Cogs can think.

Miguel De Icaza has a collection of quotes and links concerning the war Israel has started against Lebanon. His most interesting collected quote is the following, from a British journalist in northern Israel:

To remind you, I, like other residents of northern Israel, am under martial law. As are the foreign journalists — and in addition they are required to submit their copy to the military censor. So all I can tell you, without breaking the law, is that you are not hearing the entire picture of what has been happening here in the Galilee.

Certainly, a piece of news that I doubt you will hear from the foreign media, although bravely the liberal Hebrew media has been drawing attention to the matter, is that the “only democracy in the Middle East” has all but silenced al-Jazeera from reporting inside Israel.

The reason is clear: until recently al-Jazeera had been running rings around the local and foreign press.

[…]

But al-Jazeera’s coverage inside Israel — the Arab world’s best chance of being exposed to the Israeli point of view — is being effectively shut down. In the past two days, its editor has been arrested on two occasions and another senior journalists taken in for questioning. According to its reporters, they cannot move from their office without being followed by the Israeli security services.

I always found that Miguel was a breath of fresh reason within the GNOME community, but with this blog post he has proven to be a breath of fresh reason in more than just software.