New Atlanticist

Time is Running Out: The Case for US Investment in its Energy Infrastructure

By Cynthia L. Quarterman

As Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful ever recorded, leaves Florida battered in its wake, US energy infrastructure continues to bear the strain of long-term planning neglect. The damage wrought by the storms and the impact on the energy sector demonstrates that the time is right to prioritize infrastructure, particularly pipeline infrastructure planning.

NAFTA Negotiations: Why Are They So Controversial?

By Sara Van Velkinburgh

In the midst of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) renegotiations in August, US President Donald J. Trump tweeted saying that NAFTA is the “worst trade deal ever made,” and threatened to withdraw the United States from the agreement because Canada and Mexico are being “difficult”. While many have brushed these statements off ahead of […]

A Strategy for Dealing with North Korea

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Former US undersecretary of state, R. Nicholas Burns, discusses US options, the importance of Chinese pressure, and lessons learned from the Iran nuclear crisis New sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on September 11 in response to North Korea’s latest nuclear test are “not significant enough,” according to R. Nicholas Burns, an Atlantic […]

Rescinding DACA Undermines Trump’s Central America Policy

By Juan Felipe Celia

US President Donald J. Trump’s September 4 decision to rescind a program that has allowed hundreds of thousands of young people who were illegally brought to the United States to remain in the country undermines his administration’s stance towards Central America. While Trump reportedly vacillated until the last hour about whether to end the program […]

An Atlantic Council Roadmap for State Department Reform

A new Atlantic Council report that seeks to enhance the US State Department’s effectiveness recommends, among other things, a more results-oriented budget and streamlined foreign aid.  A key recommendation is to use the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as “the platform to build a more robust, effective civilian assistance capacity, empowering it with an […]

Iran, Turkey Key to Turkmenistan Realizing its Energy Potential

By Masoud Mostajabi

Turkmenistan must invest in new infrastructure to export its vast energy resources if it is to become a substantial player in the global energy market. Achieving this objective would reduce Turkey and the European Union (EU)’s dependence on Russian gas. Turkmenistan boasts the sixth-largest natural gas reserves in the world, an estimated 617 trillion cubic […]

The United States’ ‘Horrible Options’ for Dealing with North Korea

By Ashish Kumar Sen

With Kim Jong-un ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula, US President Donald J. Trump is left with two “horrible” options to deal with the threat posed by the North Korean regime, according to Atlantic Council board member and a former acting and deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Michael Morell. Acknowledging that […]

Guatemala Averts Political Crisis, But Damage is Done for Jimmy Morales

By Juan Felipe Celia

Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales shocked Guatemalans and the international community last week when he ordered the expulsion of Iván Velásquez, commissioner of the United Nations International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), the organization leading the investigation into the illegal financing of Morales’ presidential campaign. Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has blocked the expulsion order, which was […]

Hurricane Resilience and the Role of Oil Product Reserves

By Philip Cornell

Hurricane Harvey, which has devastated the city of Houston and the surrounding areas, has struck at the heart of the US energy sector. The consequences will outlive the rainfall, and raise questions about the utility and design of strategic product storage in a rapidly changing domestic energy landscape. Since making landfall on August 25, Harvey […]

European Bureaucracy, Not Russia’s Military Exercises, Seen as a Bigger Challenge

By Teri Schultz

Top US military commander in Europe, Army Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, calls for a ‘military Schengen zone’ As Zapad 2017 looms, the top US military commander worries more about Europe’s sluggish bureaucracy than Russia’s snap military exercises. One word is dominating transatlantic security and defense discussions heading into September: Zapad. The word, which means “west” […]