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.

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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.

Iran, Turkey block rivals from joining U.N. disarmament talks

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats National Preparedness

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Talks aimed at overcoming a years-long deadlock over disarmament at the United Nations began in acrimony on Tuesday with two countries blocking rivals from taking part in widely criticised manoeuvres that sparked concern about the forum's future.

Iran blocked Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from joining as observers, lashing out at the former's military record, while Turkey blocked Cyprus in a trend that marks a significant departure from normal U.N. protocol and might set a precedent for other bodies that operate on a consensus basis.

Iran's delegate said that Saudi Arabia had used the forum as a platform for a "distraction and disinformation campaign" and called Riyadh "the largest military offender in the region".

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, a close ally, intervened in Yemen's war in 2015 to fight the Iran-backed Houthi movement, while Turkey and Cyprus have long been at odds over the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state in the island's north.

Saudi Arabia's mission in Geneva did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cyprus expressed "deep regret" at Turkey's decision.

"It is a sign that the Conference on Disarmament is at a crossroads and if it wants to remain relevant and useful it has to do some soul-searching," said Marc Finaud, former diplomat and security expert at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

Another diplomat called it a "new low" for the body while the Secretary-General of the Conference on Disarmament, Tatiana Valovaya, said she was "disappointed" with the way it had opened.

The blockages drew criticism from other members including Britain, the United States, European Union and India.

"If we are going to start picking and choosing then I think this will be the beginning of the end of multilateralism," British Ambassador Aidan Little told the virtual meeting. He urged Iran and Turkey to reverse their positions.

The two-month-long talks that began on Monday form part of the world's only multilateral forum for disarmament.

Diplomats' expectations for new deals in the 65-member forum are very low, with agreements often stymied by arms producers in a forum that makes decisions by consensus.

Its last major agreement was the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

Still, the conference's current president Belgium said on its Twitter feed on Monday that it hoped to set out a work programme "after too many years of deadlock".

It is not unheard of to block other U.N. members from observing U.N. forums although in the past these have pertained to decades-old sovereignty disputes.

Photo: Reuters/DENIS BALIBOUSE FILE PHOTO: The Conference on Disarmament in session at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland

Link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iran-turkey-block-rivals-from-joining-un-disarmament-talks/ar-BB1cTpA2

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