It's the opposite, people know that we aren't the strongest, and so they know that we can't rest on our laurels.
Claiming Kyberia is resting on our laurels.
By sending all the dissidents to the eternal Winter, we suppress any internal reform. By dedicating Industrial Capacity to expansion, prevent any modernization. By stretching out the empire, we continue to increase and further the problem of backwards areas.
Kyberia's only benefit is providing a meager amount of resources (and thus preventing industrial innovation by locking us to primary resource exploitation) and painting more of the map our color.
Your mistake is you assume that people suggest conquest due to arrogance, when in reality it is due to worry.
Very weird expression of worry,that is.
Starting a war at the edge of our supply lines, one the whole other side of the world than the threat we're worried about, doesn't seem to be a good idea me.
Edit: Like, I honestly can't understand how you come to the conclusion that it's worry rather than arrogance. In order to succesfully pull of the Pacific Harbor strategy we need too :
1) Colonize half a continent
2) Defeat !Not-Japan while they have the home ground and supply line advantage
3) Invent railroads, then build the world largest railway line, through a frozen wasteland.
