Irish Political News

White House announcement (done, like the "resignation" of Alphonso Jackson, en route to Ukraine) --

President George W. Bush today announced that Special Envoy to the European Union, C. Boyden Gray will also serve as Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy. Mr. Gray will engage directly with senior European, Central Asian, Russian and other political and business leaders to support the continued development and diversification of the energy sector.

That position as "Special Envoy" to the EU is in fact an extended recess appointment for Gray i.e. one done without Senate approval. It's not clear what the backstory is here i.e. whether there was nothing for Gray to do in Brussels given that he's not actually the US Ambassador to the EU or if there's some new wheeze involving oil or gas deals at work. But the US Senate needs to find some way to rein in this parallel diplomatic system, especially given how closely it seems to conform to the obsessions of George Bush and Dick Cheney with energy supplies. It's all too clear where that obsession has already led.

White House --

President and Mrs. Bush will welcome British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Mrs. Sarah Brown to the White House on April 17, 2008. The United States and the United Kingdom share a special partnership that enables our countries to more effectively confront the key strategic challenges facing our two nations.

Beyond saying Thanks a lot for Basra, dude, it's not clear how much time George will have to devote to his special friend Gordon, since Pope Benedict will be in town. Sure, the main business between Bush and the Pope will have been done on the previous day, but Benedict will still be whizzing around Washington and the Methodist Bush will still be in one of his hazes from his chat with him the night before. Don't doubt for a moment that Bush looks for Signs in all sorts of ways --

[to eastern european reporter] Are they still talking about the "rainbow speech"? Were you there for that?
Q Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: It was an amazing moment, wasn't it?
Q Yes, it was amazing moment, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: I was giving a speech in the town square where Ceauşescu had given his final speech. And it was raining, and just as I got up to speak a full rainbow appeared.
Q Yes. And about bridge to a new Russia.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q You remember that?
THE PRESIDENT: I remember the rainbow most of all. It was a startling moment.

Can Benedict, let alone Gordon, match that?

Before a messianic audience in Dayton, Ohio (added: link to speech)--

Delivered justice to Zarqawi in the form of two 500 lb precision guided bombs.

Tell that to Pope Benedict.

Nothing in the speech yet makes any reference to the chaos in southern Iraq and Baghdad today.

Now he mentions the chaos, but blames Iran. Iran supports SCIRI/Dawa which is part of the government, clamping down on al-Sadr.

A new refrain -- "the soccer, the soccer" (it used to be "the schools, the schools"). Odierno says he saw 180 games in one trip. McCain only saw 50! Is it the job of generals to be counting in-use football fields?

Is his audience deluded enough to think that Iraqi politics is just like US politics? Their President certainly is.

He refers to Iraqi oil production without making any reference to the huge pipeline blast today.

His audience probably doesn't understand the legal dance now going on in the speech: "strategic partnership" = a treaty he intends not to submit to the Senate for consent -- contrary to the constitution.

That "critic" he quoted is long-time war supporter, Tony Cordesman.

Two sentences in the speech on the actual current situation in Iraq -- which has almost nothing to do with al-Qaeda. And he asks others to keep an open mind.

Answer to his question (if not Iraq, where?): Pakistan. But Pakistan doesn't have oil.

George Bush has "issued" a statement on the Taiwan election, although since he's probably mountain biking around Camp David, the statement has actually been waiting to go for a few days with an {insert victor name} field once the result was in. And quite a diplomatic dance it is, especially for someone with zero willingness to confront China over Tibet. Of particular note --

Once again, Taiwan has demonstrated the strength and vitality of its democracy ... Taiwan is a beacon of democracy to Asia and the world. I am confident that the election and the democratic process it represents will advance Taiwan as a prosperous, secure, and well-governed society.

As in, not like the other place.

It falls to Taiwan and Beijing to build the essential foundations for peace and stability by pursuing dialogue through all available means and refraining from unilateral steps that would alter the cross-Strait situation.

No reference to "China" at all. Just Beijing. Two places disputing a single title.

The maintenance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the welfare of the people on Taiwan remain of profound importance to the United States.

