The Three Kings, then and now

Christmas is over. The Three Kings statues, packed away in their boxes, have returned to the family attic.  But hold on — there reappear on the world stage two other characters, and one trying to jump back on. 

Putin: A master fabricator of myths and lies, hiding behind an enigmatic face. He started a war that now has taken hundreds of thousands of lives, displaced millions of peaceful  people, and saturated a once-fertile land with thousands of bombshells and missile fragments that could take decades to clear once peace returns. 

Xi Jinping: Underneath his debonair smile and calm disposition, the dark side of paranoia lurks. He is out to re-impose the global role of China to its imperial glory of past centuries, first with economic incentives, now by building up and flexing its military muscle. 

And on our backstage at home, who else but our own Donald Trump: a businessman being investigated for many shady deals; a TV reality showman, part charismatic jester (“bouffon”), part bully-playing-victim, and part demagogue who delights himself and his fans with name-calling and shooting simple answers to complex problems. 

These three deeply paranoid, insecure, self-proclaimed kings long to hold the world in their hands, and spin it along their triangular axis; they command their own packs of oligarchs and populist supporters, and can start a regional or global war when they feel like it; three un- scrupulous “strong men” with fragile egos and itchy trigger fingers. 

Scary, unless we all unify to resist them. 

(Published in the GT Feb 6, 2024)