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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.

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Italy’s President Keeps Populists At Bay

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.

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Italy’s President Keeps Populists At Bay

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

Italy’s President Keeps Populists At Bay

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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Content

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

New Atlanticist

May 23, 2018

US Initiative Vital for Calming Israeli-Palestinian Tensions

By Moritz Luetgerath

The death of at least sixty Palestinians during clashes with Israeli security forces at the Gaza border on May 14 was just the latest reminder of a crisis that has gradually worsened in the absence of diplomacy and progress toward improved political and economic conditions in the Palestinian territories. A US-led initiative is needed to […]

Israel Middle East

New Atlanticist

May 23, 2018

Trump’s Plan B for Iran

By Matthew Kroenig

Several years ago, Henry Kissinger famously stated that Iran must decide if it wants to be a country or a cause. On May 21, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo re-articulated this question, offering Iran a sharp choice: to be welcomed back into the community of nations if it abandons its destabilizing security policies or […]

Iran Nuclear Nonproliferation

New Atlanticist

May 21, 2018

How Trump’s Meeting with Moon Can Help Him Prepare for the Summit with Kim

By Miyeon Oh

US President Donald J. Trump must use his meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in to ensure that the United States and South Korea are completely aligned, with no differences that could be exploited by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in his upcoming summit with Trump. In this way, Trump’s May 22 meeting with Moon […]

Korea

New Atlanticist

May 21, 2018

Sleepless in Seoul

By Frederick Kempe

Why I’ve grown more optimistic that we have the chance to repair history’s bloodiest remaining divide. Jet lag can play tricks on the mind. Lying wide awake at just past three in the morning, some thirteen hours ahead of DC time in South Korea, I grow convinced we are within reach of the chance of […]

Korea
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