Not "people of Taiwan" (a usage shared by the State Department). But on balance, a pro-Taiwan statement. Yet, is there really anything that the US could do if things got ugly between China and its "renegade province"? And one hopes Bush doesn't think this compensates for his silence on Tibet.

George Bush's Easter radio address --

On Easter, we remember especially those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom. These brave individuals have lived out the words of the Gospel: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." And our Nation's fallen heroes live on in the memory of the Nation they helped defend.

Those Gospel words are from John, with Jesus explaining to the Apostles his own impending sacrifice for them, and by extension, all of humanity.

So death in Bush's war of choice is now equivalent to the death (if not Resurrection) of Jesus? One wonders if Pope Benedict, in Washington next month, has an opinion on this bit of theological interpretation.

It's very strange. No one told him that "Concerned Local Citizens" were rebranded "Sons of Iraq" to sound less like vigilantes.

Here's an old post on this "weak horse, strong horse" quote. It's amazing that Bush admits that Osama bin Laden has guided his strategy.

White House announcement --

The President intends to appoint Peter Pace, of Virginia, to be a Member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.

That would be the board whose oversight element Bush recently gutted with an executive order, removing many of its independent monitoring functions. But just to be sure he hears what he wants to hear, that "Peter Pace" is none other than General Pete Pace, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Afghan and Iraqi wars, and was the chairman thereof (and thus Bush's top uniformed adviser) when the wheels were coming off in Iraq in 2005 and 2006.

He was one of the guys Bush said he was listening to when he was claiming that he had enough troops in Iraq. Which was the period right before he decided that he didn't have enough troops in Iraq. Just the guy you went in an intelligence advisory capacity.

At the Saint Patrick's Day reception --

President, as we say good-bye on this occasion, but hopefully we'll keep in touch over the years, I will remember -- and I hope that everyone in Ireland will -- how kind, how favorable you've been, how really open you've been to helping us, and the amount of time that the President has given to us.

Of course it's Bush's last St Patrick's Day. But he still has another very scary 10 months on the job. Does Bertie not think he'll see him again as Taoiseach? George seemed to have a similar impression --

Perhaps when we join the ex-leaders club, we'll sit back and put our feet up -- (laughter) -- and talk about the good old times. In the meantime, I know you're going to sprint to the finish, as am I, for the good of our countries.

"Sprint to the finish" was also Bush's formulation for his last press conference with Tony Blair, who by then had a public deadline for quitting.

One other thing Bush mentioned --

It's an interesting poster that somebody brought to my attention that said this: "In the United States, an industrious youth may follow any occupation without being looked down upon, and he may rationally expect to raise himself in the world by his labor." You know, occasionally, people did look down, but not anymore -- because Irish have been unbelievably productive people for the United States of America. They made a huge contribution. They've become an essential thread in the American fabric.

That "somebody" is senior Bush adviser Ed Gillespie, who had used the quote to argue that Ireland's famine emigrants would have favoured Bush's tax cuts.

Stability-ites

which he defines as --

people who say, you just got to worry about stability.

as opposed to --

And I'm saying, we better worry about the conditions that caused 19 kids to kill us in the first place.

Such as the lack of freedom in the home country of 15 of them, Saudi Arabia? But then there's that pesky oil market, which needs "stability", if you will. It's all very confusing. But that's why we need a strong leader --

you know, I guess the best to describe government policy is like a person trying to drive a car on a rough patch. If you ever get stuck in a situation like that, you know full well it's important not to overcorrect -- because when you overcorrect you end up in the ditch. And so it's important to be steady and to keep your eyes on the horizon.

And not worry about who's getting crunched underneath the car.

UPDATE: Bush's speech was sufficiently disastrous even by his standards that Gail Collins devotes a column to it. But he loved his car line so much, he used it again in the radio address.

George Bush --

The situation in Tibet* remains deplorable. The regime has rejected calls from its own people and the international community to begin a genuine dialogue with the opposition and ethnic minority groups. Arrests and secret trials of peaceful political activists continue, such as the recent arrest of journalists Thet Zin and Sein Win Maung.

No, wait. That's his most recent statement on Burma, the other monk-beating regime. But Burma is not a huge net lender to the USA and is not hosting the Olympics. So that's different.

