In a world as fucked as a Tiberium-infested Earth where it's only downhill from here, may as well go with the most fun faction with the cool backstory/aesthetics over Super-NATO.
It's funny because C&C1's intro has Nod sounding more like a rising economic powerhouse nation like the PRC than an international terrorist org. Imagine Daesh having their own megacorp and share of the stock exchange.