By Imran Garda
Al-Jazeera
"Here’s a little help if ambition ever drives you to one day hope to be a spokesman for the US government. Alternately, if decoding why very similar events can be officially responded to in completely dissimilar ways gets you as excited as it gets me - read on.
Secretary of state Hillary Clinton - after the watershed popular uprising in Egypt against Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year, authoritarian rule, where police have gunned down protesters from Cairo to Alexandra - urged "restraint on both sides".
The post-election crackdown in Iran in 2009, involving fewer cities, fewer protesters, and arguably less heavy-handed firepower from the government, provoked this warning from US president Barack Obama: "The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching...”
And as Churchillian in his eloquence as he always has been, he added:
"We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights."
State department spokesman PJ Crowley was similarly eloquent about Egypt with, "we want to see restraint on both sides"... or maybe not....."
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