Sarah Paine

So legitimate logistical bottlenecks.

Japan, since they're going to be starting this thing, massive preparations.

The Russians aren't planning to fight this thing.

They're thinking that I determine whether wars begin or end.

Excuse me, they don't.

Tsar Nicholas might, but his population is fighting it.

This is the power of institutions.

Japan clearly can mobilize.

Boy, is it doing well with the loans and all sorts of things?

Right.

It's using these institutions.

Whereas Russia, remember, it doesn't have a legislature.

The czar doesn't have a cabinet in the sense he has ministers, but they don't ever show up at his house at the same time to sit around a table.

He's just doing them one at a time.

And then the Romanov family have lots of first cousins, right?

Everybody's having lots of kids, and so you've got a million first cousins.

And they are all deployed throughout the ministries, basically being the spy system for the Romanov family of what's going on.

Are any of these nice, rich boys particularly competent?

No.

Look at a map, and you'll see the railway grid is much more extensive in European Russia.