Ah, but "lack of capability" is different from "incompetence". You would be incompetent when you have the (material) means to do something, but lack the skills to accomplish it successfully. Plus, "ignoring" the largest raiding organization would be pretty unusual as an expression of incompetence: it's more likely to be lack of means/capability or lack of will. One of them is also the answer to questions such as "Why TBH hasn't conquered The Pacific?".