Sort of like how the Roman Empire co-opted Christianity? It is an old game, but the process has become extremely fast paced these days.

Though looking at it from the outside, whether as one of those countries refusing to go along, or simply from a historical perspective, it does seem somewhat desperate. The America we thought we knew has been spiraling into a debt fueled oligarchy for a long time, in people years and the Establishment assumes There Is No Alternative, so they don't have to hide the fact the facade is a fraud, but just stomp on anyone who doesn't go along. Yet it ignores the basic social and economic fact that the system is still built on trust, even and especially the money. When that breaks, they lose their own tools of control. Maybe that's when the Generals come out to "restore order," or maybe it does much deeper.

Eventually people will have to come to terms with nature being cyclical and feedback driven, not linear and goal oriented, but even those on the outs don't yet seem willing to question the fundamental paradigm, they just want their cut too.

What goes round, comes round, even on the largest scales.