Colbert I. King

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A Palestinian man and woman in the rubble of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip in late August. (Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images)

Events this week combined to underscore my length of days, the devastation in the Holy Land — and how the two are drawn together.

On Tuesday, my readings in the Forward Movement ministry of the Episcopal Church urged that I pray for the church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.

The next day, during a rendition of the Pledge of Allegiance at a downtown D.C. luncheon, it struck me that as a student, I recited those words for 10 years before “under God” was added in 1954. My 85th birthday on Friday marks me as older than today’s pledge, as well as a contemporary of the travails that have plagued the Holy Land since the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.…  Seguir leyendo »

President Biden at a news conference during NATO's 75th-anniversary summit in Washington on Thursday. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)

He was called “Der Alte” (“the old one”) by people mourning the death of Konrad Adenauer, West Germany’s first chancellor. Adenauer had been out of office for almost three years when I arrived in West Germany during the summer of 1966 to serve at the U.S. Embassy in Bonn. But I witnessed his state funeral the following year in Cologne and saw leaders from more than 100 countries, including U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, gather to honor the man considered the father of West Germany.

Most observers would agree that Adenauer’s seniority and depth of experience had been strengths in developing partnerships with the United States and other Western allies.…  Seguir leyendo »

Members of the clergy pray during the Catholic Washing of the Feet ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City on Thursday. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

“We are still living in challenging and painful times. Indeed, we can smell the scent of violence, death, and hatred around us. We can be overcome by the stench of war and destruction; of fear and the absence of security; of occupation and the avoidance of peaceful solutions for the common good”.

This excerpt from a February pastoral letter on the Lenten season by the Rev. Hosam Naoum, an Anglican bishop in Jerusalem, could be written today. It captures the unmitigated pain and violence being visited upon people ensconced in a small region of the Middle East deemed holy by Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian faithful around the world.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Russian airstrike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol was atrocious, but prepare to view continued televised horrors as Vladimir Putin steps up his attacks across Ukraine. Despite fierce Ukrainian resistance, and Western economic and military assistance, the devastation and death will continue until the Russian guns fall silent.

Ukrainians alone cannot make that happen. But they are on their own militarily because the United States and NATO are firmly against getting into a direct and costly armed conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky can issue pleas, but there will be no U.S. or Western military forces fighting on the ground or in the air above Ukraine.…  Seguir leyendo »

La promesa del presidente de Estados Unidos, Donald Trump, de que “habrá una transición ordenada el 20 de enero”, no vale ni un balde de saliva caliente (usando las palabras del exvicepresidente John Nance Garner).

El proceso mediante el cual se transfiere el poder presidencial en nuestra democracia —una sesión conjunta del Congreso para contar y certificar formalmente los votos del Colegio Electoral— fue obstruido la semana pasada por una multitud de partidarios de Trump que irrumpieron en el Capitolio. Profanaron el edificio, saquearon oficinas y obligaron a los miembros de la Cámara y el Senado a huir del santuario de sus recintos.…  Seguir leyendo »

Mientras escribo este artículo, continúa el conteo de votos. Y lo escribo independientemente del resultado de la contienda presidencial. Aunque espero que ganen los demócratas Joe Biden y Kamala D. Harris —lo que no es una sorpresa para mis lectores— e incluso si el presidente Donald Trump no es reelegido, todavía tengo algo que decir sobre la trágica remodelación de nuestro país por parte de un hombre malévolo y narcisista que ocupó la Casa Blanca durante casi cuatro años.

Tengo que hablar al respecto porque algunos de mis colegas en la tierra de los expertos están lanzando frases que sugieren que esta contienda presidencial fue simplemente sana diversión, que “los hombres son así”, y que los que quizás seguimos frunciendo el ceño es porque estamos exagerando todo el asunto.…  Seguir leyendo »

As the U.S. representative on the World Bank's board of executive directors, I formally nominated Alden Winship ("Tom") Clausen in 1980 to be the bank's sixth president. The outcome was never in doubt. Clausen was elected by acclamation. It has always been thus.

Since the World Bank was created at the end of World War II, the election of an American as president has never been seriously challenged. However, 51 years of unbroken American service at the helm of the largest international financial institution are in jeopardy, thanks to the ill-fated presidency of Paul Wolfowitz. This week, the European Parliament, in an unheard-of action, called for his resignation.…  Seguir leyendo »

Forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom the nation will honor on Monday, took to the pulpit of Riverside Church in New York City at a meeting organized by Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam. The date was April 4, 1967, one year before his assassination in Memphis.

King said he was in New York because his conscience had left him no choice. In his speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence," King declared: "That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam."

King acknowledged the reluctance of some people to speak out on Vietnam -- the same hesitation some Americans may have today over voicing their concerns about Iraq.…  Seguir leyendo »

Maybe it was the memory of the turbulent time I spent in the State Department as the Vietnam War escalated. Perhaps it was the names of Howard University classmates on the wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Or maybe it was just the recollection of the arrogance, prevarication and outright lies by the government during the Vietnam era that caused a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I read "State of Denial," Bob Woodward's inside look at the Bush administration and the Iraq debacle.How in the world could we be reliving a nightmare like Vietnam?

To be sure, that war and Iraq are different in the number of casualties, the geography and the enemy.…  Seguir leyendo »

The question directed this week to the National Security Council press office was straightforward: "Has the Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani met with any American official, either military or civilian, since the U.S. invasion in 2003?" The answer reveals the extent to which the Bush administration is now, and always has been, out of its depth in Iraq.

Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani is Iraq's most powerful figure. Under the reign of Saddam Hussein, Sistani was forced to keep a low profile, since he was part of the Shiite majority that Hussein's ruling Baath Party controlled with a heavy hand. Sistani was on the receiving end of assassination attempts by Hussein's thugs.…  Seguir leyendo »

Christians are being targeted in Iraq. It's not because they are one of the dominant groups vying to run the country. They aren't. Their clerics also are not part of Iraq's religious elite, although Christianity has deep roots in that country.

As the New York Times reported this week, since the Bush administration launched the invasion of Iraq 3 1/2 years ago, church bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and threats have become a daily part of Christian life. And the persecution of Christians began even before Pope Benedict XVI called attention to the words of a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who had some unkind things to say about Islam.…  Seguir leyendo »