Opinions and Tidbits

Quebec’s War on English: Language Politics Intensify in Canadian Province time.com

Gun Control, Yemen-Style Tik Root, theatlantic.com

The war-torn Arab country is second only to the U.S. in gun ownership -- and second to none in weapons culture.

Matt Peckham, time.com

You just can't make this stuff up:

Dr Sarhan Al Meheini, deputy director of the Police Sciences Academy in Sharjah, believes audio files called "binaural beats" should be dealt with like cannabis and ecstasy.

Binaural beats are generally used to reach altered states of consciousness, for meditation or alertness or to aid sleep, but many producers claim the technology can mimic the effect of drugs on the brain.

There is no scientific evidence for their claims and reviews are mixed at best, but Dr Al Meheini believes "digital drugs" pose a risk to society.

The account underlines the confusion that reigned during the assault by protesters and heavily armed gunmen that overwhelmed the consulate in Benghazi last Tuesday night, killing four Americans, including Stevens, who died from smoke inhalation soon after he was found. U.S. officials are still trying to piece together how the top American diplomat in Libya got separated from others as staffers were evacuated, suffocating in what is believed to be a consulate safe-room.

The Libyans who found him expressed frustration that there was no ambulance and no first aid on hand, leaving him to be slung over a man’s shoulder to be carried to a car.

In recent months, Iran's nuclear, oil and natural-gas industries have been the subject of intensifying sanctions from the international community. Now the country wants to develop a sector in which it has more leeway: renewables.

An interesting follow-up to the article I posted a couple of days ago, in which the author of the op-ed "Nuclear Mullahs" responds to the wide array of reader comments.

King Abdullah II on Wednesday accused Israel of disrupting Jordan's nuclear energy plans and warned of sectarian violence spilling across the border from Syria, in a wide-ranging interview with AFP.

The king, whose country needs atomic energy to meet its energy needs and power water desalination plants, said "strong opposition to Jordan's nuclear energy programme is coming from Israel."

He also warned of a spillover of the Syrian turmoil into its neighbours, saying the risk is "looming closer."

"When we started going down the road of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, we approached some highly responsible countries to work with us. And pretty soon we realised that Israel was putting pressure on those countries to disrupt any cooperation with us," the king added.

[...]

Jordan, which imports 95 percent of its energy needs, is struggling to find alternatives to Egyptian gas, which normally covers 80 percent of power production.

Since 2011, the gas pipeline from Egypt to both Israel and Jordan has been attacked 14 times, with a consequent disruption of supplies.

With 92 percent of its territory desert, Jordan is one of the world's 10 driest countries and wants atomic energy to power desalination plants to overcome a crippling water shortage.