Lately, almost everyone on the global political scene has had his or her own take on the political riots that have erupted in other Middle Eastern countries after the fall of Egypt’s totalitarian regime. According to the United States, political protests are fine, unless your country is allied with us. In that case, we urge you naughty citizens to stop attempting to compromise your government’s integrity this instant! In response to protests that have broken out in the Middle Eastern countries of Iran and Bahrain, President Obama has issued an embarrassingly obvious double standard. Addressing the Iranian protestors, he urged them on, telling them to have: “the courage to be able to express their yearning for greater freedoms and a more representative government.” Addressing the protestors in Bahrain, a “vital” United States ally in the region, Obama urged the King to hear his citizens’ grievances, and urged the people to stop their protests. The Obama Administration also went out of its way to call out Iran, calling them hypocrites for supporting the Egyptian protests but cracking down when similar riots broke out in their own country. Hold on a second, but isn’t that nearly the same thing as the US encouraging Iranian protestors but scolding protestors in Bahrain? I understand this is my second straight week of scolding the Obama administration, but the comments released by the White House this past week are downright puzzling, if not a bit, dare I say, hypocritical? The comments in and of themselves are quite logical. Naturally, we are looking to urge on the possible breakdown of the government of one of our biggest enemies, Iran. Just as logical is the desire to keep things calm in Bahrain. Certainly, Iran is being hypocritical in their stance on political protests. But aren’t they just looking after their own interests, just as the U.S. is with these comments? Just because Iran is run by a totalitarian regime and is considered by the West to be a “bad country” means they get to be called out as hypocritical? Or rather, just because the United States is generally seen as a power in diplomacy and democracy, it is allowed to be hypocritical? I can’t imagine that any citizens in Iran care for what the President of the United States has to say, anyway – that is if it isn’t being completely censored by their media. Furthermore, with Iran currently the wild-card country that it is, would a breakdown in regime really be in anyone’s best interest? The current government certainly has not been cooperative, especially about its nuclear pursuits, but it hasn’t blown anyone up over it, at least not yet. Who’s to say that a new government wouldn’t be even more radical and unstable? Mr. Obama was quoted as trying to express how “tricky diplomacy in the [Middle East] has become.” I can’t imagine being blatantly hypocritical about your policy in the region makes it any easier.