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.

Jordan Caught Between Trump and a Hard Place

New Atlanticist
Jul 29, 2025

The Russia pressure menu: Options to convince Putin to negotiate on Ukraine 

As the US president cuts his deadline for Russia to ten days, there are several options for him to increase pressure on Moscow to pursue peace.

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Jordan Caught Between Trump and a Hard Place

New Atlanticist
Jul 24, 2025

Dispatch from Manila: A lesson in calling out Chinese maritime aggression

By
Markus Garlauskas, Philip W. Yu

As the Philippines has focused more on Chinese threats to itself, Manila also seems increasingly inclined to see its own security as connected to that of the broader region.

China
Indo-Pacific

Jordan Caught Between Trump and a Hard Place

New Atlanticist
Jul 1, 2025

The US must enforce sanctions to prevent Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program

By
Kimberly Donovan

To ensure that Tehran cannot get its hands on the financial resources it would need to rebuild its nuclear program, Iran sanctions enforcement should start with China.

Economic Sanctions
Iran

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Content

New Atlanticist

Jan 5, 2018

Jordan Caught Between Trump and a Hard Place

By Shehab al-Makahleh and Giorgio Cafiero

US president’s Jerusalem decision puts Amman in a bind Jordan has been left with no choice but to oppose US President Donald J. Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel because the issue impacts the kingdom’s security and politics. As Jordanian King Abdullah II focuses more attention on Jerusalem and the unresolved question […]

Middle East

New Atlanticist

Jan 4, 2018

Top Risks of 2018

By Mathew Burrows, Robert A. Manning, and Owen Daniels

Risks are not predictions, but many of the threats posed to global security and stability highlighted in early 2017 have unfortunately materialized over the past year. Despite Chinese President Xi Jinping’s attempts to try to fill US shoes as it walks away from the world stage and defend globalization at last year’s World Economic Forum, […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 3, 2018

North Korea May Be Trying to Drive a Wedge Between the United States and South Korea

By Ashish Kumar Sen

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is likely trying to drive a wedge between the United States and South Korea with his uncharacteristic offer of an olive branch to Seoul, according to the Atlantic Council’s Robert A. Manning. On January 3, North Korea reopened a border hotline with South Korea after two years of silence. That […]

Korea

New Atlanticist

Jan 3, 2018

Compromise and Concession Key to NAFTA Renegotiations: A Lesson From The Past

By Diego Marroquin Bitar

Ongoing negotiations in combination with US President Donald J. Trump’s threats to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) unless major concessions are made to serve US interests have unnerved many in all three participating countries who understand that more than the future of a free trade agreement is at risk. All three […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 3, 2018

Afghanistan’s First All-Female TV Network Presses Society’s Buttons

By Teri Schultz

Life for women in Afghanistan has seen many advances since the end of Taliban rule, but the country still ranks poorly when it comes to gender equality. Spousal abuse and child marriage are rampant, while the criminal justice system is ill-equipped to handle complaints from women. Societal silence on these issues compounds the cultural cage […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Jan 2, 2018

A New French Renaissance

By Nicholas Dungan

Just as Queen Elizabeth II offers her yuletide greetings to the British people in her Christmas Day broadcast each December 25, so, tradition goes, the president of France presents his New Year’s wishes to the French people on December 31. Emmanuel Macron’s speech on the last day of 2017 was his first New Year’s address. […]

France

New Atlanticist

Jan 2, 2018

Iranian Habit of Demonstrating Boomerangs Against the Government

By Barbara Slavin

For forty years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has encouraged, even demanded, that its citizens participate in mass demonstrations. Repeatedly, however, Iranians have taken to the streets not to praise the regime, but to protest its policies. The latest protests began December 28, in Mashhad, a conservative city and home to a major Shi’ite Muslim […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jan 2, 2018

Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Protests in Iran

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Iran has been rocked by the most significant protests in almost a decade. At least twenty people have been killed. Amir Handjani, a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center and a Council board member, discussed the reason for the protests, the Iranian government’s response, and how US President Donald J. Trump should […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jan 1, 2018

100 Years Later, Wilson’s Fourteen Points Deserve Another Look

By Daniel Fried

This January 8 marks the 100th anniversary of President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points speech, a foundational moment in America’s rise to define and lead a rules-based world order. Wilson has not been in fashion for some time: his political rigidity at the end of his career probably tanked Senate acceptance of the League of Nations, […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 26, 2017

2018 Will Be A Year of Living Dangerously On The Korean Peninsula

By Robert A. Manning

As troubling as current tensions are, 2018 promises to be an even more dangerous year on the Korean Peninsula. Amid conflicting signals from US President Donald J. Trump’s administration and anticipated hints of flexibility in North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s statement, one immediate question is whether and under what circumstances Washington will be […]

Korea
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