[mping]

This is just a wrong view of Buddhism, it has nothing to do with "utilitarianism" or net suffering. Buddhists go to great lengths to avoid OTHER's sufferings, even if they themselves become worse off. Someone who truly adheres to the precepts would rather die than break them, you have several stories in Jataka tales and other folklore about this.

To say that it is intrinsically incompatible is just plain wrong, to give an example even the Buddha didn't meddle in political affairs. You just gave a really good example of people bending the rules to make them more aligned with what they believe is right. It's like saying that the Bible is not incompatible with machismo and patriarchy. And on the topic of Buddhism, any "Buddhist" country who promotes violence is like IS to me, they just use a religion for self interest.