Yes, but they are not really communicating this well to voters and that matters a lot. Ultimately voters will have tremendous influence on what happens.

If massive protests enue in the West demanding a NATO invasion, it will be hard for politicians to push back. They have to think of their re-elections.

And even if there are brilliant analysts within every bureacracy, it doesn't matter if they advice people with no appriciation for the analysis. Both George W. Bush and Donald Trump no doubt had access to brilliant and deep analysis. Yet it seemed to matter little to their decision making. In Trumps case it seems like the shallowed and twisted analysis presented in FOX News mattered more to his decisions.

Knowledge is not always the problem but the ability to convey it in a way gets people to listen and understand. The most brilliant analysists are not necessarily always the best at communicating their findings.

It is something I observe daily as a lot of what I do in my writing is to popularize complex topics. In democracies where the opinions of the public matters so much getting the broad public to understand is immensely important.

Yet we live in a world where social media is shouting at everyone widely different analysis and narratives. And frankly I don't think those in power are immune to that as well.