In a self-destruct mode?

Mr. Obama demonstrated a dangerous naivete - one that endangers long-term U.S. security interests. His meetings with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao were praised by the fawning press corps. Their warmth and collegiality supposedly marked a clear break from the hated Bush years. Yet Mr. Obama was outmaneuvered by the leaders of America's two great rival powers.

More important, the meeting with Mr. Medvedev produced the illusion of detente between Moscow and Washington. Behind the diplomatic facade and back-slapping, Russia is a fascist petro-state bent on undermining America's international standing. Led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, it seeks to restore the Russian Empire. It has waged wars of aggression in Chechnya and Georgia. It wants to annex Belarus and Ukraine. It has erected an authoritarian kleptocracy that crushes internal dissent. It has forged an axis with China, Iran and Venezuela. In other words, it is not a friend or strategic partner, but our enemy.

Yet the big winner was Red China. Flush with $2 trillion in foreign reserves (much of it in American Treasury notes), Beijing has emerged as an economic giant. It now owns much of our debt. China is a creditor nation; America is a debtor nation. For decades, the Chinese have systematically used their massive trade surpluses to pile up U.S. dollars and invest in critical sectors of the American economy. Their goal: to emerge as Asia's pre-eminent power and eventually replace Washington as the world's leader. Mr. Obama has given Beijing what it has always wanted: equal standing with the United States. He has jettisoned the policy of containment.

Like vultures circling over a rotting carcass, Russia and China sense American weakness. Both have called for a new global currency to replace the U.S. dollar. Their demands reflect not only America's vulnerability, but also Moscow's and Beijing's growing lack of respect.

The G-20 summit was a historic watershed. It marked the end of the American moment; the United States lost its will and desire to remain the world's last hyperpower. The values that propelled its meteoric rise to global hegemony - free markets, limited government, American exceptionalism - were abandoned in a fit of multicultural, narcissistic self-indulgence.

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