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.

Cautious Optimism Defines Argentina’s Future

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 11, 2016

Cautious Optimism Defines Argentina’s Future

By Mitch Hulse

Foreign investment, local support from communities to push policy reform, increased involvement of the international business community, and continued partnership between the United States and Argentina will lead to positive and sustainable political stability and economic growth in Argentina, according to Daniel Poneman, a former US Deputy Secretary of Energy. Poneman spoke at an event […]

Latin America

New Atlanticist

Mar 11, 2016

With the Middle East in Turmoil, Japan Looks to Diversify its Energy Options

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Spurred into action by the instability in the Middle East—its predominant source of crude oil—Japan is actively looking outside the region to diversify its energy options and enhance its own renewable energy production capabilities. Japan imports about eighty percent of its crude oil and around thirty percent of its liquefied natural gas from the Middle […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

New Atlanticist

Mar 11, 2016

Don’t Forget Greece

By Marten van Heuven

European leaders hope to finalize a deal with Turkey designed to stem the flow of migrants into the European Union. A key element of the deal is a provision for Turkey to take back all new migrants who illegally enter Greece from Turkey. Turkey has exacted a steep price: visa-free access for Turkish citizens into […]

European Union Greece

New Atlanticist

Mar 9, 2016

Turkey’s Demands Could Destroy Migrant Deal

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council’s Fran Burwell predicts political opposition in Europe A preliminary deal struck between the European Union and Turkey to shut Europe’s backdoor to migrants fleeing across the Aegean Sea could likely crumble under the burden of Turkey’s demands, said the Atlantic Council’s Fran Burwell. “There are a whole bunch of questions about this deal […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Mar 9, 2016

Wanted: A Changed US Mindset

By Ali Wyne

The Financial Times’ chief foreign affairs columnist, Gideon Rachman, is one of the most trenchant observers of world order and America’s evolving role within it. Writing in the National Interest, he asks a big-picture question that the US presidential candidates should consider and debate this fall: “how long can the United States, a country that […]

National Security Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Mar 8, 2016

Women in Colombia Hold the Key to Peace

By Andrea Saldarriaga Jiménez

In many countries, women are agents of change who bring about positive transformations not only for themselves, but for the societies in which they live. In other parts of the world, however, women are victimized and still relegated to second-class citizens. Sometimes these two things can be happening at the same time in the same […]

Colombia

New Atlanticist

Mar 8, 2016

In Somalia, al Shabaab Far from a Spent Force

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US strike on terrorist group exposes ‘serious strategic challenge,’ says Atlantic Council’s J. Peter Pham A US airstrike that killed more than 150 al Shabaab fighters at a training camp in Somalia over the weekend emphasizes the extent of the terrorist threat in a country that US President Barack Obama once cited as a counterterrorism […]

East Africa Somalia

New Atlanticist

Mar 7, 2016

Turkey and the Kurds: A Perfect Storm?

By John Roberts

A perfect storm appears to be brewing as tensions rise between Turkey and the main Kurdish groups in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey itself. And this at a time when there are fears in Ankara that Russian support for Kurdish fighters in Syria might be accompanied by covert assistance for Kurdish groups at war with the […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

New Atlanticist

Mar 7, 2016

Move Ahead with TTIP

By Andrea Montanino and E. Anthony Wayne

European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and US Trade Representative Michael Froman will meet March 11 and again on March 18 to take stock of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. If successful, TTIP will take the US-EU trade and investment relationship to new heights, create economic growth on both sides of the Atlantic, […]

Economy & Business European Union

New Atlanticist

Mar 4, 2016

Absence of a Plan B Will Give Brazil’s President Rousseff a Lifeline

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Already under impeachment pressure, Rousseff feels heat from former President Lula’s detention The brief detention of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in connection with a federal investigation of a bribery and money laundering scheme turns up the heat on his successor, but it is unlikely that Dilma Rousseff will be impeached in […]

Brazil

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