2011: A year that defied predictions

Anyone who, a year ago, said 2011 would see civil war in Libya; Muammar Qadhafi toppled and executed; revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt; a revolt in Syria; the quashing of a rebellion in Bahrain by Saudi Arabia; a new nuclear crisis; the near-collapse of the Eurozone; and a renewed pessimism in the global economy should be a candidate for some kind of Nobel prize

We certainly didn't predict it all, and in last year's outlook for 2011 we got a few things wrong, too. The euro didn't strengthen, as we expected it would - though better minds also expected more action from Europe's leaders. Electric cars didn't make an impact on the global automobile market - or, if they did, everyone was too worried about everything else to notice. Despite their strength, Chinese national oil companies  didn't go on the kind of shopping spree for foreign assets that we expected. And the US government surprised everyone - including us - by delaying its decision on the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta. But we got some things right. We said China's power over global oil ma