No autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of opinion . … - Arthur Herman

As for Japan, the rejection of the racial equality clause and, by implication, of Japan's status as a Great Power equal to France or Britain doomed those Japanese politicians arguing for an accommodationist, pro-Western slant to their country's foreign policy, especially toward the United States.

peace without victory for the right; a peace designed to let wrong triumph; a peace championed in neutral countries by the apostles of timidity and greed.

On November 26, the MRC decreed that "high-ranking functionaries in state administration, banks, the treasury, the railways, and the post and telegraph offices are all sabotaging the measures of the Bolshevik government. Henceforth, such individuals are to be described as 'enemies of the people,' " and they would be named in newspapers and public places. The war on "enemies of the people," whether the case was proved or not, had begun — and it had likewise begun on those suspected of "sabotage, speculation, and opportunism."