The cold shoulder US President George W. Bush received during his address to the 59th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly showed how unpopular US unilateralism is among the international community, said an article in the People's Daily. An excerpt follows:

On Tuesday, Bush delivered a 21-minute speech to the 59th UN General Assembly during the body's general debate.

But the reception to the US president's speech was anything but warm from the 100-plus delegations and he received only ritual applause upon its closing.

This was a direct reflection of the international community's attitude towards the US policy in Iraq.

In March 2003, the United States waged a military action in Iraq without UN authorization, defying the rules of international law and causing strong dissatisfaction among the international community.

And Washington's failure to find weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq has made its reasons for going to war completely groundless.

Under these circumstances, Bush's continuing defence of the Iraq War instead of making soul-searching self-reflections of his Iraq policy appears ludicrous.

Where would the authority of the UN, let alone international law, be if other member countries followed the example of the United States?

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called on the world to respect UN authority during his address on the same day as Bush's. Annan, in an interview with the BBC earlier last week, unambiguously pointed out that any decisions on military action in Iraq should have been made by the UN Security Council and not made unilaterally by a single country.

He also handed out clear-cut criticisms of Bush's Iraq policy saying the war violated the UN Charter and was illegal.

However, in his speech, Bush stressed many times the benefits of US "pre-emptive" strategy adding that citizens of the world, especially Iraqis, are now better off.

But the ever-increasing terrorist violence across the world has made it clear that Bush was evading the truth.

Bush's repeated calls for other member countries and especially the UN to support the US-led reconstruction work in Iraq once again reminded the world of how the US bypassed the world body when deciding to invade Iraq.

Bush also proposed establishing a special UN foundation to assist world members in promoting freedom and the rule of law. But the Iraq War debacle has bought home to the world just how closely related are US-promoted freedom and democracy and win its own ambitions and self-interest.

All this made it impossible for the UN delegations to give big applaud to Bush, who has obviously been preoccupied with unilateralism.