Si vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war. If there’s a belligerent opponent eyeing you, your best way to ensure peace is to make sure they know it’ll hurt to attack you. If you look weak then they’ll have no reason to not invade. It sucks that things are this way, but it’s been true for as long as humans have desired something from another. This applies from a schoolyard bully to a bellicose nation.