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.

Coronavirus will worsen Venezuela’s emergency, interim president says

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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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

Apr 23, 2020

Coronavirus will worsen Venezuela’s emergency, interim president says

By David A. Wemer

“This right now is an unprecedented emergency,” Guaidó said during an April 23 event with the Atlantic Council moderated by journalist and CBS news contributor María Elena Salinas. “Venezuela cannot survive both a pandemic and a famine,” he explained.

Coronavirus
Democratic Transitions

New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2020

NATO’s defense depends on mobility

By David A. Wemer

Military mobility—the ability to move massive amounts of troops and military equipment across territory and national borders rapidly—has warranted increasing attention from NATO policymakers over the last few years, but significant legal, diplomatic, and logistical challenges still need to be overcome—not to mention the sudden impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. “We have made some real progress,” explained US Army Europe Commander General Christopher Cavoli, “but there is a bit of work left to be done.”

NATO

New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2020

Why the Netherlands opposed unconditional European coronavirus aid

By Elmar Hellendoorn

Southern European calls for northern solidarity should be backed up with a quest for greater empathy in countries like the Netherlands. As long as the Dutch public remain largely unaware of the plight of southern Europe—as well as ignorant of the geopolitical consequences of too much fiscal rigidity—the current clash may only be a prelude to a much larger battle.

Coronavirus
European Union

New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2020

Gaza is unprepared for coronavirus: Providing aid could avert a security and economic catastrophe

By Evanna Hu

Given Gaza’s isolation and the fact that almost two million people are cramped into such a small space—Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas on Earth—physical distancing, especially within refugee camps, is literally impossible. Though there has been a lot of forced ingenuity from Gazans—adapting existing materials to make sanitizers, facial masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE)—it is far from enough.

Coronavirus
Middle East

New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2020

COVID-19 is transforming education for all: Fast tracking the shift to distant learning

By Robert Feller

The spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has presented the world with a series of challenges that can deepen inequalities across societies, but also (or maybe especially) in the world of education, which is now forced to move into the online realm. COVID-19, however, also gives us the opportunity to increase the quality and access to education for the world’s most vulnerable young people. The impact of new, digital innovations on the education of thousands of young refugees is huge and demands our urgent attention.

Coronavirus
Syria

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2020

Coronavirus spurs Europe’s quest for digital sovereignty

By Kenneth Propp

All of the virus-related developments—growing skepticism about global sourcing, the deepening threat of disinformation, the centrality of digital services in a return towards normality, and the privacy and security questions that dog them—will have an impact on the EU’s longer-term quest for digital sovereignty.

Digital Policy
European Union

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2020

The pandemic’s next stop: The financial system

By Bart Oosterveld

The peak of bank failures closures during the Global Financial Crisis happened two years after the collapse of real estate prices—there is an argument that there may be some time before the financial sector’s reserves are depleted. The wider picture however shows gyrating equity and commodity markets, very high unemployment, and a fragmented ‘reopening’ picture. All in all, the moment of the need for a meaningful injection of capital, whether from private markets or from the taxpayers, is approaching.

Coronavirus
International Financial Institutions

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2020

Digitizing the dollar in the age of COVID-19

By Michael Greenwald

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to cast a shadow over the future of the global economy, the dollar, while currently surging, finds itself at another larger inflection point; it needs to again prove its worth as the essential global currency.

China
Coronavirus

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2020

The 5×5—On viral infections online and in the real world

By Simon Handler

Cybersecurity often gets reduced to breaches and hacking, but the world has witnessed multiple pandemics in cyberspace and could learn more about response to exponential events.

Coronavirus
Cybersecurity

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2020

As US crude prices crumble, a difficult hand for the United States

By Reed Blakemore and John Soughan

As the market digests the final surge of oil from a Saudi-Russian price war prior to the implementation of production cuts on May 1, it may be that the tail end of a brutal supply glut has arrived and corresponding price stabilization—albeit at a very low price—will be soon to follow. But with oil demand projections reaching multi-decade lows, and US inventories continuing to build by record levels, the madness on April 20 suggests that US markets are far from out of the woods, putting policymakers and regulators in a tough position.

Energy Markets & Governance
Oil and Gas

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