This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Venezuela’s congress votes to give Maduro dictatorial powers
- Albania refuses Syria chemical weapons destruction
- Executives watching porn are leading targets of hacker attacks
Venezuela’s congress votes to give Maduro dictatorial powers
Maduro meets with enthusiastic voters
Venezuela’s congress has voted in favor ofgranting President Nicolás Maduro emergency dictatorialpolicies. A second vote will occur next week to put the changeinto effect. Maduro had been one vote short of the number ofvotes needed but solved that problem by charging an oppositelegislator with corruption, removing her from the legislature,and replacing her with someone from Maduro’s Socialist Party.
As we described last month in “26-Sep-13 World View — Venezuela’s economy approaches full-scale hyperinflation”, the country is plagued byshortages of everything from milk and cooking oil to toothpaste andtoilet paper. Maduro’s government has now arrested more than 100businessmen in a so-called crackdown on corruption and price-gouging.According to Maduro:
“They are barbaric, these capitalist parasites! Wehave more than 100 of the bourgeoisie behind bars at themoment.”
Thanks to massive overspending and vote-buying by Maduro and by hispredecessor, Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s inflation rate is over 45%.It’s thought that Maduro arranged for the new dictatorial powersbecause of elections being held in December. AP and Russia Today
Albania refuses Syria chemical weapons destruction
In what is being described as a snub to the United States, Albania hasrejected a request to allow the destruction of Syria’s chemicalweapons to take place on Albania’s soil. Albania was considered to bea good choice to host the destruction, since the country destroyedtons of its own chemical weapons in 2007 and 2012.
Albania’s primeminister Edi Rama announced the rejection on Friday, after four daysof massive demonstrations by opposition activists in front of theprime minister’s residency in Tirana. According to reports fromAlbania’s government, the country had several things to gain byallowing the destruction on its soil:
- Albania would officially be a candidate for EU membership in December, and will become an EU member within four years.
- Albania would receive 12 billion dollars, which is three times as much as its entire 2012 budget.
- Albania would have a special status with the U.S., which would abolish the visa regime for Albanian citizens.
- Albania would be a candidate to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Albania’s refusal has halted further work on the United Nationsprogram to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons, when the internationalagreement specifies that the 1,000 tonnes of weapons must betransported outside Syria by February 5, 2014, and destroyed by June30, 2014. France and Belgium have been named as possible alternatelocations. Albeu (Albania) and BBC
Executives watching porn are leading targets of hacker attacks
A new survey shows that a leading cause of corporate malware, whichcan permit a corporation’s entire network to be hacked andcompromised, comes from senior managers visiting X-rated porn siteswith their desktop computers or mobile device. Watching porn on workcomputers is not rare. Nielsen reported that about 29 percent ofworking American adults watched porn on work computers in March 2010.Time
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, Hugo Chavez,Syria, Albania, Edi Rama, France, Belgium