In about 5 minutes, Bolton appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We'll have live coverage here at Bolton Watch.

Over thirty Permanent Representatives of other countries allied to the U.S. have already come forward to express concerns about Bolton, but only one or two have gone on the record. Thats now changed.

Today's Washington Post, which also carried an editorial calling out Sen. Voinovich for ignoring Bolton's abysmal record at the U.N., ran a news piece by Colum Lynch that puts two influential Ambassadors on the record against Bolton.

"He sometimes makes it very difficult to build bridges because he is a very honest and blunt person," said South Africa's U.N. ambassador, Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, chairman of a coalition of developed nations. He said there is a perception among many developed countries in the coalition, known as the Group of 77, that it appears "Ambassador Bolton wants to prove nothing works at the United Nations."

South Africa is the leader of the obstructionists, you say? I think that makes him perhaps an even more important critic. But putting that aside for a moment, let's see what recently retired German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger - who should be as close an ally as the U.S. has at the U.N. - has to say:

"The first thing you learn in diplomatic school is never move yourself into a position of isolation, because even the biggest power will not sustain that position," Pleuger said in a telephone interview from Berlin.

Pleuger said the United States suffered a "bitter defeat" in its effort to press for the replacement of the troubled Human Rights Commission, which had become a haven for nations with dismal human rights records seeking to block international condemnation of their governments.

Bolton will have to answer to these important critics today.