President Obama’s conduct of the Moscow summit this week made relations with Russia look easy. Too easy, in fact.

The tone of U.S.-Russian diplomacy was much improved, and Obama is returning to Washington with several concrete agreements, but the summit did not yield a significant breakthrough on any major issue. In fact, like much of Obama’s foreign policy to date, the Moscow summit was as much a triumph of style and attitude as an achievement in terms of substance. Russian-American relations may now be headed in the right direction, but both sides have a long way to go.

Like much of Obama’s foreign policy to date, the Moscow summit was as much a triumph of style and attitude as an achievement in terms of substance.

Obama arrived...