I get that metaphor. Let's try on another metaphor too, since the goal is insight, not judgment*... This reminds me of economic development policies of China and the USA ... both often pitch a developing country who needs something. Where "something" means i.e. getting out of poverty and/or having fewer people starve. The investor offer certain benefits with strings attached. These benefits are hard to pass up but involve major reforms. Painful reforms. On top of that, one country often says "if you don't work with us, you're stuck with [other country]" and vice versa. Try on this metaphor and see if it sheds some light on the impossible situation Dario is in.

* If you are trying to judge Dario, we're not having the same conversation. How many people on earth can grasp even ~1% of the situation he's in? How many have the intellectual tools and ability to reason through it? Maybe 0.1%, tops.