Systematic spoilation

"Like a foreign conqueror, the totalitarian dictator regards the natural and industrial riches of each country, including his own, as a source of loot and a means of preparing the next step of aggressive expansion. Since this economy of systematic spoilation is carried out for the sake of the movement and not of the nation, no people and no territory, as the potential beneficiary, can possibly set a saturation point to the process. ... Distribution of the spoils is calculated not to strengthen the economy of the home country but only as a tactical maneuver. For economic purposes, the totalitarian regimes are as much at home in their countries as the proverbial swarm of locusts. ... Supreme disregard for immediate consequences rather than ruthlessness; rootlessness and neglect of national interests rather than nationalism; contempt for utilitarian motives rather than unconsidered pursuit of self-interest; 'idealism,' i.e., their unwavering faith in an ideological fictitious world, rather than lust for power – these have all introduced into international politics a new and more disturbing factor than mere aggressiveness would have been able to do." (The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt, 1994; page 417).