What had been a challenge to US power is now a "historic opportunity", as Barack Obama put it in his Middle East speech last week. But he does not mean an opportunity for the people who have risen up; it is a chance for Washington to fashion the region's present and future, just as it did its past.

Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who became a public voice in the Egyptian uprising, said that social networking played a vital role in the rebellion and will continue to do so in many other regions throughout the world.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu invited Palestinians back to the bargaining table Tuesday with a U.S. speech that promised “painful” Israeli concessions in exchange for peace but also outlined a tough negotiating stance that was immediately rejected by key Palestinian officials.

President Obama reassured a powerful pro-Israel group that America's support for the Jewish state's security is "ironclad" but insisted on a sense of urgency about reviving peace talks that he said would require both Israelis and Palestinians to make "hard choices."

A multitude of visa-free travel agreements has resulted in enhanced Turkish influence at a societal level, with Turkish pop music and television now widely transmitted throughout the Middle East. Turkey has embraced its neighbours, and they have responded in kind, resulting in growing Turkish influence in Middle Eastern affairs.

US President Barack Obama says the US has opened a "new chapter" in diplomacy after the Arab Spring uprisings People in countries across the Middle East have been giving the BBC their reactions to his speech.

Still Obama allied America with those Arabs and Iranians thirsting for freedom, and he did so in a subtle but remarkable way. He invoked, as he so often does, the civil-rights movement. Not World War II, where American power served the cause of freedom.

Then why do media in Turkey have similar problems to those in the West when it comes to the perception of Arabs, even though the country is predominantly Muslim? Again poor knowledge and a lack of information would be the immediate answer.