It would be rash to assume that the outcome in Russia would be as benign as Ukraine s Orange Revolution.

Suppose it was divided into independent political units of two million people each.

But the next worst thing is to assume that a minor patch up will be enough to render globalization healthy and sustainable.

Today, we can see the force of this ideology, but it would be a mistake to assume that the spirit of the original Muslim reformists has vanished.

One can only presume that over time large fissile material stocks would be transformed into nuclear weapons, thus accentuating asymmetries.

We are assuming that our societies are going to be based on mistrust.

First, it has to be assumed that individuals prefer to avoid risk.

But this assumes that our income relative to the income of others does not matter.

Let s assume, I said next, that Nicholas and John own two small firms that compete with each other.

So presumably he has a constructive vision for the Bank s future.

To illustrate, suppose that this reduction in the value of the pound is 5 .

People that have grown up in such a paradigm might find it motivating, but it is a mistake to assume that everyone thrives under the pressure of choosing alone.

We need not assume that these goals cannot be pursued simultaneously.

We can no longer presume that its institutional arrangements reflect its citizens preferences.

Nevertheless, we should not take a positive outcome of the review as a foregone conclusion, nor should we assume that the subsequent launch of a final status process will be automatic.

Indeed, experience gives little reason to presume that a modern way of speaking, willingness to liberalize the economy, and an urge for technological development automatically translates into a democratic opening.

But assume that China does revalue its currency sharply, by, say, 40 .

The concepts of intelligence and of race are less clear cut than we often assume them to be.

Will the oil sheikhs reduce output of fossil fuels? At first glance, it seems natural to assume this, as most suppliers reduce production when the price falls.

In a real struggle over things that actually matter, we must assume that we are up against thinking opponents, who may understand some things about us that we don t know about ourselves.

One can assume that next year s total spending on military affairs will be even bigger.

But it is neither useful nor very plausible to assume that Kim Jong un and his military advisers are mad.

But it would be most imprudent to assume that the turning point is right now, and that things are as bad as they will get.

To them, one can only assume, the debates are nothing more than a personality contest.

Both will depend on the outcome of the review, and that outcome is in the hands of Kosovo's leaders, who should continue their progress in implementing the standards.

This is what happened in Ukraine in November 2004, with revolutionary consequences. It would be rash to assume that the outcome in Russia would be as benign as Ukraine s Orange Revolution.

It is, after all, unrealistic to assume that all members can profit to the same extent from this hard line approach that is not achievable even among the 16 federal German states.

Where a patient is unable to be involved in this type of decision, the law and the medical profession in the United Kingdom allow the doctor to assume that the patient would prefer to be painless, and thus the provider may prescribe and administer adequate analgesia, even if the treatment may slightly hasten death.

One would assume that Obama would prove even more unsettling to bin Laden.

On the contrary, it would be a grave mistake to assume that fanatical Islamism fully defines Saudi attitudes toward religion.

In the rich world, when a mother dies giving birth, we assume that something went wrong.

It is therefore inaccurate to assume China changed suddenly and all at once in the year 1644.

It would be dangerous to assume that after Tunisia, democracy in the Arab world is just around the corner.

Yet it would be a grave mistake to assume that the ECB can deliver lasting economic peace.

Of course, relaxed and happy people can still become depressed, and stressed and unhappy people may not be depressed, but it is a reasonable hypothesis that happier people are less likely to become depressed.

It is thus wrong to assume that economies based on cheap labor are massively outcompeting the EU.

Yet it would be wrong to dwell excessively on current leaders weaknesses, for to do so presupposes that with different leaders at the helm, an Israeli Palestinian agreement could be reached through bilateral negotiations.

The two names that have been floated so far presumably leaked as trial balloons are particularly disturbing.

At the same time, it would be short sighted to assume that fossil fuels, especially coal, are a profitable and sustainable energy source.

It seems reasonable to suppose that an entity affected by such decisions might decide to bring a claim against those who made them if it is dissatisfied with the conduct of the review on the basis, for example, of its belief that the decisions were improperly influenced by conflict of interest.

We also assume an automatic acceptance of rules that in fact took a long time to become embedded even in the US.

It is not entirely far fetched to assume that an Obama effect is having an impact on Israel s current international predicament.

Medvedev may one day have his own Yukos moment, but we should not assume that he is an independent player until he does.

It is therefore safe to assume that not only obscure academics and correspondents, but officials in Beijing as well, are now busy studying the history of the Ghulja uprising and of Osman Batur s guerillas.

Perhaps the assumption is that, as opponents of abortion sometimes say, the aborted fetus had the genetic potential to become a Beethoven or an Einstein.