Mack Williams
Mack Williams is former ambassador to the Republic of Korea.
Mack's recent articles
12 April 2025
Republic of Korea – Tricky transition times ahead
The unanimous decision of the ROK’s Constitutional Court ( 8-0 including those judges nominated by his party) to uphold the National Assembly’s decision to immediately impeach former president Yoon Suk Yeol marks a very significant milestone in the country’s short democratic history.
7 January 2025
South Korea back to the streets for democracy
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s abortive attempt to impose martial law has triggered a very serious constitutional firestorm and presented the US with an extremely complicated challenge. Yoon pathetically claimed he was responding to a growing North Korean threat “within his government”, but it was obvious that his dramatic move was born out of his frustration with the National Assembly.
11 November 2024
“Be prepared”: The US of Trump 02 is a foreign country
We must recognise that over 50% of US voters have now elected Trump. The almost cult-like MAGA can no longer be regarded as an aberration. Countries like Australia now have to recognise just how this new US increasingly is becoming a “foreign” country.
6 June 2024
Serious concerns about the AUKUS submarine deal are not going away
Despite continuing optimism from Prime Minister Albanese and Defence Minister Marles and the defence commentariat about the AUKUS submarine deal it continues to attract significant uncertainty and doubt in the wider community. This centres around issues such as sovereignty , our industrial capability to manage the construction and longer term maintenance and the massive donation ( over $A4 billion) to the US’s own worrying ailing defence industry.
15 March 2024
Unmanned ships for RAN : Here we go again idea without a concept !
There has been significant media discussion (including P&I) of Defence Minister Marles recent announcement of the Surface Ship Review for the RAN - a step towards remedying the Defence procurement shambles inherited by the Albanese governmentand conducted by yet another retired US admiral! But there has been scant attention to the rabbit out of the hat Marles produced to provide six large unmanned ships of an as yet undecided US design - let alone a concept of how they might best be deployed. All of which has been the subject of long and often acrimonious debate in the US.
25 February 2024
Ukraine highlights our defence procurement shambles
The Ukraine invasion has thrown into sharp focus the massive failure of successive Australian governments defence procurement programs to strengthen our military capability.
7 January 2024
US struggling with Operation Prosperity Guardian in Red Sea
Few countries are offering ships and reportedly a significant number want their support to remain secret! The token Australian response has turned out to be not out of keeping with that of many similar countries.
21 December 2023
The Red Sea: Think it through before jumping!
Last week the self-appointed strategic experts in the Opposition predictably were quick off the mark to criticise Prime Minister Albanese for taking time to carefully consider a US Navy approach (in public) for an RAN ship to be deployed to yet another US coalition of the willing in the Middle East. This time to mount an international response to attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea by the rebel Houthi regime controlling much of Yemen.
9 October 2023
AUKUS submarine deal: the jungle ahead
The impressive US Congressional Research Service (CRS) has just released another batch of independent analyses of the daunting challenges the Pentagon - especially the US Navy - face in meeting the demands to upgrade significantly its force capabilities in the Indo Pacific. All of which is now confronted by the extraordinarily chaotic legislative environment occasioned by the Republican shenanigans over the House Speakers position.
22 September 2023
Little Crappy Ship: report excoriates ship building program behind USS Canberra
A new US investigative report has excoriated the controversial Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program which included the USS Canberra commissioned in very unusual circumstances with great fanfare by the US Navy recently in Sydney. Should its revelations about the manifest failures in the USNs procurement performance - with former officers describing the LCS class as like a box floating in the ocean - force the Australian government to rethink its reliance on hiring retired US admirals and senior Pentagon officials to advise us on our defence programs?
4 September 2023
Ceding more territory to the US military? Will Cocos Islands be Australias Diego Garcia
The Australian government has reneged on its 1984 commitment to the UN that it had no intention of making the Cocos (Keeling) Islands into a strategic military base or of using the Territory for that purpose. Will the Labor government ignore the warnings of the late Richard Woolcott and make the Cocos Islands a militarised version of the US Diego Garcia?
7 August 2023
Vale sovereignty "Combined Intelligence Centre - Australia"
In his recent comprehensive P&I article ( Abandoned sovereignty: Australias intelligence function colonised by US) Mike Scrafton has raised serious concerns about Defence Minister Marles announcement at the recent AUSMIN talks of the creation of Combined Intelligence Centre Australia within our Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) by 2024.
25 July 2023
The USS Canberra: A crass PR stunt
The commissioning of the new USS Canberra in Sydney amid accompanying fanfare and blanket Australian media coverage provided ample testimony to the extent that we are increasingly being taken for granted by the US civil and military leadership.
5 April 2023
The 'Senior Advisor and Principal Author' of our Defence Strategic Review is a Director of the United States Studies Centre
Serious questions must be asked about conflicts of interest among Australian government advisors in both AUKUS and the Defence Strategic Review.
21 March 2023
Marles... At least get the spin on the subs right!