Photo: AFP/Mark Ralston

Why would George Bush, without much fanfare, suddenly yank his nomination of Charles Gargano, highly connected New York City property developer, to be his Ambassador to Austria? Usually such jobs are a lock once you've ponied up the requisite Republican fund-raising and/or satisfied the right connections, which as a George Pataki operative, he surely has.

Perish the thought that he's one of those clients with a number.

George Bush --

President Bush Attends Kuwait-America Foundation's Stand for Africa Gala Dinner
Residence of the Ambassador of Kuwait
Washington, D.C.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Mr. Ambassador, thank you for the invitation. You've got a beautiful place here. (Laughter.)

Isn't that what Saddam said about Kuwait in 1991?

Also, an insight into Bush-style parenting --

So the guy comes to see me, and he says, I want to marry your daughter. I said, done deal. (Laughter.)

Which, according to one recent biography, is about the level of parenting that Bush himself received. Little consolation for the rest of us.

John McCain mentioned several times during his endorsement by George Bush that he would be campaiging with Bush to the extent that Bush's "busy schedule" allowed.

Take a look at Bush's schedule for October 2004, the height of the last general election campaign season. Multiple election events in multiple states, every day. September was nearly as busy.

This was the period when Iraq was descending into the abyss. If ever he would have a busy schedule, that was it. So what is the Straight Talking Maverick^TM afraid of?

George Bush, during a Q&A with Jordan's King Abdullah (who predictably wimped out on mentioning his previous criticism of Israel) --

He [King] also pointed out something which I knew, but I wasn't exactly sure how it was affecting his country, that there are roughly three-quarters of a million Iraqi citizens who have moved to Jordan.

The population of Jordan in 2003 was about 5 million, so having 750,000 refugees show up since then is a 15 percent increase in population -- and not an immigrant worker population, but victims of war.

But George Bush "isn't exactly sure" what effect that might have.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino --

There is an old rhetorical tactic in Washington: you repeat something often enough, regardless of whether it's true, and hope people will start to believe it.

Indeed.

From a New York Times account of Bob Geldof's journey with George Bush on his recent African trip --

There was, for instance, the flight on Air Force One. Not in the crowded press cabin in the back, mind you, but up front in presidential splendor. There, by Mr. Geldof’s account, he and the president swapped stories about life on the road (Mr. Geldof was particularly interested in how the White House handles presidential laundry) and talked policy.


Unfortunately, Bob was probably sworn to secrecy on the answer.

One more note about George Bush in Tanzania. One of those moments where things that he's in denial about briefly break through. Such as how his time is passing --

[reporter] And then to President Kikwete, I'd like to ask you about American politics. There seems to be a lot of excitement here in Africa, and in your country about Barack Obama. And I wonder what you think it says about America, that we might elect a black President with roots in Africa?

PRESIDENT BUSH: It seemed like there was a lot of excitement for me, wait a minute. (Laughter.) Maybe you missed it.

George Bush --

"You've got resources -- we want them, we'll exploit them and leave behind"

Actually it's Bush explaining what he says is not his policy in sub-Saharan Africa.

He also has what he says is a national security motivation for his aid policies in Africa --

Secondly, there are two reasons why. Now, one, conditions of life overseas matters to the security of the United States. In other words, if there's hopelessness, then it's liable that extremists who are recruiting people to create havoc not only in their respective countries or neighborhoods, but also in our country -- if there's hopelessness, they have a better chance to recruit. So it's in our national security interest, Edwin, that we deal with the conditions that enable ideologues -- the ideologues of hate to recruit.

But in fact this is the logic (poverty=terrorism) that enrages right-wingers when it's someone other than Bush outlining it. It also doesn't explain why Africa is not a global exporter of terrorism. Nor why post-invasion Iraq could be.

White House --

President and Mrs. Bush will welcome His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the White House on April 16, 2008, during his first visit to the United States as Pope. The President and the Holy Father will continue discussions, which they began during the President's visit to the Vatican in June 2007, on their common commitment to the importance of faith and reason in reaching shared goals. These goals include advancing peace throughout the Middle East and other troubled regions, promoting inter-faith understanding, and strengthening human rights and freedom, especially religious liberty, around the world.

