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.

Transatlantic Split Over Iran Could Become the Worst Since the Suez Crisis

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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New Atlanticist

May 30, 2018

Transatlantic Split Over Iran Could Become the Worst Since the Suez Crisis

By Louis Golino

European efforts to preserve the Iran nuclear agreement, coupled with US plans to impose sanctions on Iran and secondary sanctions on companies that fail to comply with those sanctions, have contributed to a dangerous divide in the Atlantic community—one that threatens an economic relationship that remains the linchpin of the world’s economy. This is hardly […]

European Union France

New Atlanticist

May 30, 2018

Italy is Too Big to Fail

By Bart Oosterveld and Andrea Montanino

While the fundamentals of the Italian economy remain sound, the political uncertainty gripping the country has spooked markets. Tools created during the European debt crisis in 2009—such as the European Stability Mechanism (ESM)—are insufficient to support funding needs of the Italian sovereign and corporate sector for a sustained period of time. Interventions such as the […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

May 30, 2018

North Korea’s Other Kim Comes to New York

By Ashish Kumar Sen

North Korean Gen. Kim Yong-chol was seated barely a few feet away from Ivanka Trump at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on February 25. The world’s attention was focused firmly on them amid signs of a thaw in relations between North and South Korea. The two did not exchange […]

Korea United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

May 29, 2018

#PutinAtWar: Dismissing MH17

By Ben Nimmo

On May 24, 2018, a Dutch-led international investigation said that the weapon which downed Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in July 2014 had been provided by a Russian military unit. Kremlin and pro-Kremlin outlets were quick to launch a counter-offensive, denying any Russian involvement, and attacking the investigators and their methods.

Disinformation Russia

New Atlanticist

May 28, 2018

Italy’s President Keeps Populists At Bay

By Nick Ottens

Italy is, not for the first time, in political crisis. But this time, what happens in Rome could have a big impact on financial markets, the euro, and the longer-term future of the European Union as a whole. Sergio Mattarella, the country’s largely ceremonial president, took the unusual step on May 28 of vetoing a […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

May 25, 2018

Nicaragua’s Moment of Reckoning

By Juan Felipe Celia and Alberto Matamoros

It has been more than a month since protests erupted in Nicaragua against President Daniel Ortega. At least seventy-six people have been killed and more than 800 injured, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH). Experiencing its largest political awakening since Ortega took office in 2007 and gradually eliminated the democratic system of […]

New Atlanticist

May 24, 2018

With Summit Off, United States Needs to Think Through its North Korea Strategy

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US President Donald J. Trump’s administration must use the opportunity presented by the president’s decision to scrap his June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to think through its strategy on North Korea, according to the Atlantic Council’s Robert A. Manning. “There are technical issues that we ought to explore so we know […]

Korea Nuclear Nonproliferation

New Atlanticist

May 24, 2018

Trump Calls off Date with Kim Jong-un

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US President Donald J. Trump on May 24 abruptly called off a June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The highly anticipated summit—one frequently touted by Trump himself—was to be held in Singapore. “I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility […]

Korea Nuclear Nonproliferation

New Atlanticist

May 23, 2018

Congolese Opposition Leaders Join Forces

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Two prominent Congolese presidential hopefuls, speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington on May 23, announced that they were joining forces against the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s longtime president Joseph Kabila. Moïse Katumbi, who is tipped to win the election—if one is held and if he is allowed to participate—and Félix Tshisekedi, the president […]

New Atlanticist

May 23, 2018

Is Russia Violating the Biological Weapons Convention?

By Lukas Trakimavičius

Russia’s reported use of a chemical weapon against a former Russian spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom in March caused an international uproar that echoes to the present day. The incident raised questions regarding the Kremlin’s ongoing use of chemical weapons. While more than forty years have passed since Moscow signed the Biological […]

Russia

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