Nietzsche

"The statesman excites public passions so as to profit from the counter-passions thereby aroused. To take an example: any German statesmen knows well that the Catholic Church will never form an alliance with Russia, but would indeed rather form one even with the Turks; he likewise knows that an alliance between France and Russia would spell nothing but danger for Germany. If, therefore, he is able to make of France the hearth and home of the Catholic Church he will have abolished this danger for a long time to come. Consequently, he has an interest in exhibiting hatred towards the Catholics and , through hostile acts of all kinds, transforming those who acknowledge the the authority of the Pope into a passionate political power which, hostile to German policy , will naturally ally itself with France as the opponent of Germany: his goal is just as necessarily the catholicization of France as Mirabeau's was its decatholicization. - One state thus desires the darkening of millions of minds of another state so as to derive advantage from this darkening. It is the same disposition as that which favours the republican for of government of the neighboring state - le desordre organise, as Merimee calls it - for the sole reason that it assumes this form of government will make the people feebler, more divided and less capable of war."

Where are the people on our side capable of this kind of manipulation? If manipulation is being practiced by anyone in the US government it is only internal manipulation of different factions of the US electorate against each other. Externally we appear terrified of acting in our own interests. As passionate as our terrorists enemies are, they seem ripe for manipulation.