Hopefully the Pope's staff have been track of the recent revelations regarding waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques".

George Bush to BBC's Matt Frei today

Frei: Yesterday, Steven Spielberg - the Hollywood director - pulled out of the Beijing Olympics over Darfur. He said the Chinese aren't doing enough to stop the killing in Darfur. Do you applaud his move?

Mr Bush: That's up to him. I'm going to the Olympics. I view the Olympics as a sporting event. On the other hand, I have a little different platform than Steven Spielberg so, I get to talk to President Hu Jintao. And I do remind him that he can do more to relieve the suffering in Darfur. There's a lot of issues that I suspect people are gonna, you know, opine, about during the Olympics. I mean, you got the Dali Lama crowd. You've got global warming folks. You've got, you know, Darfur and... I am not gonna you know, go and use the Olympics as an opportunity to express my opinions to the Chinese people in a public way 'cause I do it all the time with the president. I mean. So, people are gonna be able to choose - pick and choose how they view the Olympics.

Which, besides sounding like the easy way out, is not in that Reagan tradition that every Republican always says they're a part of. Reagan supported Jimmy Carter's boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

UPDATE: Here's more on Reagan's rationale (and note the plus ça change aspect in the questioner) --

May 14, 1984, Q&A with reporters --

Andrea [Andrea Mitchell, NBC News]? And then I'll come across -- --

Q. Mr. President, you have said in the past -- in 1980 you said that you supported the boycott. This year, you're saying that politics have no place in an Olympic boycott. Why have you changed your position?

The President. Well, let's remember the different situation. The Soviets have now announced that they are not going to come because they don't believe that we can offer protection to their athletes. And, as I say, we have been given -- we've given them chapter and verse on what we have done, and there had never been anything like it.

Now, in 1980, the reason for the boycott that was given by the then administration was because the Soviets had invaded -- openly invaded with their own forces -- a neighboring country, Afghanistan, that hadn't done any thing to them or lifted a finger against them.

I think this was a completely different situation. It is true, however, that I went through several stages of thinking then. It wasn't just an automatic accepting of the politicizing of that. I was as angry as anyone, I'm sure, as we all were, and as disapproving of the invasion of Afghanistan -- and still am. But at the time, I did voice a question as to -- I questioned our government setting a precedent of denying the right of our own citizens to leave our borders and go someplace else.

I then thought in terms of shouldn't this decision be made by the free American citizens, the Olympic Committee, the athletes themselves? I went through a stage of thinking in which I said it wasn't so much of their not participating as, I said, shouldn't we -- since the Olympics traditionally were born in and exist on the basis of trying to provide peace between nations -- they, the host nation, having done what they did, should we not consider removing the Olympics from that country and staging them someplace else? And from that I went to exploring what so many have and are exploring now: possibly having the Olympics from now on be in the home of their origin, Greece, and not have them move around the world.

Of course, this exchange caught Reagan when the 1980 boycott had come back to bite the USA, in the boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

[Text above found in the Reagan speech archive at the University of Texas; photo showing Bush when he was one of the "Dali Lama" crowd]

George Bush gave an interview to the BBC. Only his second during his Presidency, and probably his last. Matt Frei didn't quite go the Carole Coleman route but he did some catch Bush off-guard a few times, since Bush seems less well-prepared than usual. Particularly incoherent is Bush's rationale for why he'll veto the bill that restricts the CIA to interrogation techniques that the military can use:

Frei: The Senate yesterday passed a bill outlawing water-boarding. You, I believe, have said that you will veto that bill.

Mr Bush: That's not -

Frei: Does that not send the wrong signal...

