It was only three weeks ago that the secretary of state committed a perfect Washington gaffe, complaining that media coverage of terrorism is making life difficult for him and the administration he serves: “Perhaps the media would do us all a service if they didn’t cover it quite as much. People wouldn’t know what’s going on.”

The mockery and ridicule to which he was subjected afterward was, as they say on the Internet, epic. But John Kerry does not learn from experience, and so he’s done it again.

In a press appearance Monday Kerry was asked about his latest diplomatic disaster, the “cease-fire” in Syria. The fighting was supposed to stop so that aid could be delivered to civilians, but the fighting never stopped and the aid was never delivered, because Kerry didn’t realize that his negotiating partners were lying to his face about everything. It’s not a good situation when America’s top diplomat is unaware that the Russians, Syrians, and Iranians tend to be dishonest in negotiations.