Yes I agree with you guys...
polarization makes control easier.
And yes instigating and creating a foe, a problem, an enemy, fomenting and engineering it makes the control easier.
I believe that too. Except it can escape control, run away and become a monster of epic proportions instead of something to control.
ex. -Russia's occu. of Afgan. resulted in the the U.S. helping the locals to fight ..funding them with weapons and training...It helped. And intervening definitely helped create, if not nudge bin laden and al qaeda into becoming what they were and what they would end up doing...and so on.
Sure the Powers that be can try to manipulate and spin and create a problem for a variety of reasons...but it is also obvious such creations get out of their control. They may have some control over the stimulus over initiating and the beginning of a tactic...but it is clear they are not omniscient and the beast changes, escapes or turns on them or becomes an even bigger threat than anticipated. The Powers can't control every variable existing and their permutations.
As well I do not belive for an instant that the Powers that be are simply just trying to be nice guys either. I am not naive.
Even good and benign gov't have divisions of it secretly or overtly doing harm. None are without mud or blood on their robes.