It's hard not to see links between pre-Revolutionary Russia and today's United States: empires committing suicide, autocrats swindled by charismatic hucksters. Today's Rasputin might be RFK, Pam Bondi, or JD Vance. Antony Beevor's new book on Rasputin suggests that Tsar Nicholas seemed spectacularly incompetent in part *because* of his religious faith. Thousands of peasants would die in horrific ways, and Nicholas would refuse to alter his party plans. This looked cruel (and of course it *was* cruel). But there was context: Nicholas had a fatalistic outlook. He felt that God was pulling the strings. Rending one's garments wouldn't change God's mind. Rasputin succeeded with Nicholas partly because Nicholas was an idiot, but also because Rasputin had a very deep voice. When the heir to the throne was very ill, Rasputin's low, calming voice helped the heir to regulate his own breathing. And the heir recovered. This turn of events was viewed as miraculous....