New Atlanticist

Sharp insights and bold ideas from across the Council

From climate change to the China challenge and the contest between democracy and dictatorship, the New Atlanticist is where top experts and policymakers at the Atlantic Council and beyond offer exclusive insight on the most pressing global challenges—and the US role in addressing them alongside allies and partners.

The Council’s flagship section features big ideas, groundbreaking research, lightning-fast expert reactions, in-depth analyses, and thought-provoking commentary to shape public policy.

This economic crisis is also a crisis for democracy

New Atlanticist Mar 6, 2025

How European leaders are responding to Trump’s approach to Ukraine and Europe

From London and Berlin to Paris and Brussels, European leaders have taken several notable steps this week on security. This follows the blow-up between the Ukrainian and US presidents on February 28.

New Atlanticist Feb 26, 2025

Why the US should not lift sanctions against Russia

By Charles Lichfield

Sanctions are having an unmistakable effect, albeit below the inflated expectations of many in the West in early 2022. Lifting them now would be a mistake.

Conflict Economic Sanctions

New Atlanticist Mar 5, 2025

The Egyptian plan for postwar Gaza is a good starting point—but it needs changes

By Thomas S. Warrick

While many obstacles remain, the Egyptian proposal could form the starting point for negotiations over a workable plan for postwar Gaza.

Conflict Crisis Management

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Experts React

Dive deep into developing stories, guided by continually updated expert analysis that leaves you better informed about the most pressing global issues behind the headlines.

Markup

Our experts decipher and annotate major speeches and policy documents to break down big ideas and lay them out in plain language.

New Atlanticist

Feb 16, 2021

This economic crisis is also a crisis for democracy

By Amanda Dickerson

The COVID-19 pandemic is inflicting economic damage across the world. And that damage may be having an insidious knock-on effect: eroding faith in democracy, especially among young people.

Economy & Business Inclusive Growth

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2021

How the US should respond to the coup in Myanmar

By Andrea R. Mihailescu

The Biden administration’s announcement that it will freeze one billion dollars of Myanmar government funds held in US banks will squeeze military leaders. But sanctions cannot be the only tool that the United States deploys.

Economic Sanctions Elections

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2021

The rebirth of the State Department’s Office of Sanctions Coordination: Guidelines for success

By Daniel Fried, Edward Fishman

While sanctions are increasingly a tool of first resort in US foreign policy, the State Department has lacked a disciplined process for coordinating sanctions policy. But the new Office of Sanctions Coordination is an opportunity to fix this problem.

Economic Sanctions Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2021

Reboot or repeat? US-Pakistan relations after the Daniel Pearl ruling

By Safiya Ghori-Ahmad

Pakistan was likely hoping for a reset with the new Biden administration, one that could refocus relations on the country’s most pressing issues. But those hopes have been dashed by The Supreme Court of Pakistan's recent decision on the Daniel Pearl case.

International Norms Media

New Atlanticist

Feb 11, 2021

The 5×5—Looking ahead for the Biden administration after a busy year in cybersecurity

By Simon Handler

It’s been a wild twelve months in the world of cybersecurity since the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative launched the 5×5 series. In celebration of the series' one-year anniversary, experts plotted the year ahead.

Cybersecurity Technology & Innovation

New Atlanticist

Feb 10, 2021

Charles Michel on renewing EU-US ties: ‘For global challenges, we need global solutions’

By Larry Luxner

“With the new Biden administration, there is [in] Europe a feeling of hope and the expectation that it will be possible… to rebuild a very strong alliance—what I have called a ‘new founding pact’ between the United States and Europe,” said European Council President Charles Michel.

China Coronavirus

New Atlanticist

Feb 10, 2021

Biden needs a new Pakistan policy. This is what it should look like.

By Shamila N. Chaudhary, Vali Nasr

The United States has an opportunity to move on from the sordid history of US-Pakistan relations. Strategic imperatives in both Islamabad and Washington have provided a rare opening, one that if explored effectively could serve US regional interests positively and also provide impetus for change in Pakistan.

China Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Feb 9, 2021

The world reacts to ‘The Longer Telegram’

By Atlantic Council

In the days since its publication, the paper has sparked debate everywhere from India and Pakistan to Britain, Singapore, and China itself, where it has elicited sharp criticism from the Foreign Ministry and a slew of pieces in the state-run Global Times.

China Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Feb 8, 2021

The ‘blocking statute’: China’s new attempt to subvert US sanctions

By David Mortlock

China’s new blocking statute appears to be an attempt to blunt the impact of the threat of sanctions on additional Chinese companies for conducting business with sanctioned countries. If effectively implemented, the statute could force international companies to choose between potentially running afoul of US sanctions or risking retaliation from Beijing.

China Economic Sanctions

Global Energy Forum

Feb 8, 2021

How to design an energy transition that includes everyone—including the most vulnerable

By Katherine Golden

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed an “interdependent” world with “huge issues of inequity,” said Sunita Narain, director general of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). Without addressing these realities, “we cannot deal with the virus, and it’s the same with climate change.”

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment

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