1) Did anyone else notice that essentially no pro-government attackers in Tahrir Square posted on Twitter, which was dominated entirely by anti-Mubarak sentiment? And that, furthermore, this seems to have been the case in Tehran in 2009 as well? Is one of the prerequisites for supporting a repressive regime that you can’t have the slightest idea how to use social networking?

2) As violent and disturbing as these clashes were, it’s a bit ironic to imagine what the American version would look like. Those Egyptians didn’t have access to guns. Now picture Times Square awash with New Yorkers, Californians, Texans, and Alaskans all vying for space and using guns, not stones, to mark their territory. ‘Twould be an ugly sight.