Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief, said yesterday that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to “get things done”. Mr Ecclestone endorsed the concept of a government based on tyranny. “Politicians are too worried about elections,” he said. “We did a terrible thing when we supported the idea of getting rid of [...]

A film on student protest movement in Kashan University in Iran.

Image via Wikipedia Honestly, I’m shocked. I wouldn’t even know where to begin speculating. And I mean that quite literally. Do you start speculating in terms of politics? Or in terms of arm-chair psychologizing? I’d lean toward the latter (as useless as it may be), given that the former really gets you nowhere. Unless she’s being blackmailed out of office, I don’t see any political upside to such erratic behavior. So, that leaves us with ...

Putting on her old red campaigning suit caused an unstoppable urge to call a press conference, and, well, she had to announce something. Part of careful plan to capture the White House in 2012 by convincing Americans that she’s the leading incoherent, out of control Republican. She can see crazy from her backyard. That’ll show the world McCain made a great choice in picking her! Only way to exorcise those chain-rattling Ghosts of Machine-Gunned Moose ...

On this Independence day it is well to remember a speech, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro,” given by the formerly enslaved and probably greatest 19th century American, Frederick Douglass, at Rochester, New York, on July 5, 1852, at the peak of North America slavery (indeed, about 230 years into that era). In this era Black Americans were usually not allowed at 4th of July celebrations in the slaveholding South, apparently because many ...

2008年11月25日，外交部发言人秦刚举行例行记者会。答问如下： 问：美国一个乐队“枪与玫瑰”发行了一张名为《Chinese Democracy》的新专辑，中方对此有何反应？ 答：据我了解，很多人不喜欢这类音乐，因为它太嘈杂，噪音太大。我想你应该是一个成熟的成年人了吧？ 2009年6月9日，外交部发言人秦刚举行例行记者会。答问如下： 问：据《华尔街日报》报道，自7月1日起，中国政府将要求所有在中国境内生产销售的计算机出厂前必须预装一种软件，而该软件可能屏蔽一些网站。你能否证实？ 答：请你先回答我几个问题。你知道你提到的这个软件是什么吗？ （记者：我只是复述有关报道。我想我是在问问题，而不应该回答问题。） 该软件名叫“绿坝—花季护航”， 其主要功能是屏蔽过滤互联网上色情、淫秽、暴力等不良信息。我想再问你一个问题，你有孩子吗？ （记者：（无语）） 2009年6月18日，外交部发言人秦刚举行例行记者会。答问如下： 问：……据我所知，同性恋在中国是合法的。但中国政府却要求外国电脑生产商安装（绿坝）软件过滤掉这些含有合法内容的网站。为什么？ 答：……我想提醒你的是，这里是外交部的新闻发布厅，不是讨论同性恋问题的场所。 问：今天一些日本媒体又报道称，朝鲜领导人金正日的第三个儿子金正云前不久访问了北京并与胡主席会面，而且他的长子金正男也在场。昨天，朝鲜驻华使馆已经否认了这一消息。你能否确认？ 答：我想日本记者应该能够理解我所表达的东方式的含蓄。如果你本人或者其他在座记者还不理解的话，我今天可以进一步捅破这层窗户纸。那就是：有关媒体报道的情况并不存在。我也注意到，最近有关媒体的一些报道读起来就像读007小说一样。我不知道下一集他们会写什么。 2009年6月25日，外交部发言人秦刚举行例行记者会。答问如下： 问：中国网民已经不能使用 Google 服务，包括 Gmail 邮箱，请问这是中国网络管制的最新政策吗？ 答：我想先问你一个问题，你们小区没有邮局吗？邮局寄信难道不是很方便吗？ 2009年6月30日，外交部发言人秦刚举行例行记者会。答问如下： 问：据英国《金融时报》报道，金正云曾在朝鲜国防委员会第一副委员长赵明禄和金正日妹夫张成泽陪同下访问中国并会见前国家主席江泽民和习近平副主席。你能否确认？虽然中国外交部一再否认，但类似报道还是层出不穷，你是否认为这又是一部007小说？ 答：我佩服你的执着。关于你的这个问题，我给媒体的答案跟以往是一样的：有关报道没有任何根据，纯属无中生有。你知道中国有一句成语叫“走火入魔”吗？ 2009年7月2日，外交部发言人秦刚举行例行记者会。答问如下： 问：秦刚，你有孩子吗？ （秦刚：（点头）） 之所以问你是因为，几周前，当我同事提出绿坝相关问题时，你问我同事同样的问题。你说绿坝的主要目的是保护中国儿童上网不受影响，这样的话，我的同事有孩子，所以当然理解。那么现在政府决定推迟软件的预装，是不是中国的孩子们或许包括你的孩子就没有能够得到保护了呢？ 答：该说的话我已经说了。有关部门呢，已就这个问题呢，发表了谈话，所以我没有更多的补充。好，下面一个问题。 中国人的脸都被你丫丢尽了……

International media coverage of the Iranian protest movement in the past weeks has widely celebrated ‘Twitter power' as a tool of organizing and reporting on protests, but the reliance on Twitter has had both positive and negative results in this crisis. We look at some of them here to demystify the actual degree of impact. There is no doubt citizens protesting the results of the June presidential election have made efficient use of Twitter, Facebook, ...

