Since you're comparing a house to a country, resp. a fire to war, and resp. an insurance to diplomatic relationships, then I stand strongly by my initial commen

Since you're comparing a house to a country, resp. a fire to war, and resp. an insurance to diplomatic relationships, then I stand strongly by my initial comment. Your comment is overly simplistic as it ignores a ton of the signals that nations and leaders emit by doing one thing or the other. Think of the nuclear treaties: they're here to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, actually adding to the global security. Si, yes, not beefing up your military can be beneficial to everyone.