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.

Pompeo’s ‘Plan B’ on Iran: Accurate Diagnosis, Inadequate Cure

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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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 21, 2018

Pompeo’s ‘Plan B’ on Iran: Accurate Diagnosis, Inadequate Cure

By Barbara Slavin

In an audacious speech before the Heritage Foundation on May 21, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined a litany of complaints about the nuclear deal with Iran that accurately reflected some of its gaps, but offered no realistic remedies. Pompeo’s prescription to achieve his “Plan B”—“unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime”—is unlikely to […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

May 21, 2018

Can the European Union’s Sanctions Blocking Regulation Save the Iran Nuclear Deal?

By Brian O'Toole

The European Union (EU) on May 18 announced that it was beginning the process to activate its proposed blocking regulation, initially proposed in 1996 to try to counteract what the EU saw as the extraterritorial reach under the United States’ Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) and Cuba sanctions program. Those disagreements were settled politically with the […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

May 18, 2018

Muqtada al-Sadr: From US Foe to Iraqi Kingmaker

By Andrea Taylor

The checkered and turbulent past of the man best poised to take on the role of “kingmaker” in Iraq may return to impact his ability to form a government, and Iraq’s relationship with the United States. The ethnically and politically diverse Alliance of Revolutionaries for Reform, led by prominent Iraqi political figure Muqtada al-Sadr, won […]

Iraq

New Atlanticist

May 18, 2018

Italy May Soon Be Led by an Anti-EU, Pro-Putin Coalition

By Nick Ottens

Italy’s populist Five Star Movement and the League have finalized a coalition agreement that challenges the consensus of the European Union (EU). There are still a couple of hurdles to be cleared: the parties have yet to agree on a candidate for prime minister and supporters of the Five Star Movement are voting in an […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

May 18, 2018

Why North Korea is Not Libya

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US National Security Advisor John Bolton infuriated North Korea by suggesting that Libya’s experience with denuclearization could serve as a model for Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons. The comment sparked swift condemnation from North Korean officials. That Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who in 2003 made the deal to give up his weapons of […]

Libya

New Atlanticist

May 18, 2018

Venezuela’s Sham Election

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Nicolás Maduro is expected to be re-elected president of Venezuela on May 20 in an election that most experts agree is a sham the United States and several Latin American countries have refused to recognize, and the European Union wants suspended until the conditions are suitable to organize a free and fair vote. “Rather than […]

Venezuela

New Atlanticist

May 17, 2018

Cause to Celebrate Democracy in Southeast Asia

By John T. Watts

Southeast Asia does not often get the attention it warrants in Washington, but a cluster of events this month deserve reflection and celebration for showing that democracy in Southeast Asia is still a force to be reckoned with. Namely, two elections in May bucked a growing authoritarian trend in Asia with strong electoral processes […]

Indo-Pacific

New Atlanticist

May 17, 2018

Has The United States Jeopardized Its Prospects For ‘The Ultimate Deal’ In The Middle East?

By Rachel Brandenburg

Early in his presidency, Donald J. Trump set out to achieve “the ultimate deal”: Israeli-Palestinian peace. The US president deputized his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with the task, claiming the feat could be achieved within the first year of his administration. A little over a year later that “ultimate deal” is nowhere to be seen. Instead, […]

Israel Middle East

New Atlanticist

May 17, 2018

The US-India Defense Partnership: Trending Upward

By Bharath Gopalaswamy

In August 2017, US President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), a bill designed in part to sanction countries doing business with Russia’s defense industry. Like some other US partners, India is at risk of CAATSA sanctions because the bulk of its defense inventory is from the […]

India

New Atlanticist

May 16, 2018

Russia is Anxious About War. Here’s How the United States Should Respond

By Ariel Cohen

US President Donald J. Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal may increase the prospects of instability in the Middle East. However, Russia is likely to interpret this instability through the prism of what many politicians and analysts in Moscow like to call the “approaching global confrontation with the United […]

Russia

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