Last year Time magazine made the American soldier its person of the year; this year that accolade went to the Commander in Chief of those troops; George W Bush. For Time magazine the world is still dominated by the US economy and led buy US foreign and economic policy. The World is moving on and is leaving Time magazine and the USA behind.

George W Bush was elected for another four years. In large part he won because the Democrats failed to field a candidate good enough to convince the American people that he would be a decent President.  A failure of leadership just when the America needed it most.

Iraq remains a nightmare for the USA. With deadly attacks on a daily basis it is a surprise that the US people are as long-suffering as they appear. There seems to be little public demand to withdraw from Iraq despite the brutal images on the TV screens each night.

In the meantime US credibility will take years to recover from the pictures of US mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The USA continues to hold prisoners without access to legal counsel, without charges being brought and without trial in Guantanamo.

The fall and fall of the US Dollar on world currency markets gives a strong indication that the rest of the world is starting to operate independent from the US and that the world is increasingly influenced by events, decisions and economic trends  over which the US has little influence.

The Athens Olympics was a much greater success than most of the media predicted. In fact this was a year when the media took on the mantle of doomsayers only to be proven wrong; the Afghan election being another example of reality ruining the news story. It was a success; not the story the media were angling for.

Arafat died. Now maybe we can move on to a peaceful solution for the Middle East.

Some other notable losses this year: Christopher Reeve, Ronald Reagan, Peter Ustinov, Ray Charles, Alistair Cooke,

Reality TV plunged to new depths with Fox TV's Who's Your Daddy. A young woman gets US$100,000 if she can correctly identify her long lost biological father from a group of 12 potential fathers. Why would the other 11 even want to pretend to be her father. 

Canada's contribution to world events was the world's first same sex divorce.

Hu Jintao consolidated his position as China's new leader. While appearing to be a moderate reformer he has strength and resolve.

The global balance of power is changing. It is a new reality, a new industrial revolution. While the 20th century witnessed the rise of America. The 21st century will witness the rise and dominance of China.

It was a great year for elections in Asia - from India to Indonesia to Taiwan to Korea successful democratic elections were held and the people participated in determining how they are governed.

The Thai election on 6 February 2005 will not exactly be a ringing endorsement of Prime Minister Thaksin, but he will win easily enough against a weak opposition that lacks leadership and has little clear direction of its own. Indeed most of the opposition appear more peeved at missing out on the economic perks of government rather than having an ideological platform of their own.

But Thailand has grand ambitions; a Thai in space; a bid for the 2016 Olympics; the hot destination for "quality" tourists.

Not really; to be honest it is a lonelier life than I want. It is as though I have been living out of a hotel for two years (which I have); a temporary stop but on the road to where? There are too many evenings spent on my own at home. Too few nights out; too few true friends. In my gloomy moments I do wonder what would happen if I had an accident in my apartment. Who would find out and who would they contact.

I filled in a medical form recently. They wanted a contact person. I had no-one to put there.

Sorry to sound depressed. I am not that low. Maybe I am just not in a place where it is easy to make strong friendships; a combination of language, expectations, opportunity and cultural differences.

Work has been challenging; I have learned much that is new. I have met people that have been challenging and supportive. It is a comfortable lifestyle. I walk to work. My apartment is cleaned every day. I play golf most weekends. And I see my boy when I can and count the days until his visits to stay with me. Living in Hong Kong he is little more than a two hour flight away. One day that may change and I have to make the best of the time that we can have together now.

But I do feel unsettled and unfulfilled. There is more that I should be doing. But on my own it is hard to motivate myself.