I saw it on Saturday. Although not a great film, it was better than I expected and I preferred it over the corny, over-the-top previous films in the franchise. It felt a more adult film.
It also felt like a bit of a linking piece. It was linked to the past in that it was largely about Bond exercising his demons over Vesper. I think to have had a big "single threat to be averted" would have overshadowed that, so I don't see the lack of one as a problem. It was linked to the future by the discovery of Quantum, who I am sure will feature in future. Someone other than Bond put the bullets into the bad guy in the desert.
So for me this wasn't a one-dimensional Bond, but a snapshot of a Bond at the start of a character arc. At this point he wasn't very likeable. I hope in a few years we'll see him differently.
The hole Bond parachuted into was an old water course, and he found evidence of dynamiting. So the bad guys were actively diverting rivers in order to make artificial shortages.
I suspect it was just a part of some larger plan. They had just installed a puppet leader in that country, and they could hold him to ransom via the choke-hold on water (in addition to any personal threats), so they had virtually acquired a country. I suspect they intended to use it as a base of operations for the next stage, whatever that might be.