You’re right here saying that it’s a resource grab. That’s what everyone else identifies it as too. You don’t have a more “complicated” picture or a more complete one, just one that’s devoid of a moral imperative.
It is literally not more complicated, as you’ve just laid out.
Yes, dictators who express imperialist ambitions and who fashion themselves after former emperors tend to engage in empire building. Ooooo so complicated!
I heard so many times how ukraine "invited the attack" by behaving in ways russia didn't like. Tbh I feel like anyone who says that is a potential domestic abuser.
While Kagi is not good enough for an advanced user I see no problem buying it for a tech illiterate relative. But that is assuming Kagi doesn't literally pay in some form to Yandex for using their search