If you could put a face to the America that reviles diplomacy it would wear an Asterix moustache and go by the name of John Bolton. The joke goes that Mr Bolton never met a war he did not like. That may be an understatement.

Mr Donald Trump's new national security adviser rarely sees a peaceful entanglement that could not be improved by artillery. John Bolton "is the kind of man I would like to stand with at Armageddon", said the late Jesse Helms, one of America's most hawkish senators.