Jews and Muslims come in all colors, and traditionally people with middle eastern or central Asian ancestry are all grouped as Caucasian on US government forms that ask for self-identified race.

If Google Maps is accurate, it's less than 500 miles from the centroid of the Caucasus mountains to the Kazakhstan border, so how much more Caucasian can you be without being from Georgia or something?