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Russia in the Pacific approaches the puzzle of why Russia, with much of its huge territory straddling Asia, has not had more success in establishing a position as a great power in the Asia Pacific. Russian leaders from Nicholas II in the late nineteenth century to Vladimir Putin in the twenty-first have periodically advanced policies to gain territory or influence, secure buffer zones in the region, develop the sparsely populated Far East and protect it against foreign intervention, and integrate into the regional economy, but have met with only partial success. Structural factors constraining Russian regional aspirations include geographic challenges, demographic imbalances, and persistent low levels of economic development. Institutional factors - the hyper-centralized, secretive character of Russian foreign policy making, bureaucratic competition, and dominance of a single powerful executive - also have been critical in shaping Russian foreign policy toward the Pacific. The persistence of certain patterns in Russia's Asia policy suggest even the most powerful autocrat faces constraints. Starting with Russian imperial expansion in the late nineteenth century, Charles E. Ziegler considers the impact of the Russo-Japanese War on late tsarist Russian autocracy and assesses Soviet Asian initiatives under Stalin and his successors during the Cold War. He examines the diplomatic, economic and military dimensions of Vladimir Putin's pivot toward the Asia Pacific. His conceptual approach is analytically eclectic, combining realism's focus on military and economic dimensions of power with a constructivist attention to domestic politics, culture, and questions of national identity.

"In the late 1940s, the U.S. Department of Defense established a nuclear weapons depository in the Manzano Mountains of New Mexico. For more than 20 years, Manzano Base served as a maintenance and storage site for some of the most destructive weapons ever created. Operated by the U.S. Air Force, the facility was small and obscure, with highly restricted access. Its covert mission fostered a sense of mystery, leaving the public to speculate about what really went on there. The site was decommissioned in 1992 yet its rich history continues to influence America's nuclear weapons program. This book tells the full story of Manzano and the personnel who served there. Firsthand accounts recall their experiences of nuclear weapons accidents, aircraft crashes, UFO/UAF sightings and a radiation demonstration called "tickling the tiger's tail."

"In this book, Charles Larmore develops an account of morality, freedom, and reason that rejects the naturalistic metaphysics shaping much of modern thought. Reason, Larmore argues, is responsiveness to reasons, and reasons themselves are essentially normative in character, consisting in the way that physical and psychological facts - facts about the world of nature - count in favor of possibilities of thought and action that we can take up. Moral judgments are true or false in virtue of the moral reasons there are. We need therefore a more comprehensive metaphysics that recognizes a normative dimension to reality as well. Though taking its point of departure in the analysis of moral judgment, this book branches widely into related topics such as freedom and the causal order of the world, textual interpretation, the nature of the self, self-knowledge, and the concept of duties to ourselves"--

In this book, Charles Larmore develops an account of morality, freedom, and reason that rejects the naturalistic metaphysics shaping much of modern thought. Reason, Larmore argues, is responsiveness to reasons, and reasons themselves are essentially normative in character, consisting in the way that physical and psychological facts - facts about the world of nature - count in favor of possibilities of thought and action that we can take up. Moral judgments are true or false in virtue of the moral reasons there are. We need therefore a more comprehensive metaphysics that recognizes a normative dimension to reality as well. Though taking its point of departure in the analysis of moral judgment, this book branches widely into related topics such as freedom and the causal order of the world, textual interpretation, the nature of the self, self-knowledge, and the concept of duties to ourselves.

"What is political philosophy? What are its fundamental problems? And how should it be distinguished from moral philosophy? In this book, Charles Larmore redefines the distinctive aims of political philosophy, reformulating in this light the basis of a liberal understanding of politics. Because political life is characterized by deep and enduring conflict between rival interests and differing moral ideals, the core problems of political philosophy are the regulation of conflict and the conditions under which the members of society may thus be made subject to political authority. We cannot assume that reason will lead to unanimity about these matters because individuals hold different moral convictions. Larmore therefore analyzes the concept of reasonable disagreement and investigates the ways we can adjudicate conflicts between those who reasonably disagree about the nature of the human good and the proper basis of political society. Challenging both the classical liberalism of Locke, Kant, and Mill, and more recent theories of political realism proposed by Bernard Williams and others, Larmore argues for a version of political liberalism that is centered on political legitimacy, rather than on social justice, and that aims to be well suited to our times, rather than universally valid. Forceful and thorough yet concise, What Is Political Philosophy? proposes a new definition of political philosophy and demonstrates the profound implications of that definition. The result is a compelling and distinctive intervention from a major political philosopher"--

"Iowa-and the larger Tallgrass Prairie region of which it is a part-are at a crossroads. Both must find more sustainable ways to develop or their environmental, economic, and social climates will continue to degrade. Iowa's economy is based heavily on agriculture, mainly corn, soybeans, hogs, cattle, and eggs. Agriculture comprises 25 percent of the state's economy, a percentage that is exceeded in the region only by South Dakota's 31 percent. Unfortunately, this economic model has a huge negative impact on the quality of Iowa's rivers and streams as well as the Mississippi and Missouri River basin and the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, the state's population is increasingly diverse, including many new African-American and Hispanic residents, some of the latter undocumented. These populations are moving to Iowa to seek the economic opportunities offered by its relatively strong economy and respected education system. Yet African-Americans in Iowa face the highest black to white incarceration rate (13.16 to 1) in the United States. Although Hispanics are jailed at lower rates than African-Americans, they are still arrested at more than twice the rate of whites. Moreover, many Hispanics are drawn to Iowa by low-paying, dangerous jobs in meatpacking, and the possibility of deportation hangs over those without legal residency status. For development to be sustainable, society must balance economic development, environmental protection, and social justice. The purpose of this book is to make recommendations for how Iowans can achieve this balance"--

"After a run of over forty years, the series Readings in Moral Theology comes to a close with this retrospective volume by one of the original editors, Charles E. Curran"--

Introduction -- Fundamental flames / edited by Ajay Agrawal (University of Alabama) -- Computational fluid dynamics / edited by Mark Vaccari (John Zink Hamworthy Combustion) -- Internal combustion engines / edited by Tim Jacobs (Texas A&M University) -- Low pressure flames / Sandra Olson (NASA Glenn Research Center) -- Industrial flames / Charles Baukal (John Zink Hamworthy Combustion) -- Fires / Michael Gollner (University of Maryland).