An interesting (albeit hideously formatted) John Perry Barlow article that guesses at what the hell they're thinking: Sympathy for the Devil.

"If one takes the view that war is worse than tyranny and that the latter doesn't necessarily beget the former, there is a case to be made for global despotism. That case is unfortunately stronger, in the light of history, than the proposition that nations will coexist peacefully if we all try really, really hard to be nice to each other."