So Huganut Hugo has depleted his country’s resources, and now he’s looking next door to take his neighbors.... Hmmmmmmm where have we seen this before?
Communists who rule small countries have to have big allies/suppliers or they have to conquer their neighbors in order to avoid rapid economic decline. Even the USSR avoided early decay for a time by conquering a number of its relatively rich European neighbors. That is a drawback to absolute rule and/or thoroughgoing socialism.