You should start asking why ALL of your former roommates seem to join the anti-pessimizer league. Russian sympathetics like to say "what if Russia puts bases in Mexico" but that's actually a great unintentional example. We treat Mexico like GARBAGE, we had a president suggest that most of the Mexicans crossing the border are murderers and rapists. Yet they still consider themselves a strong ally of ours. They don't WANT to stab us in the back.