As one of the 6 to 8 million that took part of the revolution, and a person that was following the news on TV and twitter, I can tell you that Obama did not help Egypt at all. If anything, his "fluid" decisions made clear that his external methodologies are extremely weak. His threat to cut the 1.3 billion of USAID was immediately countered with a Saudi replacement of that AID. His "strategic balancing" as you said was a disgrace to what American policies preach. You should not promote democracy when its only convenient.
Finally, I would like to thank the American and Canadian supporters of Democracy and the Egyptian people during the revolution.

PS. I read Robert Gibbs' resume: "excellent at saying nothing"

The second one is a joke. All the major officials - Clinton, Biden, Wisner - have started off unconditionally supporting Mubarak, calling his regime stable, insisting that he should stay in power. When he was beginning to lose it, the US administration quickly changed tone, urging BOTH sides to do nothing. When Mubarak was deposed they suddenly became revolutionaries.

You call this "strategic balancing". I'd call it time-serving, and BS. Obama refused to take a position, so he deserves none.

I read that Egypt has something like 20% internet users among its most educated population groups. What is the percentage of facebook users?

And that was the most critical part , The Millions of Egyptian who turned up After the first days were not facebook users but they have all triggered by the Facebook groups , So Yes Indeed facebook defeated Mubarak.

You would think both Tunisia and Egypt could use some technical assistance on the transition to Democracy and to reduce the potential disorder alluded to.

Surely the Army are not best placed and don't have expertise to oversee an economy, social structures and get appropriate state institutions and governance in place for an election whilst maintaining security.

But the people are very proud and may not accept external help. Moreover who would be credible in assisting?

Visible US help would likely create a backlash, strengthen anti-American elements, and would raise suspicions globally owing to the US never failing to put its own short-term interests ahead of others', of multi-lateral wider gains or of morality. Moreover the US is poor at foreign policy owing to its narrow-minded brainwashing style of education and public discourse. You can rely on America to do the right thing....after it has exhausted all other options, as Churchill said.

No doubt the US-led institutions of the IMF and World Bank will be on the scene quickly offering advice to quickly structurally adjust the economy. But we have seen the result of their policies in South America, Africa, Russia and the Asian crisis, and anyway their advice has contributed to the widening inequalities seen in Tunisia and Egypt over the last 5 years and more.

The UK and France have a poor history with Egypt given the colonial past and Suez so perhaps should not be surprised if they are not called upon.

China has a non-interference policy and together with Russia are still not big into freedom and openness.

So that exhausts the UN security council perm 5 and worlds main governance institutions. Hmmph...a pity that the World hasn't developed the capacity to help countries through periods of dislocation. Lets hope the next Hegemon uses its time as leading power more thoughtfully and less selfishly.

The use of Facebook in the events in Egypt was important, sure. Any sort of meaningful change needs a way to get the word out, and reliable lines of communication. But at the end of the day, a way to get the word out is, at best, what Facebook provided.

As the article states, the changes came about as a result of many many things, not the least of which was the genuine desire of the people to see change. Without this, all the publicity in the world doesn't mean a thing. The useful tools provided by social media don't mean a thing if there's no one to use them.

Facebook didn't spark these events. The people of Egypt sparked events on Facebook. To suggest otherwise does them a disservice.

to all tourists that left Egypt recently
plz come again Egypt was closed for repair
and it's safe and free
plz come again to see the new EGYPT

MYTH #6: "What we witnessed was a popular social revolution"

No. What we witnessed was the military regime, which has been in control of modern-day Egypt since the coup in 1952 that brought Nasser into power, co-opt the legitimate vitriol the Egyptian street had for Mubarak as a convenient means to push him out. If the 300,000 or so protestors around Tahrir square had been calling for the ouster of the (military led) REGIME, and not just Mubarak, you would have seen a *very* different response from the military than the passive bystanding that was displayed during the past few weeks.

The recent events in Egypt have shown that United States' policies in the Greater Middle East region is very faulty as it lacks sustainable foundations.One lesson from America's mishandling of the Egyptian Revolution is that US foreign policy in the Arab Middle East, center around families rather than on sustainable democratic institutions. Instead of building solidarity and friendship around the democratic system to ensure durability and avoid the transience of power and its aftermath as witnessed in Shah's Iran and, now, Mubarak's Egypt. America's democratic attitude to the Middle East is more like fire brigade approach to issues ofpertaining to democratization and good governance in the region. Must it always require the fall of a dictator, supported by the US, for the it(US) to realize that democracy was a better alternative in such society(ies)? In the end, as was the case with Shah Pahlevi's Iran, the US is the loser. Mubarak was a high-handed despot and absolute leader for thirty decades, and no genuine word about democratization of Egypt surfaced from America. Does such self-serving silence suggest that so long a dictator friendly to the US was in power in any society, such society did not require democracy?Can the US policymakers learn from its recent Egypt experiment and/or experience, and chart a new course for US foreign policy in the region? Regrettably, a cursory look at US policies and relations with the states in the Middle East shows that it is centered on and around individuals and families at the detriment of institutions.Were a revolution to sweep across the region suddenly, America will be left with no friends.America's 'friends' in the region are the decadent ruling classes who, like America itself, are very unpopular amongst the famous "Arab Street."