Back in Damascus

So I've been here since Thursday, and don't worry I've made a conscious effort not to do anything interesting in order that I could catch up on updating you on the past few weeks. Instead of being interesting, however, I was actually fairly productive, and not just in the blogging sense. I renewed my Iqama (residency permit) for the next two months, registered for classes (remember? I am a student here) beginning on the 20th, registered for Georgetown classes for the fall, did three loads of laundry, got full nights of sleep, started doing yoga again, made plans for this weekend to visit family for Easter, found a summer subletter, began working through summer plans....

The other thing I have been doing is catching up on some world news. Unfortunately all of it has been fairly depressing: suicide attacks in Pakistan and Baghdad, shooting in NY, earthquake in Italy, ice shelves melting in Antarctica, THIS, North Korea attempting a missile launch, the world economy, a supposed assassination attempt on Obama by a Syrian man (later proved false)... One thing that was less depressing and more surprising was flipping between CNN and BBC and finding a lecture from Georgetown's own Gaston Hall broadcasted on BBC. It was part of a series of debates called "The Doha Debates" and this particular episode was about the topic of whether the US should begin playing "tough" with Israel. Defending the "yes" position was a former CIA unit head (I don't remember anyone's name) and a former member of Knesset, and against them was a Jewish Harvard Law professor and a former Israeli politician. I won't get into the politics of the debate, but it was a bit of a mindtrip to be watching this on BBC and seeing familiar faces in the audience and seeing some of those familiar faces get up and ask questions.

One thing that I did take away from all this news watching was a focus on America's role on the world stage, whether it was the Obamas wooing Europe or the former Knesset member arguing that America is the parent to the Middle East and needs to discipline its unruly children (his own country included), or the coverage of the G20 where every item of discussion was in the context of its relationship to Obama's position... It is amazing what a few charismatic speeches and a great J Crew outfit can do to reverse eight years of America-bashing. Now we are the "leader of the free world" again and people are waiting for when we are going to step in to play police/parent/savior for their troubles. I am grateful for and proud of our presidential couple, but shouldn't that (ideally) be the UN's job? How high can expectations get before they are inevitably disappointed?