Yesterday, I titled a post Bahrain, Palestine, Iran and Western Double-Standards. Today I again write in that spirit.

As I have previously written, the support Iranian demonstrators are receiving is not because American politicians and journalists really believe in freedom for Iranians but simply because the regime being challenged is an anti-American, anti-Israeli regime. Western media evaluate movements based not on definitions of freedom and democracy, but solely on whether they protesters are perceived to be aligned with Western interests. If Saudi youth were to challenge the pro-American House of Saud regime it is very doubtful that the demonstrators would receive such support. It is more likely that Western government would send material support to suppress those youth. If Iranians were challenging fraudulent elections against a pro-Western dictatorship like the original Shah they would be demonized as fanatics and politicians and the media would state that U.S. interests are served by keeping in power the Shah for reasons of, say, stability. This is how Western governments and Western media, which follow official lines when it comes to foreign policy, behave.

There are two types of movements. Those worthy of support [against anti-Western regimes] and those to be ignored if not actively opposed [against pro-Western regimes].

Two further cases [from yesterday] illustrate this point:

Georgia and Peru.

The for weeks, thousands of Georgians have taken to the streets to demonstrate against their government. The pro-U.S., anti-Russian government in Georgia is one of the most corrupt governments and one that shutdown an opposition television station [it was given compensation for its forced closure].

Likewise with Peru: dozens of people, more than in Iran, have been killed by government forces. The Peruian demonstrators are indigenous people. I guess they are less romantic than the beautiful Persian women?

There is a reason these demonstrations have not been covered: double-standards.

Georgia’s corrupt government is a pro-U.S. bastion and Peruian demonstrators appear Marxist in their goals. If they were standing up against a pro-Russian government or were right-wing demonstrators they would be celebrated with calls of active U.S., Western support. But that isn’t happening because of the inconsistency among the West in supporting democracy protesters.

And, of course, the heart of the double standard is the occupation of Palestine.