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.

The Hidden Costs of Russia’s Proposed Aircraft Supercarrier

New Atlanticist
Mar 6, 2025

How European leaders are responding to Trump’s approach to Ukraine and Europe

From London and Berlin to Paris and Brussels, European leaders have taken several notable steps this week on security. This follows the blow-up between the Ukrainian and US presidents on February 28.

New Atlanticist
Feb 26, 2025

Why the US should not lift sanctions against Russia

By
Charles Lichfield

Sanctions are having an unmistakable effect, albeit below the inflated expectations of many in the West in early 2022. Lifting them now would be a mistake.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions

New Atlanticist
Mar 5, 2025

The Egyptian plan for postwar Gaza is a good starting point—but it needs changes

By
Thomas S. Warrick

While many obstacles remain, the Egyptian proposal could form the starting point for negotiations over a workable plan for postwar Gaza.

Conflict
Crisis Management

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Dive deep into developing stories, guided by continually updated expert analysis that leaves you better informed about the most pressing global issues behind the headlines.

Markup

Our experts decipher and annotate major speeches and policy documents to break down big ideas and lay them out in plain language.

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2015

The Hidden Costs of Russia’s Proposed Aircraft Supercarrier

By Nicholas Varangis

Why is Russia planning on building an aircraft supercarrier in the next decade? The answer may seem self-evident: Russia wants to challenge the United States as a global power.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Apr 20, 2015

Completing Europe: The North-South Corridor

By David Koranyi and Ian Brzezinski

Twenty-five years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the beginning of a long process of European reunification, Europe has arrived at a historic inflection point. The European Union faces multiple external threats, including a resurgent Russia, growing global economic competition, and geopolitical upheaval.

New Atlanticist

Apr 17, 2015

Asian Bank not Intended to ‘Overthrow’ World Bank, says Chinese Official

By Ashish Kumar Sen

China’s proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) will have a constructive and complementary relationship with both the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank and is not intended to “overthrow” either institution, Zhu Guangyao, China’s Vice Minister of Finance, said April 17 at the Atlantic Council. Instead, the AIIB will focus on economic development—particularly investing […]

China

New Atlanticist

Apr 17, 2015

Sharing the Stage with China

By Daniel Pearson

US position on investment bank risks isolating it from its partners The Obama administration’s mishandling of the emergence of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has meant that the United States now finds itself sitting outside the Chinese-led organization that includes many of Washington’s most significant regional and global partners and promises to be a […]

China

New Atlanticist

Apr 17, 2015

Economics 101: A Lesson for Ukraine

By Larry Luxner

Ukraine Can Learn from Baltic States’ Experience with Reforms, says Lithuania’s Ex-Prime Minister As it struggles to fix its economy, Ukraine would do well to study the reforms successfully implemented by three fellow former Soviet republics in the Baltics, Andrius Kubilius, Lithuania’s former Prime Minister said April 16 at the Atlantic Council. “I was Prime […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Apr 16, 2015

Europe Limps Back From Recession

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Dip in oil prices, European Central Bank’s bond-buying program seen as boon The European economy is slowly recovering from a double-dip recession aided in part by falling oil prices and a $1.2 trillion bond-buying program by the European Central Bank (ECB), a senior European Commission official said April 16. “We are seeing the European economy […]

Europe & Eurasia European Union

New Atlanticist

Apr 15, 2015

Falling Oil Prices Hit ISIS Where it Hurts

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Terrorist group’s plans to expand to South Asia seen hamstrung by its depleted finances A sharp drop in world oil prices and the presence of other terrorist groups will make it hard for the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) to establish a foothold in South Asia, said Omar Hamid, head of Asia Pacific […]

Afghanistan India

New Atlanticist

Apr 15, 2015

Making the Case for a Syrian National Stabilization Force

By Larry Luxner

Analysts propose US-led effort to end the war in Syria Nothing less than a national stabilization force consisting of fifty thousand troops and costing billions of dollars will stop the continuing bloodshed in Syria, three security analysts said April 14 at the Atlantic Council. The panel coincided with the release of a report, Setting the […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Apr 15, 2015

In a New Bipolar Energy Order, America Must Assert Itself in the Arctic

By Vicente López-Ibor Mayor

This month’s US chairmanship of the Arctic Council has come at a particularly geopolitically divisive time. Previous years have seen increasing competition between nations to exploit the Arctic’s vast untapped energy reserves. It is a competition the US government has been less active in due to environmental concerns. More important and less widely acknowledged is […]

Energy & Environment Energy Markets & Governance

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2015

US-Cuba Forecast: Sunny?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Cuba’s removal from terrorism list opens the door to full diplomatic relations says Atlantic Council’s Schechter US President Barack Obama’s decision to take Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism is a long-awaited move that “opens the door” to the re-establishment of relations with Cuba, said Peter Schechter, the Atlantic Council’s lead Latin […]

Cuba

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