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.

With World Focused on Ukraine, Russia Makes Moves on Georgia

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

New Atlanticist

Jun 12, 2015

With World Focused on Ukraine, Russia Makes Moves on Georgia

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Georgian official draws parallels between Putin’s treaties with breakaway provinces and annexation of Crimea While the world focuses its attention on the Ukraine crisis, Russia has been quietly grabbing territory from another neighbor—Georgia. The Kremlin’s aggression against Ukraine is just the latest provocation by Russia in its neighborhood, Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Tamar Beruchashvili, reminded an […]

Moldova The Caucasus

New Atlanticist

Jun 12, 2015

Polish Leaders Urge Solidarity for Ukraine

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Officials stress they don’t seek confrontation with Russia Top Polish officials June 12 exhorted the transatlantic community to show solidarity with countries bearing the brunt of Russia’s aggression, but stressed that they do not seek a confrontation with Moscow. “The European response to the situation in the east can be driven as much by our […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jun 11, 2015

IMF: Ghani has Shown Afghanistan is ‘Open for Business’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Fund official says administration in Kabul still has to overcome some ‘bottlenecks’ Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has shown the world that his administration is “open for business,” but Afghanistan still faces “a lot of bottlenecks” that need to be addressed, the International Monetary Fund’s top official in Kabul said June 11. Paul Ross, IMF Mission […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Jun 10, 2015

At Last, Some Good News for Mexico’s Peña Nieto

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Strengthening of ruling coalition in midterm elections will boost President’s reform agenda, says Atlantic Council’s Schechter Mexico’s June 7 mid-term elections, which unexpectedly strengthened the ruling coalition’s majority in the lower house of Congress, will boost President Enrique Peña Nieto’s efforts to reform the Mexican economy, predicts the Atlantic Council’s Peter Schechter. “The election result […]

Mexico

New Atlanticist

Jun 9, 2015

United States Cannot Lead from Behind in the Arctic

By John-Daniel Kelley

Even as the United States celebrates the beginning of its chairmanship of the Arctic Council, it hesitates to take leadership in the Arctic region. This reluctance highlights a dichotomy between US strategic interests in the Arctic and that of every other Arctic power which, if not addressed, increases the likelihood of regional instability.

Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Jun 9, 2015

Putin Has No Desire for Peace, Says Ukraine’s Prime Minister

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Russian President Vladimir Putin has no desire to end the war in eastern Ukraine, said Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a June 9 meeting at the Atlantic Council. “My take is that Russia is not eager… to have peace and stability, neither in Ukraine nor in Europe,” said Yatsenyuk, citing as evidence a renewed […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Jun 8, 2015

A Win for Democracy in Turkey

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Election should boost Turkey’s regional prestige, says Atlantic Council’s Ricciardone Turkish elections that eroded the ruling Justice and Development Party’s parliamentary majority for the first time in thirteen years and put the country on the path to coalition politics represent a big win for Turkey’s democracy, says the Atlantic Council’s Francis J. Ricciardone. “This is […]

Syria Turkey

New Atlanticist

Jun 8, 2015

A ‘Readjustment’ in Turkey

By Sabine Freizer

“Turkey every couple of decades veers towards an extreme, and then there is a readjustment,” veteran Turkey watcher and International Crisis Group spokesman Hugh Pope told me for years. That readjustment came June 7, with Turkey’s parliamentary elections. After years of amassing more powers, the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its majority—and President […]

Turkey

New Atlanticist

Jun 8, 2015

Erdoğan Loses His Midas Touch

By Ross Wilson

The wheel of politics goes round and round. Turkish voters demonstrated this in the thumping they gave in parliamentary elections June 7 to the Justice and Development Party (AKP) that had governed the country for over a decade. The AKP did win a 41 percent plurality and will take about 255 seats in the Turkish […]

Turkey

New Atlanticist

Jun 5, 2015

A ‘Disaster’ if China was Behind OPM Cyber Attack

By Ashish Kumar Sen

If the Chinese government is in fact behind the cyber attack on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) it would be a “disaster” in terms of counterespionage, says the Atlantic Council’s Jason Healey.“The kind of information that OPM has is a goldmine for intelligence agencies,” Healey, a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Cyber […]

China Cybersecurity

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