As the Government seeks to respond to an increasing number of questions about what it extolls as the game-changing decision to purchase nuclear powered submarines (SSNs) it has been tweaking the spin about the reasons it has taken for this budget shaking decision.
12 March 2023
Albanese and the subs: a looming "Goat Rodeo"
Details of the proposed AUKUS submarine deal to be announced next week in San Diego are leaking out all around the world. It seems that it will be much more complicated and expensive than intended at the outset of the path to the Holy Grail of an optimal solution. Already there are ominous signs that the three countries cannot even harmonise their rush into PR to launch the program.
8 February 2023
Nuclear submarines: from optimal to the best they can get
The announcement of the Australian Governments decision on the purchase of nuclear powered submarines is looming and it is timely to take a cold hard look at the facts rather than the inevitable spin. The more Prime Minister Albanese maintains this will be a momentous decision for Australia the more it should have been the subject of properly informed public discussion.
26 January 2023
The challenge for 2023: Taiwan and North Korea
It is self evident that the US: China relationship - with Taiwan at its core - will be the most pressing strategic issue for Australia in 2023.
8 October 2022
The Defence Strategic Review and the challenge of synchronising with foreign policy.
A reshaped foreign policy for Australia and the Defence Strategic Review are inextricably linked.
21 September 2022
The Defence Strategic Review: Rehash of US influenced orthodoxy?
Prime Minister Albanese is to be commended for announcing, so quickly after his election, the Defence Strategic Review but its real objective is too narrow, its timeline too short and its membership hardly independent as claimed.
23 May 2022
Albanese - In at the deep end in Tokyo
On his very first day in office, Prime Minister Albanese has seized with alacrity the opportunity to travel to Tokyo for the Quad meeting to announce his presence on the international stage.
5 May 2022
The Philippines another Marcos presidency
After a long and tortuous journey, even for the Philippines, the elections outcome is in little doubt. Bong Bong Marcos (BBM as he is known) is so far ahead in the opinion polls you can put down the glasses and his running mate - Sara Duterte (Mayor of Davao and the incumbent Presidents daughter) - likewise in the Vice Presidential race. What lies ahead? It has been a quintessentially Philippines process getting to this point. The eventual pairing of BBM and Sara Duterte was certainly not what Duterte Sr. had in mind at the outset. He wanted his daughter...
10 March 2022
Ukraine highlights our defence procurement shambles
With the Russian invasion in full swing and the collateral havoc of civilian casualties and mass evacuations before our eyes on TV it is premature to try to draw many firm conclusions about the longer term global implications of the Ukraine situation let alone for Australia. But there are immediate lessons which should not be buried by the increasingly blatant khaki election campaign by the Coalition already descending on Australia.
23 February 2022
Biden's Indo-Pacific strategy and China
After a year in preparation, President Biden has eventually issued his Indo Pacific Strategy (IPS) which seeks to present a comprehensive US approach to the region linked back to his pre-election vision of a foreign policy for middle America.
20 January 2022
Biden's honeymoon is over, and 2022 looks daunting
The US president's first year has disappointed progressive supporters and generated little in the way of positive developments on the world stage.
13 October 2021
Chinese overflights signal to US rather than threat to Taiwan
Despite the fuss made over China's recent military exercise over Taiwan, it's becoming clear that China's message was actually directed at the United States in response to its recent military drills in the region.
6 October 2021
Did China violate Taiwan's airspace? It's not that simple
The rush to panicked headlines by the American and Australian media about Chinese military manoeuvres over the Taiwan Strait revealed the shallowness of their understanding of the basic issues involved.
2 October 2021
Between AUKUS and AUSMIN, Australia has crossed the rubicon
Through the combination of AUKUS and AUSMIN, Australia has locked in its strategic dependence on the US probably irreversibly, or in Prime Minister Scott Morrisons words forever.
27 September 2021
AUKUS and submarines: Just what are we doing?
There has been so much commentary on the new AUKUS arrangements, especially the cancellation of the long-running submarine contract with the French. It's timely to strip back all the hype and examine more closely what it all means.
16 September 2021
Australia should learn from Korea on managing a relationship with China
China was the elephant in the room for the discussions Marise Payne and Peter Dutton had with their Korean counterparts in Seoul. Koreas extremely complex bilateral relationship with China is so different from our own.
9 September 2021
Five Eyes on the Afghan collapse-one eyed or blind?
The catastrophic failure of US and coalition intelligence in Afghanistan offers serious food for thought about the extent to which Australia relies on the vaunted Five Eyes arrangements.
30 June 2021
Rules-based international order camouflage for US exceptionalism
Bipartisan exceptionalism still predominates under Biden with rules-based international order at the core of his foreign policy prevailing over adherence to international law. China is stepping up its counter to US and Australian attempts to organise a new regional coalition of deterrence.
31 May 2021
Biden: Moon Summit- Little new on DPRK but significant bilateral issues.
