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.

The United States Needs Its Allies, Mattis Tells Naval War College Graduates

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

New Atlanticist

Jun 19, 2018

The United States Needs Its Allies, Mattis Tells Naval War College Graduates

By David Wemer

United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis passionately defended the necessity of international partnership in a June 15th speech at the commencement ceremony of the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

New Atlanticist

Jun 18, 2018

Here’s Why Georgia Must Be on the Agenda of a Trump-Putin Summit

By George Tsereteli

As the ten-year anniversary of the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia approaches, there will be a brief spike in policy suggestions and attention paid to the small Caucasian nation. The reality, unfortunately, is that the five-day war in August 2008 is now mostly cited in the context of being the event that took place prior […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jun 18, 2018

Yemen’s Never-Ending War

By Borzou Daragahi

The assault by the United Arab Emirates’ forces and their local allies in a Saudi-led coalition on the Yemeni port city of Hudaydah that began last week and remains underway rightly raised concerns once again about the potential humanitarian consequences of Yemen’s ongoing war. Hudaydah is one of the impoverished country’s most important ports, the […]

Saudi Arabia The Gulf

New Atlanticist

Jun 18, 2018

The DETER Act Will Not Deter Russia. It Will Instead Hurt US, EU Economies

By Daniel Fried and Brian O'Toole

With hints that the DETER Act [the Defending Elections from Threats by Establishing Redlines Act of 2018] may be under some consideration in the National Defense Authorization Act process going on in Congress, we would like to highlight our analysis from earlier this year for consideration by any involved in the negotiations and potentially affected […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 18, 2018

Framing a Trump-Putin Meeting: A Short Guide to US-Russia Summits Past

By Daniel Fried

As we contemplate the promise and peril of the July 16 meeting between US President Donald J. Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, past US-Russia summits can provide a guide to what can go right and what can go very, very wrong when American and Russian leaders meet.

Russia United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Jun 17, 2018

Avoiding a NATO Train Wreck

By Frederick Kempe

This much is predictable. The world’s most successful and enduring alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is facing a potential transatlantic train wreck of American making when it meets in Brussels July 11-12, its first full-fledged summit of the Trump administration. Unless President Donald Trump shifts his thinking and actions before then, a toxic political […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jun 16, 2018

Beyond the Trump-Kim Summit: A Coalition is Critical for Achieving Denuclearization

By Ashish Kumar Sen

In the wake of US President Donald J. Trump’s June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, R. Nicholas Burns, an Atlantic Council board member who served as US undersecretary of state from 2005 to 2008, discussed the tough work that lies ahead and lessons from a not too distant past.

Korea United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Jun 15, 2018

A Call to Work Together

By Valerie Rouxel-Laxton

Institutions and fora such as the United Nations, the Bretton Woods Institutions, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the G-groups are based on the organizing principle of multilateralism. After World War II, they have helped nation states coexist in a peaceful and relatively prosperous environment. Nowadays, they face criticism […]

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Jun 15, 2018

FIFA’s Own Goal: Soccer Federation Needs to Do More to Press Russia on LGBTI Rights

By Jonny Gass

From now until July 15, one million soccer fans will descend on Russia for the twenty-first Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup, 3.4 billion people will watch from virtually every country and territory on Earth, and Russia will profit from immense global attention, an economic boon, and the fame that comes from hosting […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Jun 14, 2018

Political Football: The World Cup’s Middle East Challengers

By Owen Daniels

The author and political thinker George Orwell was many things, but a soccer fan he was not. In an essay titled “The Sporting Spirit,” written in 1945 during then-Soviet soccer club Dynamo Moscow’s Cold War British tour, Orwell called soccer “a game in which everyone gets hurt and every nation has its own style of […]

Russia

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