[jasonvorhe]

I think the main issue is that people still think in terms of nation states while rolling their eyes once you even mention terms such as "deep state" despite the many books that have been written about it that provide insights into the way these people operate. People also think that there must be some cliche villain pulling all the strings when it is instead much more likely that different factions with different goals either collaborate or sabotage each other and that they're all well connected and funded and have deep ties to many intelligence agencies, private military contractors and undercover operatives who work in various organisations (media, cabinets, military, banking, pharma, etc).

A trail can lead to factions of various nation state's military industrial complexes without that being a contradiction in itself.

That's definitely not the world I'd chose to live in but closing my eyes and hoping that it's all just make believe by some conspiracy nutjobs seems rather... ignorant.