Sarah Paine

And I've read all these.

I've sadly had to read these naval theory books.

They never look at the geography.

I mean, they occasionally do, but it's sort of, I'm going to get a big Navy.

Well, it depends where you live.

So I've just finished and edited books about fleets and being just like, if you have a fleet, what does that foreclose for whoever's around you?

What does it open for you?

And then it makes really, it's not a great read, but I learn a lot from doing it.

It becomes really clear that, like, oh, you can see that map there.

You see Italy.

And you have in World War I, with that particular position, the Austro-Hungarian Empire has quite a good little submarine fleet.

Captain von Trapp, you know, Sound of Music?

He was a war hero.

He was a submarine captain.

And just by having that submarine fleet in there, it forced Britain to convoy the whole Mediterranean.

It doesn't mean Austro-Hungary wins the war, but a very simple investment prevents anyone from invading over its oceans, which is important, and it makes the British do very expensive convoy duty because Captain von Trapp is quite good at sinking naval ships of the British.

So...

That's the difference of your geographic position limits what you can do.

But now we have a whole rules-based order so that if you join the party, you have a massive alliance system.

That's why I look at China.