On the other hand, I am a German. :)
And France was a really important trade partner to Germany both before WW1 and WW2. IIRC the most important before WW2. So trade and profit in itself doesn´t seem to be enough to avoid war. Especially if one side can point to alleged grievances not solved by the last peace treaty.

And concerning South America. You´re trying to tell me that all of the countries there are now stable democracies? No chance that any of the countries there will revert back to military dictatorships?

Simply put, I don´t want a shooting war with either Russia or some South American country. I think we should just pay the insurance policy (defense budget) to ensure that both of them aren´t tempted to try their luck.

We don´t have to be strong enough to conquer them. We simply have to be strong enough to defeat them if they attack us.