The outcome is difficult to predict.

It is far too soon to predict another revolution.

It is difficult to predict the fate of such a blinkered regime.

It s tempting to predict how this will end.

It is too early to predict the impact of François Hollande s election as President of France.

Although the endgame is close, it is impossible to predict which alternative will prevail.

It is impossible to predict when the shift will happen or what form it will take.

It is too early to speculate whether Germany will be able to break this pattern and reverse that trend.

It is too early to say how long this consensus will last, and what changes it will bring.

If we can predict individual outcomes, what is an individual s responsibility, and what remains a collective task?

How Asia s geopolitical landscape will evolve over the coming decades is not easy to foresee.

Sebastian and I used to speculate on how that family of Neanderthals could have produced a girl as rare as Catherine.

The colonial borders are being called into question, and what will become of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan is difficult to forecast.

But the evidence on whether additional deficit financed spending would quickly revive economic growth is mixed.

Of course, it is still too early to predict the outcome of the Arab Awakening, and the countries in transition still face daunting challenges.

We cannot predict the shape that the world economy will take just from observing that China and its interests will loom larger.

While it is too early to predict the final outcomes, several important regional implications are already beginning to emerge.

But it is difficult to predict whether such a division of labor with the disenchanted former Social Democrat Oskar Lafontaine will be possible.

If the volume of oil resources were known with certainty, and if we could accurately predict the growth of oil consumption, calculating the imminence of exhaustion would be simple.

To be sure, it would be impossible to predict, under the currently favoured top down principle, how much temperature increase the world would have to bear.

Given current policy and political uncertainties and the multiple equilibria that they entail it is difficult to predict with a high degree of confidence which road eventually will be taken and when.

Thus, we can safely predict ongoing difficulty throughout Europe, as the countries of the south, in particular, struggle to reduce public spending in order to align their fiscal policies with actual economic capacity.

We cannot predict when or where, but sooner or later there will be an explosion of protest, whether violent or taking the form of organized support for political parties espousing radically different policies.

Meteorology is not an exact science, and we cannot predict the precise extent and impact of environmental initiatives, though progress in weather forecasting might also reduce the damage caused by hurricanes.

How, exactly, will change unfold, and what form will a new social compact ultimately assume? It is difficult to speculate, though in most countries, the process will be peaceful and democratic.

The consequences of Germany s renunciation of that role are predictable the EU will regress from a union of states moving towards ever closer integration to a weak confederation dominated by conflicting national interests.

It is far too soon to predict another revolution. But t he divide between Iran s society and its government is much greater today than it was under the Shah 30 years ago.

While it would be rash to forecast a double dip as the most likely outcome for the economy during the rest of this year, many of us are raising the odds that we attribute to such a downturn. Unfortunately, those forecasts of what might happen remain hidden.

How Asia s geopolitical landscape will evolve over the coming decades is not easy to foresee. But it is apparent that an increasingly assertive China is unwittingly reinforcing America s role in Asia, restoring US primacy as the implicit guarantor of security and stability in the region.

If the volume of oil resources were known with certainty, and if we could accurately predict the growth of oil consumption, calculating the imminence of exhaustion would be simple. But these are big ifs especially given the high level of uncertainty regarding the ultimate volume of oil resources.

The first reason for hope is that statesmanship is returning to Europe, even if in homeopathic doses. It is too early to predict the impact of François Hollande s election as President of France.

Where the IMF s next managing director will come down on this issue and on whether fiscal salvation is to be achieved through austerity, with costs borne by ordinary citizens, even as bankers get only a mild slap on the wrist is critically important, but hard to predict.

While it is difficult to predict how far he might move in this direction, it would be politically difficult for Obama to meet the North Korean leader in such a manner, something that he is likely to learn early in his presidency.