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.

Slovyansk Recovers from Russian Occupation

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

Mar 25, 2016

Slovyansk Recovers from Russian Occupation

By John E. Herbst

The fast train travels the nearly 700 kilometers from Kyiv to Slovyansk in just under six hours. It stops a few times before arriving at the train station in the suburbs of Slovyansk, the small city of 125,000 that Moscow’s agents seized and held for nearly three months shortly after its hybrid war in Ukraine’s […]

Russia Ukraine

Bremain vs Brexit

Mar 24, 2016

Europe’s Big Challenge: Alienated Populations + ISIS

By Mitch Hulse

Terrorist attacks against the West will continue as long as Europe fails to integrate Muslim communities into its fold and organizations like the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham maintain their ideological stranglehold over these disaffected communities, according to senior fellows at the Atlantic Council. “These attacks are going to continue as long as two […]

Syria Western Europe

New Atlanticist

Mar 24, 2016

Europe Must Respond Strategically to Brussels Attacks

By H.A. Hellyer

Foreigners in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) might have ordered the attacks on Brussels, but the perpetrators apparently were all Europeans. At least thirty-four people were killed and more than 250 wounded on March 22—the numbers are still being counted. Brussels has just faced its own equivalent of London’s July 7 […]

Syria Western Europe

New Atlanticist

Mar 23, 2016

On Brussels Bombings: ‘The Moment Has Come When We Need to Act,’ says Kosovo’s President Atifete Jahjaga

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Kosovo’s President, Atifete Jahjaga, has called on governments in countries facing the threat of Islamic terrorism to set aside political differences and ramp up intelligence sharing and cooperation with their neighbors. “The moment has come when we need to act,” Jahjaga said in an interview on March 23. Jahjaga spoke on a visit to the […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Mar 23, 2016

Why Donald Trump is Wrong about NATO

By Robbie Gramer

In an interview with the Washington Post a day before the terrorist attacks in Brussels, Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump unveiled an “unabashedly noninterventionist approach” to America’s role in the world. High on his list of targets was NATO. Trump alleged that the United States’ “allies do nothing,” meaning the United States “can’t afford” to […]

NATO Security & Defense

Bremain vs Brexit

Mar 23, 2016

Brussels Attacks Shift Focus to Migrant Crisis

By Robbie Gramer

The terrorist attacks in Brussels have shaken the European Union to its core and will have long-term consequences for the transatlantic community. Europe’s response to the migrant crisis, which has inundated the continent with more than one million refugees, will be an important factor in addressing this situation. The political fallout from the attacks in […]

Europe & Eurasia Western Europe

Bremain vs Brexit

Mar 23, 2016

Brussels Attacks’ Fallout will be Felt Across Europe

By Lauren Speranza

The March 22 terrorist attacks in Brussels will have three major consequences for Europe’s political landscape. First, it could deal a devastating blow to Europe’s open borders; the Schengen area is the magnum opus of a unified Europe. Following the terrorist attack, authorities shut down major public transport lines between Brussels and its European neighbors. […]

European Union International Organizations

Bremain vs Brexit

Mar 23, 2016

‘We Reap What We Sow’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Brussels attack the cost of inattention to terrorist sleeper cells, says Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe European governments, and in particular Belgium, are paying a heavy price for having neglected terrorist sleeper cells that have been forming for well more than a decade in their growing, poorly integrated immigrant communities, said Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Mar 23, 2016

ISIS Strikes Brussels: Is This The ‘New Normal’?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

The terrorist attacks in Brussels represent a collective failure of Western intelligence, underscore the challenges radicalized young Muslims pose to Europe and the United States, but most of all are emblematic of what the Atlantic Council’s Barry Pavel describes as a “new normal.” The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the […]

Cybersecurity European Union

New Atlanticist

Mar 22, 2016

Belgium’s 9/11

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Brussels attacks a failure of Western intelligence, says Howard Gutman, former US Ambassador to Belgium The terrorist attacks in Brussels that left at least thirty-six people dead on March 22 represent a failure of US and European intelligence, according to Howard Gutman, a former US Ambassador to Belgium. “Most people have been focusing on Molenbeek […]

European Union International Organizations

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