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.

How Meddling in Elections is Unraveling the International Liberal Order

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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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

New Atlanticist

Feb 16, 2018

The Munich Security Conference and Transatlantic Security

By Magnus Nordenman

The annual Munich Security Conference (MSC) which kicks off today may be a veritable who’s who in global security, but the conference is far more than just hobnobbing among the nearly five hundred senior security and defense officials in attendance. Frequently the MSC has been a bellwether for things to come in the global security […]

New Atlanticist

Feb 16, 2018

Is the Democratic Order Doomed?

By Ash Jain

The order is holding for now, but the trends are worrisome The state of the global order one year into Donald Trump’s presidency will be at the top of the agenda when global security experts meet in Munich from February 16-18. The outlook was bleak even before the 2016 US election. The rules-based, democratic order, […]

New Atlanticist

Feb 15, 2018

Raising the Curtain on MSC: 5 Things to Watch

By Barry Pavel and Lauren Speranza

February 16 marks the start of the annual Munich Security Conference (MSC)—the “Davos of international security”—in Germany. A Rolodex of top defense and foreign affairs leaders from Europe, the United States, the Middle East, and elsewhere will convene to take on a wide array of pressing global security issues. While the issues on the 2018 […]

EnergySource

Feb 15, 2018

Intelligence community continues to see threat from climate change

By Ellen Scholl and David Livingston

The 2018 Worldwide Threat Assessment, released on February 13, includes climate change among the identified threats to global stability. While many have pointed to the gap between this assessment and the rhetoric of US President Donald J. Trump—and the noticeable absence of climate change from his administration’s 2017 National Security Strategy—the worldwide threat assessment underscores […]

Climate Change & Climate Action Security & Defense

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