It hardly qualifies as breaking news that Europe is in the middle of a deep and protracted economic contraction. When a story, no matter how shocking, goes on for years, the natural inclination is to let it fade to the background of our awareness. But a visit to Spain — even to one of the cities where the economic tragedy does a good job of hiding behind hordes of tourists and beautiful architecture — is a reminder of the extent of the disaster that has befallen Europe, until recently one of the world’s most prosperous regions.

It didn’t take long after news that Israel had bombed military facilities inside Syria for the Arab League to demand that the U.N. Security Council “act immediately to end Israeli attacks on Syria” over what the League called a “dangerous violation of an Arab state’s sovereignty.”

The road ahead for women in the Middle East is not just long and winding. It is breathtakingly steep.

The Boston Marathon bombings understandably captured the country’s attention. Americans want to know everything they can about the plot, the perpetrators and their victims, and the news industryhas gone to great lengths to provide answers to any and all questions.

On Monday afternoon, as the Boston Marathon bombings brought back that sense of dread that hung in the air just after the 9/11 attacks, I received a message from a friend in Baghdad, also watching the carnage on television from the Middle East. “Sad,” she said, with succinct poignancy.

In the Middle East, the lines between fact and fiction, history and religion, myth and reality can become maddeningly blurred. That’s why you may find it difficult to believe me if I tell you I just ate manna from heaven. It’s true.

The day after President Obama arrived in Israel, the headline on the front page of the English-language daily across the border in Jordan announced, “Obama promises undying U.S. support for Israel.” The story from the Jordan Times is not the kind of news that warms people’s hearts in the Arab world. And yet, it is one that, along with Obama’s strong support for the creation of a Palestinian state, could ultimately prove helpful for peace in the region.