

Yes, at least for the Europeans that is very much the case. The Germans, for instance, were always morally appalled by the more overtly violent aspects of US Imperialism, but were perfectly happy to hide under their coattails and let them do the dirty work. The deal was that Europe world accept US hegemony in exchange for military protection. Nobody could ever imagine that the US would just rip up that deal because it will definitely hurt them more than everybody else.
I’d expect advanced alien civilisations to be further along at evolving beyond their atavistic impulses. We have a long way to go there.