Of course it's purely diplomatic, acknowledging countries is diplomacy. The end result is the same.

Americans are very ease to distinguish based both on their political stances (which tend to be rather unique) and how they express them (which IS unique).

Y'all are like those pickup trucks with LED lights. Once you realize they exist, you can't miss them.

I'm not sure why you would assume I'm American. I mean, you happen to be right in this case, but I'm still not sure why you'd assume that.

You don't disagree with your government; you didn't know what your government's position was until right now.

You still don't really know what your government's position is, otherwise you'd understand that here, as in many cases, there's an official stance for diplomatic relations and then a bunch of propaganda (for both domestic and foreign consumption) that undermines that official stance.

Anyhow, there's an irony

You aren't brainwashed, you are just enculturated to a very reactionary ideology. I actually agree that it's better to analyze them as separate countries for the purpose of something like this graph, but this thinktank (which, to be clear, is very Atlanticist, i.e. aligned with your geopolitical views) is almost surely gunning for having their little infographics be diplomatically palettable in hopes that they get used by important bodies.