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’s Maduro Pledges to Build 200 Socialist-Run ‘Communes’ in 2021

Monday, January 4, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats National Preparedness

Comments: 0

Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro pledged Wednesday to construct 200 socialist-run “communes” over the course of 2021.

Maduro claimed the construction would honor the bicentennial of the Battle of Carabobo between independence fighters and Spanish colonialists.

According to remarks published in state media, Maduro said the Plan 200 Carabobo is the result of a lengthy debate and consultations about how to help restore “balance” to the lives of desperate Venezuelans, the majority of whom are now living in extreme poverty.

“We are determined to build the 200 communities in 2021,” he declared. “The goal is to recover and rebuild the balance of social, political, community, family, and economic life in the country.”

Maduro explained the communes are a “concept inherent to the Bolivarian Revolution, to [Hugo] Chávez, [Simón] Bolívar, the permanent revolution, and the revolution within the revolution. I have been saying for a while that Venezuela needs big changes.”

The dictator went on to explain that the project will take place under the Law of Communes that establishes them as a “system of a defined territorial axis that has a shared historical memory, customs, and cultural features that identify them … with political, administrative and economic purposes that pursue a model of a socialist society of equity and justice.”

During his address, one of many regularly broadcast on state television, Maduro also confirmed he had signed contracts with the Russian government to purchase 10 million doses of the country’s Sputnik V experimental vaccine candidate, despite widespread concerns among health experts about both its efficacy and safety.

“We are currently completing Phase Three clinical trials for the Sputnik V vaccine and it is going very well,” he declared. “In the next 90 days, Venezuela will begin to safely vaccinate our comrades, prioritized by age, profession, level of vulnerability.” 

Maduro also admitted that increasing dollarization of the Venezuelan economy is taking place, but described it as a safety valve for people to keep their savings because of alleged relentless imperialist attacks from the U.S. against the country’s economy. He also confirmed that, despite being considered effectively worthless, the bolívar will remain the official currency of Venezuela.

“The experiments against the Venezuelan economy have not been successful and Venezuela has found its way to alleviate this situation,” he declared. Reports indicated last month that the regime was in talks with local banks to discuss the creation of a “clearing and settlement system in U.S. dollars starting next year.” 

Photo: Carolina Cabral/Getty Images

Link: https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2020/12/31/venezuelas-maduro-pledges-build-200-socialist-run-communes-2021/

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