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.

COVID-19 is increasing strategic uncertainty in Southeast Asia

New Atlanticist Sep 4, 2025

Dispatches from Damascus: The state of Syria’s postwar transition nine months after Assad’s fall

On a recent trip to the Syrian capital, Atlantic Council experts took note of how far the country has come since the Assad regime’s fall and what still needs to happen to secure peace and prosperity.

New Atlanticist Aug 29, 2025

Twenty questions (and expert answers) about the negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine

By Atlantic Council experts

August saw a flurry of diplomatic activity to end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As September nears, Atlantic Council experts share their insights on what to expect next.

Conflict Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding

New Atlanticist Aug 28, 2025

Germany wants to double its defense spending. Where should the money go?

By Atlantic Council experts

After decades of Berlin underinvesting in its defense, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has plans to transform the Bundeswehr into Europe’s strongest military.

Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia

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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

May 8, 2020

COVID-19 is increasing strategic uncertainty in Southeast Asia

By Adam Schwarz

Nothing that’s happened on COVID-19 yet—including China’s much commented-on ‘mask diplomacy’—is going to sway opinions or foreign policy alignments in Southeast Asia in fundamental ways. But that could change depending on what steps China and the United States take as their relationship moves—as it now seems likely to do—in a sharper, more antagonistic direction in the months and years to come.

Coronavirus East Asia

New Atlanticist

May 8, 2020

V-E Day at 75: What it brought and what’s next

By Daniel Fried

From V-E Day seventy-five years ago, the United States put a new kind of grand strategy into practice: we understood that, ultimately, our interests advanced with our democratic values, and that our prosperity depended on the prosperity of other nations. We fashioned a global system on that basis. For all its shortcomings, it’s better than the competition. The trick now is to use those core principles to meet the next seventy-five years.

Politics & Diplomacy United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

May 8, 2020

A war will not beat coronavirus

By Harlan Ullman

What are the strategy and plans today for dealing with the coronavirus? And what lessons has the United States drawn from other countries that appear to have been successful in stemming the disease?

Coronavirus United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2020

Nicaragua’s response to COVID-19 endangers not only its own people, but also its neighbors

By Maria Fernanda Perez Arguello and Isabel Kennon

Nicaragua’s reckless response to COVID-19 puts an already fragile Central America at risk and should worry the international community. In the fight against this global pandemic, Nicaragua and Costa Rica provide a clear example of how one country’s flawed response to the virus can drastically impact its neighboring countries

Coronavirus Democratic Transitions

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2020

After months of gridlock, Iraq gets a new government

By Atlantic Council

Iraq’s months-long quest to form a national government reached a major milestone on May 6 when a partial government under new prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi was approved by lawmakers. Al-Kadhimi—who previously served as Iraq’s national intelligence chief—was nominated by Iraqi President Barham Salih on April 9 after two previous nominees failed to form a government. Although fifteen of the major cabinet posts were approved by the parliament, several others have not yet been confirmed—including foreign affairs, justice, oil, agriculture, and trade—due to failure to reach an agreement between major parties on their allocation.

Democratic Transitions Iraq

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2020

Achieving supply chain independence in a post-COVID economy

By Michael Greenwald

The United States can no longer remain content with the notion of a Chinese economic threat arising in the distant future. The advent of COVID-19 has made it more apparent than any other time including the US-China trade War that now is the moment for the United States, European Union, and other like-minded countries to diversify supply chains away from China.

China Coronavirus

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2020

The coronavirus crisis highlights the need to diversify risk sharing in Europe

By Sona Muzikarova

Capital markets have been one of Europe’s policy ‘slow-burn’ issues. The coronavirus crisis rearing its ugly head over Europe, along with Brussels’ slow coming together in formulating a shared rescue package, have reignited the need to balance public and private risk sharing and to diversify funding for European businesses.

Coronavirus European Union

New Atlanticist

May 6, 2020

German court decision complicates ECB coronavirus efforts

By Ole Moehr

“This is time for solidarity and boldness in the European response to this unprecedented crisis. Unfortunately, the [German] Court's decision endangers the ability of the Bundesbank to participate in the ECB's program in the long run. Besides, it undermines the authority of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and could provide a worrying precedent for states asserting their sovereignty with illiberal measures against the rule of law in Europe,” Benjamin Haddad says.

Coronavirus European Union

New Atlanticist

May 6, 2020

ENEC’s Mohamed Al Hammadi: COVID-19 won’t delay Barakah nuclear plant

By Larry Luxner

Construction of the Barakah nuclear energy plant in the United Arab Emirates—the first commercial nuclear power station in the Middle East—won’t be significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the economic upheaval it has unleashed upon the world. That’s the word from Mohamed Al Hammadi, CEO of Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. (ENEC), which is building […]

Nuclear Energy The Gulf

New Atlanticist

May 6, 2020

The next age of transformation in the multilateral trading system

By Mark Linscott

The WTO is far too important to be allowed to drift for much longer. A scenario in which the next Ministerial Conference produces a concrete set of results across all of these areas might set the WTO on a path towards its next transformation.

Coronavirus International Markets

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