Double standards watch: Georgia and Iran

You know where else the police are beating protesters?

Starting in the beginning of April, Georgia’s opposition movement promised to protest daily until the President quits. They pretty much have since, despite numerous beatings of both activists and the journalists covering them. My favorite? The plainclothes policemen who wade into crowds of protesters before beating them with truncheons.

Now, this is an American ally, the recipient of a billion dollars in U.S. foreign aid right after it started a war, the owner of a shiny new “strategic partnership” with the U.S., who has spent the last several months beating up opposition politicians and even journalists… and there is scarcely a peep either in the halls of Washington or even the blogs now seemingly (and suddenly) obsessed with Iran’s fake “democracy.”

Why is it news when a brutal regime beats up the same wealthy, urban youth they beat up every few years? Why is it not news when a subsidized American ally brutalizes its own opposition movement for far longer than Iran’s weekend of excitement?

I think this overstates the double standard a bit. Obviously Iran is a bigger deal than Georgia. And obviously Saakashvili is not the Supreme Leader. But those questions are still worth thinking about.

via Registan.net.