You realize that saying it's \m/'s fault for escalating it is a moral argument, don't you? Just because you didn't use the word fault doesn't mean it isn't clearly implied in the bolded sentence. If you don't want to play with mine then I don't want to play with yours.
So you're basically saying that STA likes being friends with my idols, because morality means nothing to them? That's not the STA that I know, nor the STA I've grown to admire of since my time here. You can still make a moral stand contrary to their actions while defending them, they are not mutually exclusive. When you sign any treaty that involves mutual defence, then you promise to defend them regardless of stupidity (unless otherwise stipulated). It's one thing to stick by a friend that did something stupid because you promised you'd stick by them. It's another thing to stick by a friend (after all ready defending them over the stupidity) that refuses to admit what they did was stupid and doesn't regret doing it in the first place/wouldn't have qualms about doing it again.
We're willing to defend PC, but I still think the tech-raid was stupid, and I have a feeling we're going to have some sort of conversation about tech-raiding after this (since we were interrupted from having one before this).
And nothing more than an obligation? From my experience, an obligation is something that you feel toward someone/something that you actually give a crap about.