The recession has us reeling and fearful, and there's something in the air these days that is also very empowering.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and on Judah also will it be in the siege against Jerusalem.

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and on Judah also will it be in the siege against Jerusalem.

The Greek, Portuguese, Irish, and Italian economies are reeling under fiscal austerity with budget cuts and higher taxes as far as the eye can see. This policy mix will slow their growth, and that of the rest of Europe.

The problem is that the standoff has now taken on the tone of a state to state confrontation. China, apparently still reeling from a century of humiliation at the hands of outsiders, will not be pushed around by America.

When the Arab Spring erupted in Tunisia and Egypt in January 2011, protests erupted in Syria as well. In addition to the usual grievances under a brutal regime, Syrians were reeling from a massive drought and soaring food prices.

We would pass people fishing, perhaps reeling in their lines with struggling fish hooked at the end of them. Once I saw a man take a small fish out of a bucket and impale it, still wriggling, on an empty hook to use as bait.

Russia s economy has already been reeling under Western sanctions imposed in response to the Kremlin s annexation of Crimea and continued aggression in eastern Ukraine. Output is expected to shrink by almost 4 this year, and the country s credit ratings have been reduced to junk or near junk status.

As a result of the recession and lagging recovery, health care spending has also slowed significantly since 2009 throughout the OECD. Indeed, for the first time on record, real health care spending stalled on average in the OECD in 2010, as developed countries, reeling from budgetary constraints, clamped down on health programs.

Israel, for its part, still reeling from the trauma of its ill begotten war in Lebanon in 1982, chose not to respond to Hezbollah s attacks and hoped that the attacks would not escalate. Yet such absurd situations tend to explode, as occurred with Hezbollah s abduction of two Israeli soldiers within Israeli territory.

Still, despite the FDP s implosion and the opposition parties disastrous electoral strategy, Merkel needs a coalition partner. The Left is not an option, and any attempt at building a coalition with the Greens a party that will be reeling from the shock of its poor performance for quite some time would court instability.

When Germany recently requested a quota system to cope with the massive influx of refugees, however, its partners showed no such solidarity. And now that France, reeling from the Paris attacks, has declared war on the Islamic State, other European countries are shrugging their shoulders, mumbling condolences, and silently hoping that the conflict will spare them.

Abbas will find it equally challenging to apply rule of law principles to a traumatized community that is reeling after nearly five years of violence, oppression, and draconian travel restrictions imposed by the Israelis. As in the issue of the militarization of the intifada, this is not a simple matter, as it concerns forces outside the control of Abbas and his government.

A year ago, few people would have bet that the European Union, still reeling from the trauma of the Constitutional Treaty s rejection in 2005, would be poised to ratify the new Reform Treaty, adopted in Lisbon last December. For some, the fact that the United Kingdom might ratify it even earlier than traditionally pro European countries like Italy merely underscores the Treaty s lack of new and bold initiatives to accelerate European unification.

ROME A year ago, few people would have bet that the European Union, still reeling from the trauma of the Constitutional Treaty s rejection in 2005, would be poised to ratify the new Reform Treaty, adopted in Lisbon last December. For some, the fact that the United Kingdom might ratify it even earlier than traditionally pro European countries like Italy merely underscores the Treaty s lack of new and bold initiatives to accelerate European unification.