

NATO is a defence alliance, the world bank was made to rebuild Europe, the IMF was designed to keep currencies of members stable, and the EU was made to keep France and Germany (and later Italy) from killing each other again in 20 years (believe it or not it’s hard to go to war with your trading partner). Taken together they are the core institutions responsible for the relative safety of the entire western hemisphere in the wake of WW2.
Switch to Linux but you have major paradigm you need to pick. Do you want your computer to be bleeding edge but it be a hobby? Or do you want slightly older and rock solid? Or do you have an enterprise support contract? You only pick Ubuntu/RHEL if you have the last one.