> it makes no sense from any rational viewpoint Didnt they start almost immediately trying to setup like mineral processing facillities in areas they were able

> it makes no sense from any rational viewpoint Didnt they start almost immediately trying to setup like mineral processing facillities in areas they were able to nominally gain control of? Wonder what the impetus for this was, were the elites embezzling too much or low oil prices or something that motivated them to pillage to make up the difference? Or typical greed in the absence of any asscovery...