@lukewearechange - I omitted to thank you for a truly excellent post - You are sadly a rarity - someone who writes with originality of thought and has done the research. I am not sure about you but I would normally take 4-5 hours over the checking and cross-checking of such a news/commentary post and then rewriting it for a forum such as this - long-form prose has to be rephrased as a précis.
Respect and acknowledgement to you!
In search of Truth we strive!