I GUESS HE DISAPPROVES OF HIM - AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  Military analyst Ralph Peters has become one of President Obama's severest critics.  Here, on the eve of the president's trip to the Mideast and Europe, Peters clamps down especially hard, and outlines the foreign-policy case against Barack Obama:

Around the globe, our enemies -- immediate and potential -- are testing Obama to see how far they can go. Thus far, he hasn't set a limit anywhere. Not a single dictator or terrorist leader got a single time-out.

Last week, North Korea nuke-mooned him, then spit missiles in multiple directions. Our president admonished Pyongyang. Words solve everything in Obama-World.

Not a ringing endorsement.

A pervasive flaw in Obama's approach to all foreign-policy problems is his chattering-class conviction that individuals and states will behave rationally in a crisis. History suggests otherwise (does Kim Jong-Il look rational to you?). But Obama lives in a world of contractual relations, the realm of the Harvard Law Review.

Our opponents view the world as a zero-sum game. And calm demeanors aren't their strong suit.

That is correct.  Obama, and many of those around him, believe the world is best left to those with high SAT scores.

On to Iran:

As it turns out, Tehran has plenty of reasons to be confident that Obama won't act against the regime: the administration has yanked -- hard -- on Israel's military leash while engaging in murky dealings with Iran.

And Venezuela:

Then there's Hugo "Embraceable You" Chavez, who's almost done dismantling Venezuela's once-robust democracy. Elected officials from the opposition are beaten, jailed, locked out or driven into exile. Media freedom's nearly dead. A once-vibrant economy's a disaster. Corruption and demagoguery reign. And Chavez wants nukes, too.

Out of words, for once, Obama has nothing to say.

Don't stop there:

What does democracy matter, anyway? Ballots and human rights are so Bush-Cheney. In the next few days, Obama will rush to embrace the authoritarian regime in Egypt before crawling to Saudi Arabia. (How deep will his bow to the king go this time? Will photographers be kept away?)

And...

Obama's so desperate to get an arms treaty that he's offering huge, unbalanced cuts in our nuclear arsenal. Feel safe yet?

While everything else is falling down around our president, the Obama Doctrine stands: Every enemy is a friend, or can be made into one. Let's talk about it.

Finally...

Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, our border with Mexico . . . Gitmo . . . better order some back-up teleprompters.

COMMENT:  There goes Ralph's White House invitation.  Of course, much of what he says is on target.  Few object to reasonable engagement, even with hostile nations.  However, there have to be limits, red lines, and so far we haven't seen any.  One more talk.  One more session.  One more UN meeting.  One more magical diplomacy tour by the president.

Meanwhile, technology moves forward.  Technology, in the hands of the wrong people, has become the monster in our path.

May 31, 2009