Russell Sticklor is a research analyst at the Stimson Center, a nonprofit and nonpartisan international security think tank. In this opinion piece at the Christian Science Monitor, he writes about the water crisis looming in the Middle East and North Africa region.

"The Middle East and North Africa – the world’s most water-scarce region – will soon face a severe water crisis. That could create an even greater challenge than today's upheavals. More attention must be paid to the problem. Conservation, communication, education, and technology can help."

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In autocratic counties such as Jordan with no system built to ensure accountability, models of control over internet access may range from legislative measures enforced by the government to informal techniques exercised by the private sector.

Formal censorship techniques are exercised through a legislated framework for law enforcement to block websites, and fine journalists, bloggers, editors-in-chief, and owners of online content. The design of the legal framework relieves Jordan from local and international pressure given that it is only applying the rule of law put forward by an elected parliament. In this blog Reem Almasri talks about the informal techniques the country have used, and still use, to control access to information in cooperation with the private sector, especially internet service providers.

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