Last weeks meeting in Washington between Presidents Biden and Moon was the second summit hosted by Biden since his inauguration, following that with Japanese Prime Minister Suga. While not very much new on the North Korean front emerged the atmosphere surrounding it was remarkably more congenial and workmanlike than Moons previous meetings with former President Trump. Moon remained very meticulous in any public commentary about China but some significant bilateral business was achieved.
3 May 2021
Biden's speech to Congress - read his lips!
President Bidens first address to Congress has provided a substantive and timely window into his ambitions for his term of office, but also the ideology which is driving him. Its central theme was Were in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st Century.
23 March 2021
Anchorage: Emerging Biden Policy on China
In his first few months, President Biden has had to focus on settling in his new administration and beginning to tackle the extremely challenging domestic issues he has inherited especially Covid 19. His new team has begun to flesh out the general themes of foreign and defence policy set out in his election campaign. Biden has insisted on a cautious and systematic approach to the development of policy towards China and North Korea for which the Anchorage meeting has been an important step.
1 February 2021
President Biden must call time on the exceptionalism US has long exploited
Last year I described an essay by then candidate Joe Biden Why America must lead again as less an inspirational treatise ... more a collage of ideas. With so many daunting domestic challenges to confront, it will take time for Biden to put his personal stamp on key foreign policy themes.
16 January 2021
US Indo-Pacific Defence Initiative: What's really going on ?
The ritual analysis of the departing Presidents report card does not record many positives for Trumps strategic policy management in areas most vital to Australia. The key regional issues have been passed on to President-elect Biden whose immediate challenge will be to craft some coherent whole of government policy from the abundance of ideas currently being pushed by a variety of experts, think tanks, interest groups and factions within the Democrats.
15 November 2020
Korea : Biden a mixed blessing?
Seoul and Pyongyang are trying to fathom the implications of the Biden presidency for the Korean peninsula, while concerns remain about the damage Trump may yet do during his remaining time in office.
19 October 2020
Trump pressures South Korea over China
When most around the world had battened down the hatches for a rough ride through the last days of the US Presidential election campaign, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has become seriously preoccupied again with the Trump administration.
20 August 2020
Biden's Foreign Policy: Make America the leader again
In an essay in the prestigious US publication Foreign Affairs, the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, sets out a broad set of his foreign policy objectives should he win the US presidency in November. The title Why America Must Lead Again Rescuing US Foreign Policy after Trump is hauntingly close to that used by President Trump prompting one to wonder if this was deliberate and if so why? Less an inspirational or ground-breaking treatise by Biden himself it is more a collage of ideas born out of an extraordinarily long, yet quiet, consultative process.
27 July 2020
Payne and Reynold's collision course with China
Ministers Payne and Reynolds have presented their brief for the AUSMIN20 discussions in Washington for which the scene has been set by a series of aggressive anti-China speeches by Secretary of State Pompeo and other senior US ministers.
20 July 2020
Range of options for Kim Jong-un in the lead up to US elections
As the weeks tick over towards the US elections in November and doubts grow about President Trumps prospects, the main stakeholders in the North Korean denuclearisation problem are having to reassess their options. All of which is making for a particularly complex poker game in which the stakes remain extremely high.
11 June 2020
South Korea and the G7 - some tricky issues
Recent months have seen little sign of any development in the US: DPRK relations but a lot has been happening in the peninsular - through piecing the jigsaw together continues to be challenging.
19 May 2020
MACK WILLIAMS. Cost/Benefit Analysis of the Morrison Covid19 "proposal"
Assuming that the WHA will pass its Covid Response A73/CONF./1 Resolution now that President Xi has declared his support in his surprise personal address, which will have influenced widespread endorsement from developing countries, Australia needs to take a very serious look at its own performance on this sensitive issue.
30 April 2020
MACK WILLIAMS. Covid-19, China and the WHO: Quo Vadis Australia?
A long time American UN observer in the US publication Foreign Policy ( WHO Becomes Battleground as Trump Chooses Pandemic Confrontation over Cooperation 29 April 2020) has claimed that fighting the coronavirus has become secondary as the US seeks to hamstring the WHO, turning it into a 2020 election issue along with Chinese trade.
26 April 2020
MACK WILLIAMS. International implications of landslide Korean elections
The spectacular success of President Moons party in the recent parliamentary elections has some important international implications as well as those for the South Korean domestic political scene.
12 February 2020
MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea. Has Trump lost the plot?
The stalemate between the US and the DPRK has dragged on past the Kim Jong-uns end of 2019 deadline.
15 January 2020
MACK WILLIAMS. Alliance management " It's the elections now...stupid"!
The New Year has confirmed that the US Presidential election cycle is up and running and will pick up speed soon to dominate all forms of political discussion in the US until November. To paraphrase that old American clich : Its the elections stupid!
5 November 2019
MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea: the clock is ticking - but just?
There have been a few developments since the abortive Hanoi Summit but overall little of substance has changed.