Donald Trump vs Kim Jong-un
Last week, the US President posted a tweet in which he slammed the North Korean leader, branding him a "madman" and warning that Kim will be "tested like never before."
The tweet came shortly after Kim described Trump as a "dotard" in response to Trump mockingly calling him a "rocket man" in a separate remark on his Twitter page.
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, for his part, likened Trump's recent threat to "totally destroy" North Korea to the "sound of a dog barking."
Kim Jong Un of North Korea, who is obviously a madman who doesn't mind starving or killing his people, will be tested like never before!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 22 сентября 2017 г.
"There is a saying that goes: 'Even when dogs bark, the parade goes on. If [Trump] was thinking about surprising us with dog-barking sounds, that's really a dog dream," Ri told reporters gathered outside his hotel near the United Nations headquarters in New York.
I spoke with President Moon of South Korea last night. Asked him how Rocket Man is doing. Long gas lines forming in North Korea. Too bad!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 17 сентября 2017 г.
In Korean, a "dog dream" is something absurd and makes little sense, according to Yonhap. "Dotard" is an age-old English epithet once used by the likes of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Tolkien which means "imbecile" or "senile old man."
Boris Johnson vs Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Former Mayor of London Boris Johnon, who is now the head of the UK Foreign Office, has repeatedly been the center of verbal scandals. However, his comments about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last year take the cake.
"If somebody wants to make a joke about the love that blossoms between the Turkish president and a goat, they should be able to do so, in any European country, including Turkey," Johnson told interviewer Nicholas Farrell as a rebuff to the President’s efforts to prosecute a German comedian for an offensive poem directed against Erdogan.
Johnson then offered this verse: "There was a young fellow from Ankara, Who was a terrific wankerer. Till he sowed his wild oats, With the help of a goat, But he didn’t even stop to thankera."
Boris Johnson won a £1,000 prize for the rude poem about the Turkish President, sending media into frenzy over it.
Nicolas Maduro, Javad Zarif vs Donald Trump
During his UN General Assembly address last Tuesday, Trump lashed out at Iran, calling it a "depleted rogue state whose chief exports are violence, bloodshed and chaos," as well as at President Nicolas Maduro's "socialist dictatorship" in Venezuela.
Trump's speech invited equally angry responses from Tehran and Caracas, which dismissed his remarks "shameless," "ignorant" and "aggressive."
Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused Washington of supporting "tyrannical regimes" in the region and "the criminal Zionist state (Israel)."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro went even further, describing Trump's speech as "aggression from the new Hitler of international politics … against the people of Venezuela."
Victoria Nuland vs the EU
In Russia and Eastern Europe, Nuland will best be remembered for her role in the political crisis which rocked Ukraine beginning in late 2013, and culminated in the US and EU-backed Euromaidan coup in February 2014.
It was in a leaked telephone conversation with US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt from February 4, 2014 where the then US Assistant Secretary of State made perhaps the most memorable remark of her diplomatic career, saying "F**k the EU," referring to Brussels' hesitation to overthrowing the elected government in Kiev outright.
Rodrigo Duterte vs Barack Obama, Ban Ki-moon, Kim Jong-un
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte managed to shock the world and grab media attention twice in September 2016. He called then-US President Barack Obama "son of a whore" only to deny these words shortly after.
After the row over the Obama insult subsided somewhat, Duterte switched to then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, calling him a "fool."
The same word was used by Duterte with respect to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in May 2017, when he did not think twice before also calling Jim "son of a bitch."
"This Kim Jong Un, a fool… he is playing with dangerous toys, that fool. That chubby face that looks kind. That son of a b**c*. If he commits a mistake, the Far East will become an arid land. It must be stopped, this nuclear war," Duterte was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Hugo Chavez vs George Bush
On September 20, 2006, then-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez delivered a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, in which he accused the US of using double standards on terrorism.
During the speech, Chavez said, in particular, that he could still "smell sulphur" caused by the "devil", in an apparent reference to then-US President George Bush, who had addressed the UN General Assembly a day before at the time.
"This is another abuse and another abuse of power on the part of the devil. It smells of sulphur here, but God is with us and I embrace you all," Chavez said.
Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei vs Donald Trump
Last week, Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei described Trump's UN speech, in which he called the Islamic Republic "a depleted rogue state" engaged in "destabilizing activities," as completely false and a shame to the American people.
"That foolish, extremely ugly and hideous speech by the US President, with its gangster and cowboy language fraught with sheer lies, stems from their fury, frustration and light-headedness," Ayatollah Khamenei said when meeting with members of Iran's Assembly of Experts on Thursday.
"The American elite should be ashamed of having such a president," he added.
He said that Washington's "New Middle East" and "Greater Middle East" plan for Western Asia, with a focus on Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, was a complete failure and was rejected by "all three countries."
Jose Mujica vs Nicolas Maduro
In May 2016, former President of Uruguay Jose Mujica insulted Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, calling him "crazy as a goat."
He added that he has a lot of respect for the Venezuelan President, but "that does not mean that I can't say he is crazy, crazy as a goat."
"They are all crazy in Venezuela. They talk about everything and fix nothing," Mr Mujica told local broadcaster Canal 10 on May 20, 2016.
The 81-year-old man's words surprised many; Mujica is also associated with Latin America's political left, having spent 13 years in jail as a younger man for fighting with a communist guerilla group, and Maduro sees himself as heir to the Bolivarian socialist legacy of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
US Senator John McCain
Republican Senator John McCain, known for his "hawkish" habits, actively criticizes not only Russia, but also the administration of his own President.
In particular, he criticized last year's then-press secretary of the White House Josh Earnest, whom he called an "idiot" after Ernest made a statement about a terrorist capturing the city of Ramadi in Iraq.
Earnest said that the US should not "light hair on fire every time there is a setback in the campaign against Daesh."
Following this statement, McCain erupted on the Senate floor, directing most of his fury during a 13-minute speech berating the Obama administration's strategy in the region at Earnest.
"How could anyone say that we shouldn't light our hair on fire when news reports clearly indicate that there are burning bodies in the streets of Ramadi and ISIS militants are going from house to house, seeking out people and executing them," McCain said.
Donald Trump vs Hillary Clinton
During the 2016 presidential campaign, the two were known to have called each other various mean nicknames.
Trump called Clinton "Crooked Hillary" and "rotten", while Clinton, for her part, labeled him "donkey of the decade" in an interview with a popular hip-hop radio show in New York. She also called him "dangerous" and "racist".
Discussing Clinton's support for US Senator Bernie Sanders during the presidential debate in October 2016, Trump referred to Clinton as "the devil". Sanders was Clinton's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination at the time.
