When Colonel Muammer Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, rose to speak at the UN General Assembly this week, no one knew quite what to expect. He has ruled his country as “king of kings” for the past 40 years but has never bothered to attend the UN before.

It showed. He managed to demonstrate disrespect not merely for the great powers that dominate the UN Security Council – the “Terror Council”, as he called it – but for the entire institution. By the time he finished his rambling speech, the chamber was half-empty.