A fan poses with Yonit Levi

Yet nobody thought that that election had changed the course of Europe.

No one thought that the European Union s troubles were resolved, but no one thought that the eurozone was coming apart, either.

Mr. KASEMSUVAN (Thailand) stressed that the deplorable events during the Tak Bai incident were deeply regretted by his Government.

It is unthinkable that the global economic system will continue indefinitely to allow the US to import more goods and services than it exports.

Under Obama, nothing quite so dramatic was possible no spectacular breakthroughs were conceived or executed, nor could many have been imagined.

It is one of the reasons why there is more dynamism in the Indian economy than those who look only at the macroeconomic data believe.

Not a huge problem, one might have thought.

America is much more resilient than its critics believe.

At other times, like Stalin, he believes that Russia s power requires a strong hand what he calls his dictatorship of law.

Eric Sanderson pictures New York before the City

The West imagines that religion is the central issue in Afghanistan.

You might imagine that people could choose the right light bulbs for themselves.

Today, many people might think that all of this is water under the bridge.

That vision is more plausible than one might think.

No one should expect that the costs of combating climate change will be low.

No wonder the impressive premier is thought to favor some political loosening.

But Musharraf had come to power as the patron of the jihadi s his army was financing, equipping, and training for their forays into Indian territory, and few in New Delhi thought genuine peace could be made with such a duplicitous man.

No sound monetarist thinks those numbers predict current inflation.

Today s Kremlin thinks that democracy was being built too quickly in Russia.

Indeed, any Japanese who thinks that complacency is an option should look to Argentina.

One cannot imagine India or Brazil wanting to be part of any such a combination.

Saakashvili cannot pick up his tiny country and move it to Mexico.

But we also spent many hours in the basements of the United Nations, trying to work with governments to make them understand what was going on so far away from land that few of us had ever even imagined that these creatures existed.

Given the country s economic conditions, one would think that Italy is ripe for decisive change.

An absurd expectation, one might think.

In 1977, few people would have predicted that Havel would one day preside over a Czech democracy.

But when the dust settles, the new data may be less revolutionary than some people believe.

They seem to believe that possession of nuclear weapons provides them with far wider room for strategic and tactical boldness.

(Of course, no one should think that any government bonds are completely safe, particularly from inflation and financial repression.)

Qaddafi cannot be allowed to think that he can massacre his people with impunity.

One imagines this compelling theme will return soon enough.

No wonder that Bolivians thought they were being cheated and demanded a new deal.

She wondered whether he had already participated in the run up to the dialogue, and asked how he envisaged his participation.

Nobody should believe that another half century of peace and prosperity in Europe is guaranteed.

The 2004 elections for the European Parliament had already shown that the level of discontent with the Union was high. Voters heavily punished almost all national governments.

Could it be that people think that a country becomes insolvent when its debt exceeds 100 of GDP?

This naming and shaming approach can be more effective than most observers think.

One would think that market prices should be volatile as investors try to absorb what this earnings volatility means.

He envisioned an electro mechanical computing device that could do much of the tedious work for him.

One should not imagine that all this military equipment would have been around, still, in what hands.

For both Europe and America, the danger now is that politicians and markets believe that monetary policy can revive the economy.

What did Cheney believe? He thought that Ronald Reagan had shown that fiscal deficits don t matter.

One might have expected the Americans to know better than to bet all on a man who might be gone tomorrow.

One can also imagine that he did it to secure the women s vote.