Professor Keith Payne has written a bold analysis of our historical context that truly is a unique contribution to the American nuclear debate. His work here considers and describes most carefully what must be judged a global challenge to which there is no fully prudent solution. Russia is not going away anytime soon, though indeed already it is somewhat overshadowed by the large dragon to the East. In order to make sense clearly of what is happening, and why, Professor Payne makes admirable use of the familiar binary opposition of Realism and Idealism. He employs these for the keys they provide readily to help explain what otherwise typically is an unduly forbidding debate among experts.