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.

I Spy A North Korean at the Olympics

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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I Spy A North Korean at the Olympics

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

I Spy A North Korean at the Olympics

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

Feb 22, 2018

I Spy A North Korean at the Olympics

By Ashish Kumar Sen

North Korean Gen. Kim Yong-chol is believed to have orchestrated a deadly attack on a South Korean warship, the bombardment of a South Korean island, and, possibly, the cyberattack on Sony Pictures. Now, the former North Korean spy chief is on a different mission. Kim Yong-chol will lead his country’s delegation to the closing ceremony […]

Korea

New Atlanticist

Feb 22, 2018

Future Tense: Putin’s Re-Election a Given, But What Comes Next?

By Stephen Blank

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s re-election on March 18 is a foregone conclusion. Why, then, does this elaborately staged charade garner such attention abroad? Perhaps that is because the election is not important in itself as much as for the question it poses of what comes next. This election’s importance resides not in its occurrence or […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Feb 21, 2018

Boko Haram’s latest version relies on its old terror toolkit in Nigeria

By Rachel Ansley

More than ninety missing school girls in Nigeria—thought to have been abducted by Boko Haram—show that while the militants may have largely been defeated militarily, Boko Haram remains alive and well in Nigeria, according to an Atlantic Council analyst.

Nigeria

New Atlanticist

Feb 21, 2018

Why Sobchak is Wrong and Navalny is Right

By Daniel Vajdich

Ksenia Sobchak sees a “big double standard” in fellow Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s criticism of her decision to stand in the presidential elections in Russia on March 18. In December of 2017, Russia’s Central Electoral Commission determined that Navalny was ineligible to participate in the presidential election citing a sham corruption conviction.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Feb 21, 2018

How Meddling in Elections is Unraveling the International Liberal Order

By Klara Jordan

State and non-state actors are increasingly engaging in cyber conflict through a range of disruptive and destructive influence and interference operations. Among their targets? Elections. While election interference does not equal the existential threat of disintegration of nuclear nonproliferation regimes or the perils of climate change, together these challenges all contribute to what was the […]

New Atlanticist

Feb 21, 2018

Assad’s Forces Are Killing Dozens of Children in a Damascus Suburb

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s forces have unleashed an unrelenting bombardment of the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta that has killed hundreds—many of the victims are women and children—over the past few days. The United Nations (UN) has warned that the situation is “spiraling out of control.” The Assad regime has reportedly not even […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Feb 20, 2018

7 Things You Should Know About ‘Mini Merkel’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Under pressure to groom a successor, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has picked a “Mini Merkel” to take over as secretary general of her Christian Democrats (CDU). Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a close ally of Merkel’s, is expected to be voted into her new role at the CDU congress on February 26. She will replace Peter Tauber who […]

Germany

New Atlanticist

Feb 20, 2018

Berlusconi is Suddenly Italy’s Best Hope

By Nick Ottens

Six and a half years after he was hounded out of office, Silvio Berlusconi may be Europe’s best hope of avoiding another political crisis in Italy. The 81-year old media tycoon is not eying a return to the premiership. A 2013 conviction for tax fraud bars him from public office. But he could end up […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Feb 16, 2018

Russians Charged with Meddling in 2016 US Election

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Thirteen Russians and three Russian entities have been indicted by a grand jury for interfering in the US presidential elections in 2016, US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office said on February 16. The thirty-seven-page indictment alleges that Russians’ operations “included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump…and disparaging Hillary Clinton,” Trump’s Democratic opponent, […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Feb 16, 2018

The Kurdish challenge that is bedeviling the US-Turkish relationship

By Tulin Daloglu

US support for a Kurdish militia in Syria has become a point of contention in the US-Turkey relationship. Who are the Kurds and why is US support so contentious?

Turkey
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