Mr Bush: No, look... that's not the reason I'm vetoing the bill. The reason I'm vetoing the bill - first of all, we have said that whatever we do... will be legal. Secondly, they are imposing a set of standards on our intelligence communities in terms of interrogating prisoners that our people will think will be ineffective. And, you know, to the critics, I ask them this: when we, within the law, interrogate and get information that protects ourselves and possibly others in other nations to prevent attacks, which attack would they have hoped that we wouldn't have prevented? And so, the United States will act within the law. We'll make sure professionals have the tools necessary to do their job within the law. Now, I recognise some say that these - terrorists - really aren't that big a threat to the United States anymore. I fully disagree. And I think the president must give his professionals within the law the necessary tools to protect us. So, we're not having a debate not only how you interrogate people. We're having a debate in America on whether or not we ought to be listening' to terrorists making' phone calls in the United States. And the answer is darn right we ought to be.

Noteworthy is not just his internally inconsistent arguments (he claims the bill would be both ineffective and binding) but his willful mischaracterization of his critics and the dishonest pseudo-challenge to them: he won't say what the techniques are, beyond the military ones, that he used to prevent specific attacks on the US.

The White House has provided National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez with the resignation letter of George Bush's chief speechwriter, William McGurn.

When historians are trying to figure out whether the personality cult around George Bush was something that only manifested itself in the distant masses who voted for him, this letter will be the definitive proof that the cult extended all the way inside the cocoon. Maybe that's how one gets to be in the cocoon. The key excerpts --

When it became clear that our country was under attack [on 9/11], I returned home. My wife came out to meet me as I pulled into our driveway. I remember looking up at the sky and wondering what kind of world our girls would inherit. And i remember saying to Julie, "Let's be thankful George W. Bush is President". ...

The day will come when my girls are no longer children -- and look out on a world where people from Baghdad to Beijing enjoy the liberty that Providence intended for them. And each will tell her children, "When I was a girl, I knew the man who believed in this future when so few others did - George W. Bush

In a crack of dawn appearance, on a Friday, before the Conservative Politcal Action Conference (CPAC) pirahnas (and with his two appearances before them coming when he was furthest removed from an election i.e. 2001 and 2008), George W. Bush had this interaction with the audience --

We believe people should be held responsible for their actions and we know that people can change their behavior. Sometimes all it takes is the help of a loving soul -- somebody who puts their arm around a troubled person and says, I love you, can I help you. We also know that --

AUDIENCE MEMBER: ([I love you]) (Laughter and applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: My soul is not that troubled, but thank you. (Laughter and applause.)

Powerline's Hindrocket yesterday --

John McCain will not be a perfect Presidential nominee. Then again, we didn't have any perfect candidates this year. (Funny how often that seems to happen.) How odd, though, for conservatives, of all people, to be the ones to hold out for perfection in human affairs.

Powerline's Hindrocket two and a half years ago --

It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can't get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.

Hyperbolic? Well, maybe.

Which is a different question from whether he currently drinks. The question arises, again, because the impression that Bush "was" an alcoholic is one of the things that he leaves out there, like the impression that he is a born-again Christian (he's not) because it's politically effective. Who doesn't like a story of redemption? Better still if it involves the Lord.

So Bush today was in Baltimore visiting a scheme that helps former prisoners reintegrate in society, and in addition to his public remarks there was a private meeting with group members --

"Addiction is hard to overcome," ... "As you might remember, I drank too much at one time in my life," Bush said. "I understand faith-based programs. I understand that sometimes you can find the inspiration from a higher power to solve an addiction problem."

Increasingly, Bush has reflected in candid terms about his days of drinking. Last month, he told some young recovering addicts to stick with their fight against drugs and cited his own experiences with alcohol years ago. He said then that "addiction competes for your affection ... you fall in love with alcohol."

Unfortunately we've learned from other contexts that Bush's statements have to be parsed indefinitely to see their true meaning. And note that in these meetings, he never says "I was addicted to alcohol" let alone "I am an alcoholic". Those listening are left to draw their own pleasing assumptions about what he meant, reporters included.

That being said, Bush certainly has the personality of someone who could use a drink. But that's got nothing to do with whether God helped him in a struggle with alcoholism.

UPDATE: Later versions of the AP story are more careful about characterising his relationship to the demon drink.

There's not much to say about George Bush's final state of the union address. The cognitive dissonance of his Congressional Republican peanut gallery was impressive: a standing ovation for permanent tax cuts, followed quickly by a standing ovation for balanced budgets. But the primary incoherence of Bush policy continues to be the Middle East.

