Max Rodenbeck

Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma looks ahead to what may transpire in Egypt, where the revolution continues. Although there's fear of violence, Landis says, "the leadership of this mass movement has shown extraordinary ability to organize itself and show restraint." He also helps explain the precarious position of the Egyptian Army, which finds itself potentially leading a country. Max Rodenbeck, Middle East correspondent for The Economist, author of " Cairo: The City Victorious," has an update and analysis from Cairo.

Max Rodenbeck, Middle East Correspondent for The Economist, examines what impact the continuing protests are having on Egypt’s economy and financial system.

Google executive Wael Ghonim was released yesterday from Egyptian prison. It turns out that he was one of the main forces behind the Facebook and YouTube campaigns that helped drive the protests in Cairo. However, in an emotional interview, Ghonim told an Egyptian television station: "I'm not a hero. the real heroes are the youth who are behind this revolution. By God's will, we are going to clean this country of this rubbish.”

This week we’ve been covering the rise in oil prices during the unrest in Egypt. Yesterday anxiety in the region sent the price of a barrel of oil above $100. Additionally, the combination of high global food prices and high unemployment is making the prospect of these countries returning to some sense of normalcy seem untenable in the near future.