So it comes as no surprise that the Kremlin is trying to scupper Nabucco.

So, it is no surprise that Reid has found a role in this new marketplace.

So it is hardly surprising that gun shy (and miffed) Chinese investors are wary about making further major efforts in the US.

So it is not surprising that many Americans react with horror to her style of parenting.

Given this, it would not be surprising if Obama and others in his administration were seeking non economic issues to energize his campaign.

So, not surprisingly, economists are not in a good position to forecast how quickly it will end, either.

Not surprisingly, workers are leaving the eurozone s crisis countries, but not necessarily for its stronger northern region.

With outcomes that fall far short of policymakers projections, it is not surprising that there is little harmony in official circles.

Given the strength of national feeling in these contests, it is not surprising that people like to project national characteristics onto the style of play.

After the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is not surprising that this estimate did not exactly generate a groundswell of public support for military intervention in Syria.

CAMBRIDGE When the stakes are high, it is no surprise that battling political opponents use whatever support they can garner from economists and other researchers.

It is not surprising that this role has recently vanished.

The budget deficit, unsurprisingly, ballooned.

HONG KONG Given the crisis weighing down the world economy and financial markets, it is not surprising that a substantive reconsideration of the principles of modern economics is underway.

So it is not surprising that inflation has remained so moderate indeed, lower than in any decade since the end of World War II.

Not surprisingly, that prospect offers scant comfort to China.

This changed dramatically with the Chinese government s restoration of a capitalist economy.

So it is not surprising that inflation has remained so moderate indeed, lower than in any decade since the end of World War II. And it is also not surprising that quantitative easing has done so little to increase nominal spending and real economic activity.

So it is no surprise that jobs have become a major focus in the presidential campaign or that the candidates have very different ideas about how to boost employment.

So it is not surprising that, despite its large devaluation, Iceland continues to run a high current account deficit, adding to its already large foreign debt.

Such shortages, no surprise, have stoked inflation.

Moreover, northwestern Kosovo is potentially an important mining area, and thus a source of employment and revenue that the government is understandably loath to surrender.

Given the West s anemic performance in recent years, it is hardly surprising that envy of China s economic dynamism has manifested itself in official policy.

Unsurprisingly, financial markets do not want to be tamed.

Perhaps it is not surprising that Italians admire France s Fifth Republic.

The Irish government that encouraged reckless bank lending and the creation of a property bubble was, perhaps not surprisingly, no more adept in managing the economy after the crisis that it was before.

Unsurprisingly, Yanukovych has consistently stated his preference for an Association Agreement.

Not surprisingly, the political opposition to such debt mutualization was intense.

So, not surprisingly, they have provoked excitement in some circles that the US may finally be poised to leave behind the depressing trio of unusually sluggish growth, persistently high unemployment, and high and growing inequality.

Citizens, unsurprisingly, complained about the declining legitimacy of EU institutions.

Unsurprisingly, the fate of the Cairo talks is anything but certain.

Little wonder that Chinese families, fearful of such an uncertain future, save to excess.

Given their seemingly boundless benefits, it is unsurprising that plastics have replaced traditional materials in many sectors for example, steel in cars, paper and glass in packaging, and wood in furniture.

In these circumstances, it is not surprising that financial markets have returned to extreme volatility.

Not surprisingly, Erdoğan s government has decided to pay little heed to US government concerns.

Given the complexity and sensitivity of the issues never more so than when military action is an option it is not surprising that the responsibility to protect remains a work in progress.

Not surprisingly, those economies with current account deficits are feeling the heat first.

Given these tensions, it is no surprise that the issue of disputed sovereignty in the South China Sea is almost certain to claim center stage at this month s ASEAN Regional Forum, and at the East Asia summit in Bali that will follow it.

Given this, it would not be surprising if Obama and others in his administration were seeking non economic issues to energize his campaign. National security problems in general, and the challenge posed by China in particular, may be shaping up as just such issues.

But it is not surprising coming from a government that lacks any coherent concept of Japan s national security.

That, too, is not surprising, because the situation remains an amorphous mix of hope and destruction.

With outcomes that fall far short of policymakers projections, it is not surprising that there is little harmony in official circles. Narratives increasingly conflict and in an astonishingly open and unsettling way.

Not surprisingly, therefore, the fallout from the global economic crisis that erupted in 2008 the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930 s has prompted experts, policymakers, and the international financial institutions to rethink poverty.

With so many risks in so many places, investors, not surprisingly, will eventually prize liquidity in their portfolios, while shunning riskier fixed assets again when these tail risks materialize.

Not surprisingly, the political elite became self absorbed and served only its own narrow interests.