Even more striking has been the Iranian contempt for America's olive branch. It should not have come as a surprise that the Iranian election was blatantly rigged: the political system is designed to reflect the views of the clerical oligarchy. Yet even after mass protests against the stolen election were bloodily suppressed by the regime, Obama could only condemn the violence, while adamantly refusing to take sides on the election result. He has pledged to negotiate, come what may, with the man the Iranian opposition openly calls "the dictator". This ties America's hands. 

Obama has even apologised for America's role in the Iranian coup of 1953, when the CIA helped the army to overthrow the nationalist Mossadegh regime and restore the Shah. A "Green Revolution" would not be able to count on American support. It is no surprise that America's popularity ratings have actually fallen in Iran since Obama was elected. 

Ahmadinejad's "landslide" victory was a deliberate snub to the US Administration. Like North Korea's Kim Jong-Il, the Iranian regime senses weakness and intends to exploit it. One of the few advantages of tyrants over democrats is their boldness. 

Obama may preach about audacity but the enemies of the West are more likely to practise it. It is not Obama's fault that nuclear proliferation, confrontation and war are now more likely than ever. But if he does nothing to prevent them, he will never be forgiven — least of all by the young, who look to him for what
Susan Neiman calls "moral clarity". 

As John Bolton suggests in his critique of Obama's foreign policy, the most powerful published so far, Europe now has the "post-American president" that it wanted. We may soon have the post-American world that we deserve. In that more dangerous world, Western civilisation might be a luxury to be enjoyed only on sufferance, at the pleasure of the barbarians.