Quote:
"No, of course not. Allies become enemies and vice-versa pretty consistently through history. If an ally acts in a way a country's people find abhorrent, then it is time to make some hard decisions."
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That was really more of an extreme example, to illustrate the problems with an idea that an alliance places any kind of strict requirement on a nation to act in anyway. The real point is that whatever a country does must depend on what is in their nation's interests.
So even in a scenario where their ally is attacked, and they agree with the ally, it would be quite proper for them to refuse to provide any aid outside diplomatic support - for example if their own economy was sufferng an economic depression and can't afford millitary or economic aid - and the nation's populace consider that domestic problems are higher priority.
At the end of the day, nations will and must always act in their independent national interests. Alliance treaties serve to promote co-operation (usually economic) in times of peace, and in times of war, provide a
casus belli to join the fight if the nation wants to anyway.