今天本来随意浏览新闻，无意间在Guardian上看到了一条关于北京奥运的新闻——关注国外媒体有些时日，难得看到相关信息——甚是惊奇。

    竟是Spielberg walks out on Beijing games in protest over Darfur，仔细回想，即使经受央视每小时的新闻轰炸，竟丝毫没有一点印象，网上的主流媒体竟也不见任何蛛丝马迹。当然中国的媒体管制，已经不是新闻了。

在这样的年代，过时的招数，还能得到昔日一样的功效吗？

达赖喇嘛得到了诺贝尔和平奖，前几日还见（忘记是Time还是其他）在谈西藏的独立；

众多国家将台湾视为一个国家；

法轮功在大陆之外仍大行其道……

中国在世界眼中究竟充当着一个什么样子的角色？即使将我们遮目掩耳恐怕也无济于事。

…………

不该讲的话就不讲了，我还是拥护共产党在中国的统治；也无哲学家的雄辩力，论出个所以然，退一步讲，即使雄辩又如何，哲学家难得有好下场，理智与野蛮相较总是处于下风。

刚有友人推荐一个叫“五朵金花” 的网站，“不巧”晚了一步，看不到了，唉……

Spielberg walks out on Beijing games in protest over Darfur

· 'Conscience will not allow me to continue'
· Director had been under pressure from activists

Steven Spielberg has resigned as artistic adviser to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, in protest at China's failure to distance itself from genocide and human rights abuses in Darfur.

The Oscar-winning director, who had been working since last year to help choreograph the games' opening ceremony, had previously warned Beijing that he would withdraw unless it did more to distance itself from the violence.

In a statement released last night, the director said: "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual. At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur."

Hollywood stars have been at the forefront of an international campaign linking China to violence in the Darfur region of Sudan, saying that money and weapons from Beijing have helped fuel a conflict which has claimed 200,000 lives and forced 2.5 million people from their homes.

Spielberg, who directed the Holocaust drama Schindler's List and founded an educational foundation dedicated to teaching young people about the genocidal crimes of the Nazis - has also come under criticism from Darfur activists, who have accused him of double standards for working so closely with a partner of the Sudanese government.

Last year the actor Mia Farrow wrote an editorial for the Wall Street Journal saying the director risked becoming a modern-day Leni Riefenstahl - the German film director who became one of the Nazis' chief propagandists.

In April, Spielberg wrote a letter to the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, calling on China to take firm action to stop the violence in Sudan, but received no response to his request for a meeting.

The director has donated about $1m (£500,000) to aid groups working in Darfur to protect the mainly non-Arab civilian population, which has been targeted by pro-government Arab militias.

In yesterday's statement, Spielberg said Sudan's government bore most responsibility for "these ongoing crimes" and said China "should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering there".

China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil, has blocked punitive moves by the UN security council, and according to Amnesty International it has sold tens of millions of pounds worth of weapons.

Addressing a protest outside the Chinese mission to the United Nations in New York, Farrow said: "China hopes that these games will be its post-Tiananmen Square coming out party. But how can Beijing host the Olympic Games at home and underwrite genocide in Darfur?"

Earlier yesterday, nine Nobel Peace Prize laureates - including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel and Jody Williams - wrote to Hu urging China to uphold Olympic ideals by pressing Sudan to stop atrocities in Darfur.