because the empire sees no other way but war to maintain dominance, scratch that, avoid dissolution. so folks all over the world prepare, and rightly so if u ask me.

spoiler alert: the cozy days of the colonial west are over. it will all be over soon, and one can hope but i don't guarantee surviving will be necessarily a lucky draw.

btw, this would explain fermi's paradox pretty well.

I have always figured the fermis paradox is that civilizations run out of resources before they can become large scale sustainable. Having wars over a shrinking world would accelerate this however.