Mission Creep

Bit of a day really.
The snow has mainly gone but the forecast says there are gales ahead.
A local man has won £330,000 playing Blackjack at an Aberdeen casino and the Mali adventure is now subject to something called "mission creep" which led a Facebook friend to post the following: "The Minister says British paratroopers are expected to be on the ground in Mali by the middle of February. Wow! Where are they jumping from, Mars?"
Now if my understanding of economics is correct, there are both winners and losers in such situations. The gamblers winnings were actually someone else's prior to him winning it and there are probably households all over Aberdeenshire who cannot pay the food bills this week because of a family members visit to the casino.
I am guessing that Mali is the same. The country seemingly has untapped oil reserves.
We fill up at the pumps but someone else pays the price.