Just one example: Lebanon yet again listed as a country where "the people" and their western-backed government are struggling against terrorists seeking to block their progress towards democracy. You would not know from the speech that 2 days ago, it was the Lebanese government shooting protestors in the streets -- protestors wondering why it is that power cuts always seem to be in Shia areas of Beirut. And then they wonder why Iran has a following in these countries.

Terrorist atrocities. A war against all Arab governments. A particular preference for attacks and stunts involving airliners. Extracting money from Saudi Arabia. And actual support for Saddam Hussein, not just the imagined type.

Not Osama bin Laden. George Habash, probably the last remnant of the days when Palestinian extremism had little to do with holy war as it's now thought of.

But Habash died an old man, witnessing the defeat of just about every cause he cared about. Perhaps because there wasn't a George Bush to validate the worst assumptions of his followers and make him an iconic figure.

It seems that he was Marxist-Leninist to the end. It'll be interesting to see if Christopher Hitchens marks his death.

George Bush today specified one of his principles for the economic stimulus package designed to help his post-bubble economy is that the size "should be about 1 percent of GDP". That seemingly harmless little phrase has a history in the Bush administration. For it was the guess as to the full cost of the Iraq war, as of 2002, that got Bush's then economic adviser, Larry Lindsey, hustled out of his job.

Even though it's now far too low, it was much too high for a White House that was pushing the idea of a low cost war, with Iraq's reconstruction to be paid for out of oil money. Perhaps Bush doesn't remember the apoplexy that the phrase caused all those years ago. Perhaps we better hope that he doesn't embrace the number as prescribing that another nice little war might be just what the economy needs.

Only George Bush could make one of his boilerplate proclamations irritating. The proclamation of the King Holiday --

Our Nation has made progress toward realizing Dr. King's dream, yet the work to achieve liberty and justice for all is never-ending. In July of 2006, I was honored to sign the "Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006," to renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and reaffirm our commitment to securing the voting rights of all Americans.

This would be the dude in office due to uncounted votes in Florida in 2000 and/or Supreme Court intervention to complain about the lack of a uniform standard for counting votes in Florida in 2000 but not about any other aspect of America's patchwork voting system. And this would be the dude whose party yells about "voter fraud" any time an election goes against them, and indeed who yelled themselves into the scandal about the fired US Attorneys, since the fired Attorneys were the ones insufficiently zealous about chasing down those voter fraudsters.

But he'll have his best solemn face on for the King ceremonies. At least Dr King gets more than the phone-in appearance that he'll be doing the next day for the Roe v Wade observance, in keeping with his tradition of being out of town when the pro-lifers are in town.

Egypt is clearly in the doghouse for the White House on Bush's now concluded Middle East trip, as evidenced by President Mubarak only being given a brief stopover visit in the resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh, as opposed to the cavorting with the Gulf elites that had taken place earlier in the trip. This is what happens when, like Egypt, you're a non-oil exporter that locks up bloggers, as opposed to say, Saudi Arabia, an oil exporter that locks up bloggers.

Anyway, for all its faults, there is a little interesting thing about Egypt in the photograph. Note that the images come from Egypt's classical (and pre-Islamic) period. One fact that was lost in the furore over the Danish cartoons is that, strictly speaking, Islamic thinking has concerns about the making of any human image, not just that of Muhammad. Because there is a risk of idolatry: the images can become a distraction from God. Go into a mosque and look for images of any person -- you won't find one.

The risk of idolatry is particularly severe when one person other than God is being elevated above all others. Now take a look at the reception photographs from nearly every Arab Bush stop during his visit. Ramallah. Kuwait. UAE. Saudi Arabia. There's always a corporeal leader above the dignitaries. The only exceptions are Bahrain and Egypt (where the image is classical and not political) -- the two countries given the least time on the Bush trip.

Not that Bush will put much thought into it, but among the many reasons for the Muslim world's alienation with him is the effort that the US allocates to leaders as opposed to people, all of whom are equally worthy. The countries that have been around long enough to have more secure identities have less time for leadership cults -- and so are less interesting to the American version thereof.