[Jim Noble]

Our allies are fools if they think they can count on us to defend them

No, we are fools to have "allies" whose reason for existence is for US to defend THEM.

Allies are supposed to have mutually beneficial arrangements, not to serve as a pretext for a world-spanning empire.

[TwelveOfTwenty]

I don’t disagree, but our points don’t contradict each other.