Similar to my take. They aren't achieving control, they're flexing the totality of the might they've had for years. Big difference. The positive in this is they surrendered their highest card: their covert status. Yes, men like me and you knew, but most didn't. And that's big.
It's going to happen. TPTB won a Pyrrhic victory here. They may have flexed to get rid of a president they hated, but they spurred on the collapse of American soft power.
Wouldn't shock me to see Russia/China helping some of these countries develop parallel infrastructure.