Lexington

摘要

The United States has got into the habit of rolling out the green carpet for Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, every St Patrick's Day. Mr Adams glad-hands loyal Hibernians across the country, raises fistfuls of dollars for his party, hobnobs with politicians on Capitol Hill, and, as the fourth leaf on the clover, enjoys a St Patrick's Day lunch in the White House. This year was rather different, thanks to a series of dismal events in Northern Ireland (including a $50m bank heist, the brutal murder of an Irish Catholic, Robert McCartney, by thugs of the Irish Republican Army, and another collapse of the peace process). Mr Adams started the week happily enough with a "conversation" at the Council on Foreign Relations, an august think-tank. There were brief allusions to his connections with the IRA, and to the terrorists' alleged involvement in both the heist and the murder (alleged, that is, by both the British and Irish governments). But the audience mostly served up softball questions. Jean Kennedy Smith, Ted Kennedy's sister and a former ambassador to the Irish Republic, gave "Gerry" a nice hug.