A radio host just asked me if John Bolton has been “brusque.” No, not that I have observed. Rather, as far as the constraints of his office allowed, Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the UN has been honest. That may be a trait prized by the American people, but in the high-falutin’ circles of the UN, the U.S. State Department, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, integrity is about as welcome as the Creature from the Black Lagoon. This is a crowd that would have answered George Washington’s confession about cutting down the cherry tree by banning him forever from public office.

Meanwhile, this same diplomatic crew, with Kofi Annan’s limo cruising in the vanguard (Kofi never did tell us what happened to that Mercedes, nor has he apologized for presiding over the biggest scam in the history of relief), sees no problem in sitting down to “talk” with the thugs who rule Syria and Iran. They may be tyrants, killers and liars, they may be sponsoring terrorists and threatening genocide, but hey, in diplomatic circles that’s OK. At least by lights of current global diplomacy, they’re not brusque.