The image to the right is probably the best one I’ve seen all year long. It should win award after award, for it shows Obama’s true character, and the way his enemies think about him. In short, he sucks up to dictators of all stripes, talking about making love not war, while they are laughing at him, considering him a naive lightweight, who can be bullied around.

Here’s the strategic situation (just so you understand just how silly Obama’s speech of earlier today was): Russia supports extremists in the Middle East who hate America and Israel, and who wish to destroy both. It also supports dictators in South America actively (Hugo Chavez for instance) and, of course, oppressive regimes in other parts of the world (North Korea is a prime example). At the same time, Moscow does everything in its power to decrease America’s influence in the Balkans and the Caucasus. It bullies former soviet republicans into submission, blackmails and threatens them, and laughs at everyone who – mildly- dares to criticize Russia for its aggressive policies.

On top of all that, journalists who criticize Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev are killed, independent newspapers (and TV and radio stations) closed down, members of the opposition oppressed, and successful businessmen arrested and / or forced to flee.

So that’s some vital background information. Here’s a quote of Obama speaking today:

America wants a strong, peaceful, and prosperous Russia. This belief is rooted in our respect for the Russian people, and a shared history between our nations that goes beyond competition ….

So as we honor this past, we also recognize the future benefit that will come from a strong and vibrant Russia. Think of the issues that will define your lives: security from nuclear weapons and extremism; access to markets and opportunity; health and the environment; an international system that protects sovereignty and human rights, while promoting stability and prosperity. These challenges demand global partnership, and that partnership will be stronger if Russia occupies its rightful place as a great power.

Yet unfortunately, there is sometimes a sense that old assumptions must prevail, old ways of thinking; a conception of power that is rooted in the past rather than in the future. There is the 20th century view that the United States and Russia are destined to be antagonists, and that a strong Russia or a strong America can only assert themselves in opposition to one another. And there is a 19th century view that we are destined to vie for spheres of influence, and that great powers must forge competing blocs to balance one another.

These assumptions are wrong. In 2009, a great power does not show strength by dominating or demonizing other countries. The days when empires could treat sovereign states as pieces on a chess board are over. As I said in Cairo, given our independence, any world order that — given our interdependence, any world order that tries to elevate one nation or one group of people over another will inevitably fail. The pursuit of power is no longer a zero-sum game — progress must be shared.

That’s why I have called for a “reset” in relations between the United States and Russia. This must be more than a fresh start between the Kremlin and the White House — though that is important and I’ve had excellent discussions with both your President and your Prime Minister. It must be a sustained effort among the American and Russian people to identify mutual interests, and expand dialogue and cooperation that can pave the way to progress.

Blah, blah, blah. Not exactly impressive. He may seem to sound strong and courageous, but he fails utterly. He sounds like John Lennon, not like the most powerful man on earth who realizes that other countries are not satisfied with the status quo and want to change it by threatening America’s interests abroad.

As Donald Douglas explains at his American Power blog:

In both words and tone, the president’s speech evinces the same Wilsonianism that led to the disastrous institutional paralysis of the interwar era. It is the same kind of happy talk that we might find in the text of the Kellogg-Briand Pact. And for President Obama, this is not the talk of a president seeking to increase a momentary burst of bilateral comity and opportunity. It’s not a Reykjavik moment marking a great thaw in decades of Cold War hostility, paving the way for a epochal change in the international system. We’re at no crossroads to the end of great power competition. No, with this administration’s strategic moves in Moscow, we’re seeing the beginning implementation of Barack Obama’s plan for a nuclear-free world.

That is my fear as well. A nuclear free world is a utopia. It won’t happen. Mankind possesses the knowhow to develop weapons of mass destructions, which means there will always be some willing to use this knowledge. Obama fails to realize this. He thinks that countries like Russia are actually willing to destroy their nuclear (and other) weapons. They are not. And from their perspective rightly so. Doing so would weaken them considerably – just like it would weaken America – and it would put them at the mercy of renegade regimes who care only about their own wealth and power.

Shorter: Obama is doing a terrible job with regards to foreign policy.