Happy 4th of July, America. When was the last time that actually meant anything real? Forgive me if i feel strongly about this, but it seems us Americans are only good at complaining, blaming others, and consuming. I am aware that many of us are patriotic Americans who take pride in their country, but how many of us actually do our part to make it better? We all consume irresponsibly, complain about the state of ...

On Tuesday in Roppongi, Tokyo, Glocom (Global Communication Center, International Univ. of Japan) held a workshop focusing on how we can take advantage of Twitter for improving our politics. Invited panelists are: Fumi Yamazaki(@Fumi), freelance researcher and former project manager for Joi Lab, Digital Garage. Daisuke Tsuda(@tsuda), freelance IT journalist and recently reporting on Twitter about undergoing developments about an event when attending it, and Japanese twitterers call that behavior “Tsuda-ru” (an Internet slang) after ...

原作者Hamid Tehrani · 译者 Ravi · 阅读原文 伊朗与非伊朗籍的民众相继在网络上以艺术创作表达支持抗议伊朗总统大选结果的示威活动。 上周，我们刊载了一些艺术创作结合抗议活动的例子。 美国艺术家Tim Raines创造的设计表示声援伊朗示威。（下图） Hamed Pourabedin的设计意指在过去两个星期内死亡的伊朗示威者。他认为杀害示威者的行为使示威运动更坚强。（下图） 伊朗博客Elika Hedayat在她的Facebook个人页里分享她的创作： Elika Hedayat的设计。以波斯语阐明：「你们不要害怕，我们都在一起」（下图） Nikoo则分享了他的朋友Patrick的原创作品： 一位伊朗艺术家以钢琴演奏并歌唱来表达对Neda Agha Soltan的敬意，Neda在六月二十日德黑兰的示威活动中被射杀。这段影片已被观看超过36,900次。 见全球之声2009年伊朗选举特别报导页面。 校对：Soup

American progressives long have looked upon Britain’s Labour Party as an exemplar of how to prioritize social welfare without entirely alienating business. Unlike their European counterparts, whose overly suspicious view of wealth and overly generous view of social welfare spending make poor role models for America, the British Labour Party has brokered a “partnership” between wealth and welfare over the years more suitable to the American psyche. Yet today that partnership is nearing collapse. For ...

Posted by Anna Fahey As British Columbia acknowledges the one year anniversary of the landmark carbon tax shift policy, the revenue-neutral tax recently bumped prices at the pump from 2.4 cents to 3.6 cents a litre. But the price change at the pump hasn't drastically altered public opinion one way or another. In fact, as reported in Sightline Daily today, carbon tax shifting appears to be gaining favor across Canada. A quick refresher on carbon ...

Sarah Palin's resigning from office. What the hell? And she's now supposedly telling people that she's done with politics forever. The entire thing is sketchy. The announcement, reasoning, speculation, and more Friday news-dumping after the jump. The press conference was called suddenly and without warning, and the line leading up to the press conference was simply that she wasn't going to run for her office again. First, the bizarre, kinda teary announcement: Even Politico got ...

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any more questionable in Washington, then along comes this (hat tip Tom). Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive "salon" at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors. This is not a ...

If the real thing don’t do the trickYou better make up something quickYou gonna burn it out to the wickAren’t you, Barracuda? – Heart, ‘Barracuda‘ So Sarah Palin dumped her resignation announcement on Friday night before Fourth of July weekend. Palin can see Indictment from her house: … all of this precedes what are said to be possible federal indictments against Palin, concerning an embezzlement scandal related to the building of Palin’s house and the ...

Should someone tell the Republican Party they aren't wearing any clothes?

It was the story of an e-mail heard around the world. You may remember Jérôme Bourreau-Guggenheim who expressed opposition in an e-mail to his member of parliament. That e-mail went back to his employer, TF1, who then promptly fired him because of his political views back in May. Now, Bourreau-Guggenheim is suing TF1 for discrimination. His journey throughout all of this probably started off as a humble employee, working at Frances broadcaster, TF1. He probably ...

The Obamabot 3000 is ready to be unveiled at Walt Disney World's Hall of Presidents, along with the Mark II George Washingtron ("Now with real talking action!") and a Gettysburg-complete Lincolnbot. No word on whether the Obamabot will allow release of the photos of the waterbotting on Pleasure Island, a no-go zone for civilians for several years now. We're just sorting out our Christmas at Disney World plans -- our first WDW trip with the ...

Inspired by this European Digital Rights Initiative article on "The Silence of the Chips" (a proposal to redesign your radio-enabled ID cards so that you can control when they work and when they're switched off), Oneillkza created this CC-BY logo for the idea, and made a CafePress tee in case you wanted to add it to your sartorial repertoire. One of the most important action point is the launch of "a debate on the technical ...

According to a report today from the BBC, Iranians are able to text message one another for the first time since the day before the presidential elections. SMS service, which political dissidents had used to spread messages and organize protests, has been restricted since June 11, causing many Iranians to use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and other social sites to broadcast and communicate. Sponsor The BBC report stated that, according to Iranian news outlets, SMS capabilities ...