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.

Japan Looks to Seize Opportunity Created by Iran Nuke Deal

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 17, 2016

Japan Looks to Seize Opportunity Created by Iran Nuke Deal

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Interview with Yasuyuki Matsunaga of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Tehran this summer will send a strong signal that Japan is ready to ramp up its engagement with Iran, according to Yasuyuki Matsunaga of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Japan, which imports most of its energy, […]

Iran Japan

New Atlanticist

Mar 17, 2016

Georgia Looks to Attract US Business

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Deep-sea port contract for US firm, economic development plan could encourage other US companies, says Georgia’s Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze is hopeful that his government’s decision to award a multibillion dollar contract to a US-based company and a new economic development plan will attract more US firms to Georgia. In […]

Russia The Caucasus

New Atlanticist

Mar 16, 2016

Keeping the Focus on the Democratic Republic of the Congo

By Mitch Hulse

The Obama administration must pay closer attention to developments in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where President Joseph Kabila is poised to extend his term in violation of constitutional limits, according to Herman J. Cohen, a former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. “I fear that the United […]

South & Central Africa

New Atlanticist

Mar 16, 2016

LGBT Rights at the Core of US Human Rights Agenda, says US Special Envoy Berry

By Jonathan Gass

LGBTI rights sit at the very core of the United States’ human rights agenda, and diplomacy, in its many forms, “is an essential tool as we find a path towards greater inclusion,” according to Randy W. Berry, the US State Department’s first-ever Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons. Since the United States […]

New Atlanticist

Mar 16, 2016

Silencing Voices of Russian Opposition

By Eurasia Center

Russian opposition groups will continue to face threats and violence if Western powers remain on the sidelines amid a Kremlin crackdown on media and democratic processes, according to opposition actors. “I think there is nothing better that they would like us to do than to hide, to run away, to stop doing what we’re doing,” […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Mar 16, 2016

Russian Opposition Battles Kremlin Crackdown, Western Apathy

By Mikaila Altenbern

Russia

New Atlanticist

Mar 16, 2016

Is Dissent Brewing in ISIS’ Ranks Over Plans to Strike the United States, Europe?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Top commanders ‘disavow’ shift of strategy away from caliphate-building, says journalist A shift from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham’s goals of building a caliphate to attacking Europe and the United States is reportedly causing a rift in the terrorist group’s upper echelons. A lieutenant to ISIS’ self-proclaimed caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, told Martin […]

Iraq Syria

New Atlanticist

Mar 15, 2016

Low Oil Prices: Good News at the Pump, Bad News for the Environment?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Interview with Ken Koyama, Chief Economist and Managing Director at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan Low oil prices not only threaten stability in oil-producing states, they can also diminish efforts to develop and embrace clean energy, according to Ken Koyama, Chief Economist and Managing Director at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan. “It may […]

Climate Change & Climate Action Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Mar 14, 2016

What to do About Afghanistan?

By James B. Cunningham

Amid concerning reports of security and political struggles that threaten to unravel the progress made thus far in Afghanistan, the question arises: what is to be done? The answer, at once simple and difficult, is to help the Afghans prevail. We, Americans, our international partners in Afghanistan, and the Afghans themselves have too much […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Mar 11, 2016

Putin Takes a Leaf from Tsarist Playbook

By Mikaila Altenbern

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s goal of restoring his country’s role in shaping the politics and policies of its near-neighbors—nations that were once part of the Soviet Union or the Russian Empire—is rooted in Tsarist “Russification policies,” according to Agnia Grigas, the author of a new book that takes a systematic look at the Kremlin’s policies […]

Russia Ukraine

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