Are You Aligned With Mongols?

Michael VIII was allied to two Mongol rivals on and off. Did this alliance pay off for him? Yes, no. They benefited from the fact that they weren't going to get invaded - which is always a good thing. But of course, all the other regional powers such as the Antelian Seljuks, Al-Izi, Naminians, Bulgarian Empire, Latin Empire, Constantinople, are aligned to the Mongols. So in a sense, there is a safety net by being aligned with the Mongols provided you can keep holding tension between them. That's a difficult tension to keep. And it really causes the Byzantine position in Anatolia to erode until ultimately it falls