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.

U.N. Security Council meets over coronavirus as it struggles to act

Friday, April 10, 2020

Categories: ASCF News Emerging Threats Bipartisianship

Comments: 0

The United Nations Security Council met for the first time on Thursday to discuss the coronavirus pandemic as the 15-member body - charged with maintaining international peace and security - struggles to agree on whether it should take any action.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres privately briefed a virtual council meeting on the disease, which has so far infected some 1.5 million people - killing 90,000 - in more than 200 countries and territories, according to a Reuters tally.

"The pandemic also poses a significant threat to the maintenance of international peace and security - potentially leading to an increase in social unrest and violence that would greatly undermine our ability to fight the disease," Guterres told the council.

"The engagement of the Security Council will be critical to mitigate the peace and security implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, a signal of unity and resolve from the Council would count for a lot at this anxious time," he said.

Diplomats have largely blamed Security Council inaction over the pandemic on the United States and China.

Beijing has been reluctant for the council to get involved, arguing it was not within its mandate, while Washington has insisted that any council action refer to the origins of the virus, much to the annoyance of China. The new coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

"That is the wrong discussion to have right now about naming the virus. It's COVID-19 ... and it's a threat to international peace and security and the Security Council should have expressed itself on it earlier," said a senior European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

China's U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told the Security Council on Thursday that it should reject any acts of stigmatization and politicization. U.S. President Donald Trump, who labelled the coronavirus the "Chinese virus," last month said Beijing should have acted faster to warn the world.

"To overcome this global challenge, solidarity, cooperation, mutual support and assistance is what we need, while beggar-thy-neighbor or scapegoating will lead us nowhere," Zhang said.

'FIGHT OF A GENERATION'

In recent weeks, council members have been negotiating two draft resolutions. The five veto-wielding powers - the United States, China, France, Russia and Britain - have been discussing a French text. The remaining 10 members - elected for two-year terms - have been discussing a Tunisian draft.

"The eyes of the world are on each of us that are on this Council, and we must act to save lives," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Kelly Craft, told the council on Thursday.

"The most effective way to contain this pandemic is through accurate, science-based data collection and analysis of the origins, characteristics, and spread of the virus," she said.

The council met on Thursday at the request of nine of the elected members. After the meeting the council issued a short statement, agreed by consensus, which expressed support for Guterres' efforts concerning "the potential impact of COVID-19 pandemic to conflict-affected countries."

"We've been waiting for this meeting for quite some time," Belgium's U.N. Ambassador Marc Pecsteen de Buytswerve told reporters. "It was an occasion to demonstrate unity in the council and I hope this is the beginning of making progress also on a resolution."

A resolution by the council could back Guterres' call for a ceasefire in conflicts around the world, push for access for the delivery of humanitarian aid to fight the coronavirus and urge a coordinated global approach to confronting the outbreak.

But the Security Council cannot do much about dealing with the coronavirus itself or addressing the economic consequences of the pandemic, said Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group think-tank.

"What the council could do is project a bit of international unity in the face of the disease," Gowan said. "After weeks of China and the U.S. bickering about the origins of the virus, a simple statement from the council about the need for cooperation would be a reassuring signal." 

A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes to be adopted. The council has addressed global public health issues in the past, adopting resolutions in 2000 and 2011 on HIV/AIDS and on the Ebola crisis in West Africa in 2014, when it declared the outbreak a threat to international peace and security.

Guterres told the council of the coronavirus outbreak: "This is the fight of a generation - and the raison d'être of the United Nations itself."

Photo: © Reuters/Carlo Allegri FILE PHOTO: Members of the United Nations Security Council observe a moment of silence at the beginning of a meeting about Afghanistan at United Nations Headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City

Link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/un-security-council-meets-over-coronavirus-as-it-struggles-to-act/ar-BB12pksV

Comments RSS feed for comments on this page

There are no comments yet. Be the first to add a comment by using the form below.

Search