Random thought. I think I’ve written this before as part of some other ramble, but this morning it seems worth writing on its own.
A long time ago I observed that Portugal was able to verbally defend a side without taking part in actual fighting.
Spain and Portugal stayed out of WW1 and WW2 and Cold War 1 and the current Warm War 2. They were the only major part of Europe that escaped the major wars.
The former Spanish and Portuguese countries in South America also stayed out of those wars, though US was trying hard to rope them in. Most of these Latinate countries have frequent internal coups and occasional internal civil wars, but never get pulled into global conflicts.
India seems to have the same talent.
I don’t know the secret, but serious antiwar types might be able to apply it to the modern belligerents.
Polistra's Mill 