Recent articles by John McCarthy
21 July 2016
JOHN McCARTHY. Foreign Policy. Australia, the United States and Asia. (Repost from Policy Series)
In a conversation in October last year with two British foreign correspondents and a former Japanese Prime Ministerial foreign policy adviser, the subject turned to the United States. All three interlocutors argued that in recent years Australia had superseded both Japan and the United Kingdom as the United States closest ally. This view should not have come as a surprise.
11 May 2015
John McCarthy. Foreign Policy. Australia, the United States and Asia.
Fairness, Opportunity and Security Policy Series edited by Michael Keating and John Menadue In a conversation in October last year with two British foreign correspondents and a former Japanese Prime Ministerial foreign policy adviser, the subject turned to the United States. All three interlocutors argued that in recent years Australia had superseded both Japan and the United Kingdom as the United States closest ally. This view should not have come as a surprise. The Dominance of the Alliance. Like the British, we had just become involved in the third Iraq war and were still in Afghanistan. For...
3 May 2015
John McCarthy. Australia and Indonesia: hard times ahead.
The executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will leave most Australians dismayed by President Joko Widodos refusal of clemency, angered by the clumsy, ugly execution process and jaundiced by the attitudes of a number of Indonesians on killing two of our countrymen. This latest downturn with Indonesia will make us reflectagainon what we should do. Make no mistake, it will deeply affect Australian perceptions of Jokowi through the rest of his tenure, and more widely, of Indonesia for years to come. Dont blame the Australian Government. It tried its best to save its nationals. We have often...