WASHINGTON — These are dreary days for US diplomacy.

A string of disappointments in recent weeks has left Washington’s role as a global power broker diminished. The unalloyed US support for Israel during two weeks of fighting with Hezbollah insurgents in Lebanon and American refusal to agree to a quick ceasefire are leaving the Bush administration ever more isolated internationally.

US relations with its allies had shown signs of improvement in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But the signs of strain are growing:

[bul] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice failed to agree in Rome with European and Arab allies on terms for a cease-fire to end two weeks of Israel-Hezballah violence.

[bul] President George W. Bush and visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had to concede a six-week-old plan for quelling violence in Baghdad had failed. Bush ordered more US troops to Iraq’s battered capital — a setback to hopes for a big drawdown of US troops this year.

[bul] Efforts to get North Korea and Iran to restrict their nuclear ambitions remained stalled.

[bul] World trade talks collapsed.

“This president has a very firm world view that is not about to be changed by facts or realities. There are good guys and bad guys,” said Ivo Daalder, who was director of European affairs in the National Security Council in the Clinton administration.

“Right now, Israelis are the good guys and Hezbollah, Syria and Iran are the bad guys,” said Daalder, now a fellow with the Brookings Institution. He said the administration’s refusal to deal directly with Hezbollah, Syria or Iran “is a manifestation of this world view: We don’t talk to bad people”.

Bush may get some solace later this week when his strongest ally on Iraq, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, visits the White House — he was last here just two months ago. But Blair himself is politically weakened, both by Iraq and by domestic woes.

The administration insists it is engaged with foes as well as friends, if not always directly. But White House spokesman Tony Snow yesterday criticised what he called a push for “egg-timer diplomacy. Things do not happen on snap deadlines.”

“If somebody could guarantee me that a slip of paper would end a death, then we’ll have a conversation,” he said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted not backing an immediate ceasefire in the current strife was the right move. “The fields of the Middle East are littered with broken ceasefires,” she told reporters on Wednesday as she flew toward a meeting in Asia.

The Bush administration and Israel insist that Hezbollah, which they consider a terror group, must be disarmed and defeated in southern Lebanon. European and Arab allies want a quick cease-fire to stop mounting civilian deaths.

The principal US allies in the area, the predominantly Sunni states of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the weak US-backed Democratic government of Lebanon have all criticised Hezbollah for kidnapping two Israeli soldiers and lobbing hundreds of missiles into northern Israel.

But support for Hezbollah appears to be growing across the region among both Sunni and Shiite Arabs.

Despite the administration’s repeated assertions that Syria is among the powers behind the Hezbollah attacks, there has been “not a single contact” by the US government with Syria since the fighting began, said Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha. — Associated Press