Ace...a diplomatic can have "resolve and fortitude" without being offensive or belittling of others.
Examples: John Danforth, Bush's first UN amabassador, the former Senator from Missouri and Bill Richardson, Clinton's first UN ambassador, the current Governor of New Mexico. They both had far better diplomatic skills than Bolton.
diplomacy: the conduct by government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations....
skill in managing negotiations, handling people, etc., so that there is little or no ill will; tact.
Greece’s U.N. Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis: “He is not an easy man to get close to. … Some people have the possibility to build consensus. Others operate in other ways.”
Peru’s U.N. Ambassador Oswaldo de Rivero: “He lives in another world, with this belief that he is morally superior and the U.S. is more moral than all the countries around the world. It is a pity.”
An ambassador with close ties to the Bush administration: “My initial feeling was, let’s see if we can work with him, and I have done some things to push for consensus on issues that were not easy for my country. … But all he gives us in return is, ‘It doesn’t matter, whatever you do is insufficient.’ … He’s lost me as an ally now, and that’s what many other ambassadors who consider themselves friends of the U.S. are saying.”
A European diplomat: “A lot of us wonder what his real agenda is. First, we think maybe he wants things to fail because then he can say, ‘We cannot reform this place.’ The other question is, does he really reflect the position in Washington? That is always the question: Is it Bolton or is it Washington?”
If you offend your "friends", can you really be an effective diplomat.