One of their main national industries is piracy, so I guess we shouldn’t be surprised when they branch out into stealing money from stupid governments.
Stealing money from governments that imported them and want their vote. The whole arrangement sure lacks wisdom, but it's not "irrational." What it is is corrupt.
OK, there’s a decent answer to the question. I’ve been asking myself about why these people are so successful here when they can’t maintain civil order in their own country. Intelligence and ambition without a sense of right and wrong is a recipe for societal disaster.