Worse still, this impulse does not appear to be open to correction - not as things stand. The truth is that Nato and its US ringmaster have no interest in changing.
Their purpose is to have a credible bogeyman, one that justifies continuing the massive wealth redistribution from ordinary citizens to an elite of the already ultra-rich. A supposed threat to Europe's safety justifies pouring money into the maw of an expanding war machine masquerading as the "defence industries" - the military, the arms manufacturers, and the ever-growing complex of the surveillance, intelligence and security industries. Both Nato and a US network of more than 800 military bases around the globe just keep growing.
A bogeyman also ensures western publics are unified in their fear and hatred of an external enemy, making them readier to defer to their leaders to protect them - and with it, the institutions of power those leaders uphold and the status quo they represent.
Anyone suggesting meaningful reform of that system can be rounded on as a threat to national security, a traitor or a fool, as Britain's former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn found out.
And a bogeyman distracts western publics from thinking about deeper threats, ones that our own leaders - rather than foreigners - are responsible for, such as the climate crisis they not only ignored but still fuel through the very military posturing and global confrontations they use to distract us. It is a perfect circle of self-harm.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the demise of the Soviet Union, the West has been casting around for a useful bogeyman to replace the Soviet Union, one that supposedly presents an existential threat to western civilisation.
Iraq's weapons of mass distraction were only 45 minutes away - until we learned they did not, in fact, exist.
Afghanistan's Taliban was harbouring al-Qaeda- until we learned that the Taliban had offered to hand Osama bin Laden over even before the 9/11 attacks.
There was the terrifying threat from the head-choppers of the Islamic State (IS) group - until we learned that they were the West's arm's-length allies in Syria and being supplied with weapons from Libya after it was "liberated" by the West from its dictator, Muammar Gadaffi.
And there is always Iran and its supposed nuclear weapons to worry about, even though Tehran signed an agreement in 2015 putting in place strict international oversight to prevent it from developing a bomb - until the US casually discarded the deal under pressure from Israel and chose not to replace it with anything else.
Braced for recessionEach of these threats was so grave it required an enormous expenditure of energy and treasure, until it had served its purpose of terrifying western publics into acquiescence. Invariably, the West's meddling spawned a backlash that created another temporary enemy.
Now, like a predictable Hollywood sequel, the Cold War is back with a vengeance. Russia's President Putin has a starring role. And the military-industrial complex is licking its lips with delight.
Ordinary people and small businesses are being told by European leaders to brace for a recession as energy companies once again clock up "eye-watering" profits.
Just as with the financial crash nearly 15 years ago, when the public was required to tighten its belt through austerity policies, a crisis is providing ideal conditions for wealth to be redistributed upwards.
Like other officials, Nato's Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has sounded the alarm about "civil unrest" this winter as prices across Europe soar, even while demanding public money be used to send yet more weapons to Ukraine.
The question is whether western publics will keep buying the narrative of an existential threat that can only be dealt with if they, rather than their leaders, dig deep into their pockets.
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