THIS week Rodrigo Duterte, the tough-guy president of the Philippines, was asked how he would react if Barack Obama criticised the crackdown on drugs he has instigated, in which the police have killed 1,000 people and unknown assailants another 1,400. Mr Duterte said he would call Mr Obama a “son of a whore” and then expressed regret, through a spokesman, that Mr Obama somehow took the phrase as an insult. (Mr Obama called Mr Duterte “a colourful guy” and cancelled their planned meeting.) To be fair, Mr Duterte was speaking about Mr Obama in exactly the same way he does about everything else. Here are a few of his memorable pronouncements:

On being stuck in a traffic jam during a papal visit to Manila:

“Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don’t visit any more.”

On Singapore’s execution of a Filipina maid:

“Fuck you…You are a garrison pretending to be a country.”

In response to a question about human-rights abuses:

“Fuck you, UN, you can’t even solve the Middle East carnage…shut up all of you.”

On the killing of a Filipino journalist:

“Just because you’re a journalist, you are not exempted from assassination if you’re a son of a bitch.”