I don't know about Sauron "ensnaring" Denethor through the palantir. I think what Sauron did was closer to driving him to madness than forcing Denethor to do his will.
I know that Saruman was ensnared because of the palantir, but I am confident he could have otherwise been trapped into servitude of the Dark Lord, whether by promise of bounty and lordship or by fear of the Nazgul and the power of Sauron.
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...where the instrument of intelligence is added to brute power and evil will, mankind is powerless in its own defence.
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