I see it very much the opposite way, on a big picture level. All that They have carefully built over decades and centuries is slipping through their fingers (China and the Global South), crumbling to dust (Israel, and dreams of the destruction of Russia), and being torn from Their grasp (by such people as Donald Trump and Elon Musk).

Worse, public sentiment is tilting away. Worst--and possibly fatal--common knowledge that public sentiment is tilting away is growing seemingly unstoppably. An idea whose time has come, if you will.

I came to realize recently that almost all They have ever done is through influence, like--as you say--tiny strings pulling people this way and that. When those strings get cut, the functionality of the puppets degrades chaotically and it's hell trying to get then retied. Pull on the strings too hard and you'll snap them yourself.

If They had some brilliant secret plan to recover from all this, I certainly can't see any evidence of it.