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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.

WORLD Israel swears in Netanyahu-Gantz unity government

Monday, May 18, 2020

Categories: ASCF News National Preparedness Bipartisianship

Comments: 0

Israel’s new unity government was sworn in Sunday, sealing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s grip on power for another 18 months, at least, as he embarks on his fourth consecutive term in office and fifth overall.

It is an emphatic victory for Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, who was indicted on corruption charges in November but has managed to maintain his grip on power despite the circumstances.

Israel’s top court ruled this month that Netanyahu can form a new government while being under indictment. Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and is scheduled to stand trial this month.

After three inconclusive elections in the space of a year, Netanyahu and former military chief Benny Gantz agreed last month to put aside their differences to battle the coronavirus pandemic that has upended life in Israel and around the world.

In an unprecedented power-sharing agreement, the two lawmakers agreed to form a unity government last month in which Netanyahu, 70, will serve as prime minister for the first 18 months of the three-year term before Gantz, 60, takes over for the remaining 18 months.

For the first half, Gantz, who once pledged not to serve in a government led by an indicted prime minister, will be the alternate prime minister as well as the defense minister. Netanyahu will assume those rules when Gantz becomes prime minister.

The agreement announced on April 20 says the new government's top priority will be tackling the coronavirus outbreak.

In July, after consulting with Gantz, Netanyahu will be able to bring parts of President Donald Trump's Mideast peace plan regarding the annexation of parts of the West Bank up for debate in the Cabinet and and for approval by the government and the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, according to the agreement.

If implemented, the peace plan released in January would create a conditional path to statehood for Palestinians while recognizing Israeli sovereignty over a significant portion of the West Bank.

Palestinians rejected the plan as unworkable. They hope the West Bank, which was captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, will one day form part of their future state.

The area is currently home to almost 2.7 million Palestinians and more than 400,000 Israelis, according to figures collated by the Israeli organization Peace Now, which advocates for the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Israeli settlements there are considered illegal by most of the international community.

Nevertheless, extending sovereignty to parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank as soon as possible became one of Netanyahu’s key campaign promises. The new government, however, is divided over the issue as Gantz has said he is against unilateral annexation.

A senior U.S. administration official told NBC News last month that Washington's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank was conditional on the Israeli government negotiating with the Palestinians along the lines set forth in Trump's peace plan.

References to annexation were notably absent from policy priorities published Wednesday by the incoming government. Instead, the guidelines stressed the need to tackle the coronavirus and rebuild the economy, among other issues.

Photo: An election banner for the Israeli Blue and White political alliance, featuring Benny Gantz and Benjamin Netanyahu, in Ramat Gan.Jack Guez / AFP - Getty Images

Link: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/israel-swears-netanyahu-gantz-unity-government-n1206811

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