The Bolton Nomination, Act II

Today, many of those same envoys say Bolton has had a more destructive impact on efforts to scale back scores of outdated U.N. programs, create a new human rights council and overhaul the U.N. bureaucracy.

"There is currently a perception among many otherwise quite moderate countries that anything the U.S. supports must have a secret agenda aimed at either subordinating multilateral processes to Washington's ends or weakening the institutions, and therefore, put crudely, should be opposed without any real discussion of whether they make sense or not," U.N. Deputy Secretary General Mark Malloch Brown said in June 6 speech.

Bolton reacted furiously, insisting that Malloch Brown's remarks constituted an insult to the American people and that as an international civil servant he had no right to criticize a U.N. member state.

Gunter Pleuger, who retired last month as Germany's U.N. ambassador, said Bolton has repeatedly maneuvered the United States into isolated positions on key issues.

"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.

Israel's U.N. envoy, Dan Gillerman, said Bolton's arrival has been a "breath of fresh air at Turtle Bay precisely because he's not your typical diplomat."

"I'm certainly not going to tell the Senate or House of Representatives how to vote, but if John Bolton were to be confirmed by the Israeli Knesset, he would get all 120 votes," Gillerman said.