11.   Shell finally staged a humiliating retreat in June, towing the Brent Spar to Norway as the company tries to decide what to do with it.

12.   The Somalia operation ended in humiliating retreat after American soldiers were killed.

13.   They captured Mazar-e-Sharif in May but were driven out just two days later in a humiliating retreat that cost them hundreds of soldiers.

14.   When he tried to reform the pension system, a million people demonstrated in the streets last November, forcing him into a humiliating retreat.