Russia-Ukraine week 8C: Nice story of brotherly love, but is the framing all true?

Yes, I wound up with a third different "main idea" on the war this week, so, three threads. Here's the third, with some ancillary thoughts as well.

Nice story at the Atlantic by Peter Pomerantsev about Ukrainian villagers being forced to share their basement with five Russian soldiers after the invasion. The captain, he claims, was spouting Putinesque propaganda about fighting the Americans and the villagers said "there are no Americans here." But, should we really trust that the captain meant he was literally going to be fighting Americans, versus the idea that he was fighting Ukrainians being egged on by the US and NATO who were willing to fight to the last Ukrainian? Given that Pomerantsev is a fellow at a nat-sec nutsack think tank at Johns Hopkins, part of a larger institute named for Aristotle Onassis' chief Greek shipping rival, and whose other fellows include Anne Applebaum and Yascha Mounk, we should probably be skeptical of the exactitude of correctness of his framing. That's especially since his book, "This is Not Propaganda," talks about all of the "theys" engaging in propaganda, or information warfare, but never the "us," er, the US. Add in that he partnered with Michael Weiss on one book and the picture is complete.

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Via Independent Media Institute, I am reminded that Russia, as a BRICS member, is part of its own development bank. How much that would let it dodge asset freezes by the West, I don't know. The IMI note is part of a larger piece about the Global South and non-alignment issues. Tying this back to Pomerantsev? Let's remember that the West blocked Russia from most favored nation status long after granting it to China, and Pomerantsev is part of that international post-Cold War crowd.

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Speaking of framing? Counterpunch has a piece on Mearsheimer (and Stephen Cohen) questioning the framing  of the dominant narrative, like Mearsheimer and Walt did, what, 20 years ago with the US' "dominant narrative" on Israel. Relevance to Pomerantsev? Obvious. It's so in-depth it notes that Cohen even said that, in the aftermath of the semi-coup or whatever at the Maidan, Putin felt he HAD to have Crimea back to prevent it from becoming a NATO "aircraft carrier."

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James Dorsey discusses how Russia being bogged down in Ukraine, combined with Biden mishandling the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, has left Saudi Arabia looking for a security guarantor. There will likely be ongoing ripples from the war moving through the Middle East. Biden has an opening right now to call for a full cease-fire in Yemen, and condition a new security guarantee to that. (Let's not forget that getting heavily involved in Yemen was reportedly one of MBS' big ideas even before weaseling his way into Crown Princehood.)

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Japan shows how one can condemn Putin without being a Russiophobic POS. Tie to Pomerantsev? Possible.

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Counterpunch's Patrick Cockburn laughs at BoJo upping the heat on British warmongering.

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Will Russia's demand to be paid in rubles for natural gas end dollar hegemony? And if so, will that actually be good for everyday Americans? Thoughts here.