Oddbean

Not really, no. I suspect the people in charge are older than I am, and their "memory" of Russia being the enemy during the cold war defined how they permanently think about Russia. Once you setup an organisation, even if its purpose ceases to exist, that organisation takes on a life of its own. NATO is one such organisation. Nobody chooses to terminate their own job. So NATO just grew and dreamed about controlling everything, making the whole world peaceful eventually.... but except not Russia, Russia wasn't allowed (they are tricksters! can't trust 'em! or so some people think).

Would you say that Russia, NATO, intelligence & government controlled media and the military industrial complex is similar to the climate change establishment? We posited that anthropomorphic climate change is not only possible (obviously it is) but that it is an existential threat (this is speculation) and now that entire generations have been brainwashed believing that not only is climate change a threat to our survival (deforestation, blight, overpopulation, etc.) but it is imminent, and we must, we sacrifice throughout our daily lives to appease the nature spirits but our very existence is so evil and destructive of the delicate ecosystem we must continuously express these outward signs of penitent virtue like buying solar panels, riding bicycles, living in dense sky rises, and recycling aluminum and plastic (superstition-driven behaviors) and "working together" by centralizing government power to the intellectual dictatorship managerial class (environmental pantheistic theocracy) who are trained and paid to churn out a continuous stream of "scientific" studies to reinforce our superstitious behavior and unprovable beliefs.