I have a hunch the NE or individual factions within, would eventually be aggressors on a military campaign, I think we're trying to get everything under our control for the territory we're claiming before we do any sort of nation building.
I personally am excited to have aggressors attacking us, gives us a chance to do some fighting (strat was pretty stagnant for battles the last 5 days or more).
Although I'd rather see us "Northern" factions (northern on the strat map) taking the fight to those to our south, I'll welcome a good battle any day of the week.
In theory though, wars early on weaken both of the parties involved, and gives other kingdoms time to build up (while we're exhausting troops and money).