...don't even know what the hell those groups are.

The thing is, do they have any effect? A bunch of talking heads meeting together as experts in fields where the world is funneling downward out of control. They THINK they know how things work and perhaps they do, but to have an effect on how things work is something totally different. Sometimes it is impossible to alter events. You jump in front of a train barreling down the tracks and you're going to get squashed. I think that is what history is, a train that you just have to avoid. Events create events that create events and there is damn little that anyone can do about it.

Have you ever read Isaac Asimov's Foundation Quadrilogy? If not, I highly recommend it. It gives you a better understanding of history and the inevitability of it all. And also, they are damned good books and great reading. Harry Seldon, where is he? We need one.