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Bring on the revolution! (in some places)

There's no doubt the Obama administration would like the Egyptian revolution to light a fire. But the flames are only being fanned in one country. Saudi would be so risky. Jordan would present problems. But Iran would be just peachy.

The US state department in . In his last briefing, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs singled out Iran three times as a country that should take lessons from Egypt. The national security adviser has . You might remember that Obama was criticised in 2009 and he was seen to do little to encourage them.

A of over the weekend suggests that there was something of a struggle between the White House and state department over how to approach Egypt. Put crudely, they have President Obama wanting to encourage the protesters, and the Department of State worried about stability. I don't know if this is true but it is certainly the story being put out by the administration.

I suspect, although of course can't prove, that this might have been an internal conflict within Mr Obama, between the pragmatic professor of realpolitik who doesn't want to intrude into other people's politics, and the universalist I described on Friday.

But universal values mean so much more if they are not just applied to hostile regimes.

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