All the comments I read here — like most of the discussions that involve speculating the intent of alien civilizations — make the assumption that an entire civilization can only ever have one agenda...

I mean just consider HUMANS finding an alien civilization first; Do you think the outcome will be the same whether the US gets to them first, or the Russians, or the Chinese, or the Japanese or Indians?

Will every nation on Earth have the same reaction and the same plans for dealing with the alien civilization? No, right?

..I think a civilization capable of interstellar travel will have EVEN MORE factions and subgroups with conflicting interests.

Interstellar travel implies a high likelihood that they have already colonized multiple planets, and it’s very unlikely that the governments of multiple planets would agree with each other on all matters, even if they could communicate fast enough, let alone on how to deal with alien civilizations..