A year in the past, few predicted Russian President Vladimir Putin would launch an all-out invasion of Ukraine (and that Ukraine would correctly repel it). Or that China would – almost overnight, amid unusual substantial-scale protests – rescind its zero-COVID plan. Unexpectedly high food and energy costs have pushed up world inflation to 8.8{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} from 4.7{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} in the course of the final 12 months, in accordance to the Intercontinental Monetary Fund. Predictions, forecasts, long term-gazing. These are pursuits that can normally be, to use a British phrase, a mug’s match. One thing only a silly individual, armed with incomplete information and facts, would try. Nonetheless, there are some worldwide story lines that are probable to dominate global headlines…