What they are trying to do is accomplish their own goals. Now, if you can convince them that your goals are better or more important than their goals, and then you will see more cooperation. It may be small compared to the huge amount that helps you keep gas in your car, but I think there are a lot of countries who are really looking for a way forward, and a way that they can manifest any responsible opportunities. However, the universe is a constant battle between only two forces and the human segment of that universe has a huge portion of their population involved in this struggle of the opposites. I think this is your point.
Some people are easygoing and some people just suck.
These people who suck are like crabs in the bucket, stopping the enlightened ones from escaping the mess. When a system truely works as one towards an agreeable cause, with no party deceiving and pulling stings, then that goal will come about at a remarkable pace. A lot of people think that it is very much a fact, people don't realize that it might be accutely nescessary for their ancestors to get off of the planet for an extended amount of time, if they are to survive their genes. When the crabs, and even the stronger, dominant crabs are holding you down, if you are amongst those who truely want to escape, then you will never stop trying to get out of the shitty bucket. The reason that nothing seems real, I think, is because we are not doing what we should be doing.