Mark the Merciful said
"In short, we wimp out. What else do you call it when you ignore the explicitly stated game objectives because the costs and risks seem too high? It's not inflamatory language; it's a reasoned analysis.
"
I was being inflamatory (well provocative) - I am afraid reading too much Norfleet got to me.
I am actually arguing against how I would likely play in practice (if I survived that long). For the reasons Mark stated I would want to stay in a successful alliance rather than breaking it up. As Norfleet said earlier the game ceases to be entertaining so people call it. In his case it was wars of annihilation - putatively here it is the trauma of betrayal.
Pickles