Re: 2nd/3rd rate powers

> Actually by this period I could see the IF and PAU as at least
second rate
> too.

If the bulk of the "Major Powers" are considered Second Rate, then I
can't see IF or PAU regulars as any better than Third...and it
wouldn't take all that much argument to convince me of Fourth.

> Given these later points I'd definitely bump the IAS up to third
rate. The
> nation may have science at heart, but when push comes to shove who
do you
> think can dream up the truly mean stuff? ;P

It's not the theory that gets you, it's the application.  The Germans
in WW2 dreamed up a lot of really inventive weapons, put few into
production and developed good tactics for even fewer.  OTOH the Gurkha
was feared, not because of his high tech razzle dazzle gizmo--all he
had was a rifle and/or knife--but because he could and would slither