The US government can be expected to use every trick to limit the scope of change, says Seumas Milne. But this is not some phoney western-backed "colour revolution", swapping one elite for another.

As of this minute there is no embezzling president, no extraordinary-rendition-facilitator vice-president, no corrupt cabinet, no rigged parliament, writes Ahdaf Soueif.

In Tahrir Square they're chanting, "Egypt is free"! The age of political reason is returning to the Arab world, writes Tariq Ali. The people are fed up with being colonised and bullied.

Anti-Islam, a favourite of Israel, agent of the US rendition torture programme, tough talker on Iran, Omar Suleiman, now appointed vice-president, has long been the CIA's man in Cairo. All the signs are the US is pulling the strings to position Suleiman as their man to take over from Mubarak and continue to put America's interests above the wishes and needs of the Egyptian people.

The lion-hearted Egyptians I met on Tahrir Square are risking their lives to stand up for democracy and liberty, says Nicholas D.Kristof.

The only chaos and violence predicted by Mubarak has been caused by his own thugs not the pro-democracy uprising. The Egyptian protesters formed block associations, linked arms to protect antiquities, and divided into squads to clean up the streets and even sort trash from recycling after massive demonstrations.

The popular movement for change cannot be diverted into a phoney transition, writes Seumas Milne. The forces that have been unleashed, in Egypt and beyond, cannot be turned back.

What’s happening is absolutely spectacular. The courage and determination and commitment of the demonstrators is remarkable. And whatever happens, these are moments that won’t be forgotten and are sure to have long-term consequences

So who are these people? asks Egyptian author Adhaf Soueif, who support Mubarak by throwing petrol bombs and plant pots from the tops of buildings onto the heads of women and children?

Egypt, Tunisia, Iran and Pakistan are all Muslim states wrestling with agonies of self-determination. The west's sole contribution has been to plunge two of their neighbours, Iraq and Afghanistan, into a bloodbath of insecurity and chaos, says Simon Jenkins. This is not our continent, these are not our countries and none of this is our business. We should leave them alone.

Involvement of the clubs has signaled more than just intervention of sports fans in Egyptian uprising, says Dave Zirin. It also means the entry of the poor, disenfranchised, and young.

The first members of Mubarak's new cabinet — a face-lift so he can stay in power — are heavily involved in the apparatus of Egyptian state repression.

Omar Suleiman, Egypt's intelligence chief and its torturer-in-chief, deeply implicated in America's rendition torture programme, can be counted on to protect US interests.

Robert Fisk writes on a risen people who would no longer take violence, brutality and prison as their lot in the largest Arab nation.

Every Egyptian knows today that the United States government is not a friend of Egypt, it is a friend and ally of the Mubarak regime.

The US commander in Afghanistan says burning the Quran could endanger the lives of US troops but why is it less civilised than drone attacks killing civilians?