Buddhism is less of a religion and more of a philosophical code imo. Not everyone treats it that way though

How are we playing both sides? My government is very vocal when it has ethical concerns, even with friendly nations as shown by our stance on palestine

I dont know if this is specifically a western values thing, over here in NZ we are in the right in both instances. Same with australia, france and a fair few other western countries. Seems to just be how closely the nations align to the US