Why is Libreoffice so slow at loading graphics?

Why does Libreoffice always load graphics, which have been cut and pasted from the internet or other sources, via a hyperlink? Why aren’t graphics embedded to improve load times?

Moreover, what’s with the huge drag times associated with scrolling through a document?

Is there anything a USER can do to improve these issues within the framework of the Libreoffice OPTIONS section?

Finally, why can’t one align an image in the center of the page using the standard alignment tools?

Win7/LibreO 3.5.6. I can drag your avatar in this page to Writer, without any delay, and with right-click: Anchor-To page, Alignment: Base in Middle, to center in the page.

There’s an option "Break Link" via menu "Edit → Links...".

(Creating answer from comments so we can resolve this question)

Answers to @KenStone’s questions per the comments above…

Regarding the ability of LO to center an image on a page using the standard alignment tools, @mariosv writes:

Win7/LibreO 3.5.6. I can drag your avatar in this page to Writer, without any delay, and with right-click: Anchor-To page, Alignment: Base in Middle, to center in the page.

Regarding embedding graphics, @manj_k writes:

There’s an option “Break Link” via menu “Edit → Links…”.

Regarding additional performance issues, please file a bug and mark it as ‘perf’ for performance.