[feralimal]

What helps, I find, is to think of governments as administrations. The civil service does implements whatever it has been told. Politicians are voted in - this is a slight of hand to distract the public. (I think of politics as a soap opera for the middle classes.) All the while the real governors operate through global undemocratic organisations, such as the UN and the WHO.

[bregma]

The UN and the WHO are not covert control operations but simply troughs where the friends of the rich can feed.

The real governors operate from their country clubs and banquettes. No proper kingmaker would be so obvious as to grab headlines or make public announcements. Where is the personal enrichment in that?

A simple rule of thumb: if you know who they are, they're not the people in control.