Nigeria, Feb. 1 -- At the occasion, I had an animated discussion with Pulido's Deputy, Pavel Bauza and another diplomat. Later, it occurred to me I had not asked who this diplomat was. I turned to Pavel, and he said that was the Spanish Ambassador.

I was a bit surprised because our discussions which covered a number of contemporary international issues had been quite frank and we had agreed on most issues. I had not expected that the ambassador of a leading Western country could be so open and, in my opinion, fair minded. He had not tried to put up excuses, but rather, seemed interested in a fair and equitable world where humans could live in peace. I later learnt his name, Juan Ignacio Sell Sanz.

At that time I was running a weekly rad...