MULTILATERALISM

    Increased multilateralism is another trend that has developed this year despite the unilateralism being practiced by the United States.

    The world's sole super power is over-stretched by incessant fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, clashes between the Palestinians and Israel, and standoffs with Iran and the DPRK over their nuclear ambitions and tests.

    The rise of multilateralism is inevitable as Washington's power weakens. The United States has chosen to shift the security duty in Afghanistan to NATO and is also considering a policy change in Iraq, after withdrawal of troops by some of its allies and an ongoing outcry against the war from the international community.

    Washington's unilateral policy on Iraq has proved so unpopular, even among the U.S. voters, that President George W. Bush lost control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections to the Democrats.

    And the Hawkish Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and hardline U.S. envoy to the United Nations John Bolton resigned after the Republican defeat in the Nov. 7 polls.

    Washington has to allow broader involvement in all the other issues it has failed to deal with.

    The Iranian nuclear issue, for example, involves the United Nations, particularly the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, France, and Britain -- and Germany. And the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue is being addressed at the six-party talks between the United States, the DPRK, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.

    Multilateralism gains momentum with the growth of the economic power and political influence of the European Union, Russia, China and India.