Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Venezuela Ships Minerals to Iran After Tehran Supplies Local Supermarket

Monday, August 31, 2020

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats Economic Security

Comments: 0

Source: https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/08/28/venezuela-ships-minerals-iran-after-tehran-supplies-local-supermarket/

The Maduro regime in Venezuela sent a cargo of minerals to Iran this month after Tehran provided supplies for a new Persian supermarket in the failed South American country, Iranian state media reported Thursday.

Iran’s Tasmin News Agency reports that the Golsan, a general cargo ship with a capacity of 22,882 tons, is currently making its way east across the Atlantic Ocean after loading up with alumina courtesy of Venezuela’s socialist regime. The vessel is owned and run by Tehran-based companies, Mosakhar Darya Shipping Co. and Rahbaran Omid Darya, both of which share an address.

According to Tasmin, the shipment of minerals was in return for the supplies provided to Venezuela’s first Iranian supermarket, opened by the regime in June as part of an effort to deepen economic and cultural ties between the two authoritarian states. The supermarket replaced a once-thriving local supermarket chain confiscated under socialism and run to the ground.

As well as the world’s largest oil reserves after the United States, Venezuelan land is known for its vast mineral wealth, although the collapse of the country’s mining industry has made it harder to exploit these resources. Iran is also said to have considerable natural resources, holding around seven percent of the world’s total mineral reserves.

Both countries are currently facing major economic crises, worsened by economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration aimed at removing their respective regimes from power. While technically an Islamic theocracy, the Iranian regime’s stranglehold on its economy means it is in practice similar to the Maduro regime’s socialist economy.

This month, the U.S. seized the cargo of four Iranian fuel tankers transporting around 1.1 million barrels to Venezuela, a resource that despite their oil reserves they are desperately short on.

According to the Justice Department, it was the largest-ever seizure of fuel shipments from Iran, although the announcement was dismissed by the Iranian ambassador to Venezuela, Hojat Soltani, as “yet another lie and psychological warfare.”

As well as closer trade links, the two countries last year signed various “scientific and technological” agreements encompassing cooperation in education, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and engineering. Meanwhile, Iran’s second-largest airline Mahan Air began offering direct flights to Venezuela to facilitate the travel of citizens and officials.

Warm relations between Venezuela and Iran were established at the beginning of the 21st century by late socialist dictator Hugo Chávez, who shared Tehran’s anti-American, “anti-imperialist” worldview. The relationship is increasingly considered as a threat to U.S. national security, as the Maduro regime is understood to have allowed Iran’s terror proxy Hezbollah to use Venezuelan territory as a base to expand their Latin American operations.

Photo: AP Photo/Ernesto Vargas

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