Page "Prime Directive" Paragraph 22

In at least one case ( TOS episode ' A Private Little War '), where two different factions of one race were at war with each other, the Prime Directive had been interpreted to mean that neither side could have an advantage ( i. e. that there had to be a balance of power ).

With this race, when it was found that Klingons were furnishing one portion of the race with advanced weapons, Kirk responded by arming the other faction with the same weapons.

This resulted in an arms race on that world, and was seen as a fictionalized parallel to the then-current Cold War arms race, in which the United States often armed one side of a dispute and the Soviet Union armed the other ( a practice known as proxy war ).

A similar arms race served as the backstory of the TNG episode " Too Short a Season.

" Conversely, Voyager Captain Janeway refused to allow the Kazon-Nistrim and the Kazon-Ogla to have replicator technology, believing it would tip the balance of power among the Kazon factions.

(" State of Flux ").