The two main flash points in the world in the past year have been the Middle East, especially Iraq, and North Korea in East Asia.
In the Middle East, the United States went to war against Iraq in the spring and won an easy victory, but now it is running up against guerrilla resistance within defeated Iraq, and the restoration of real peace there is still a long way away. Moreover, the Middle East in general remains turbulent. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has flared up again, and there is speculation that the next target for the U.S. after Iraq might be Iran.
In East Asia, meanwhile, six-party talks were held in late August on the problem of North Korea's nuclear program. The talks among the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and North Korea appear to have been somewhat successful. Although the outcome of the negotiations came under criticism, especially from the U.S. and North Korea, the participants agreed in principle to hold the next round of the multinational talks in Beijing at the beginning of November. Therefore, the talks can be said to have moved a step forward.