New Atlanticist

Is the United States Really Indispensable?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Analysts debate US role in the face of global challenges President Bill Clinton, speaking in 1996 on the US-backed NATO military intervention in Bosnia, described the United States as an “indispensable nation.” Scholars debated that premise April 30 at the Global Strategy Forum hosted by the Atlantic Council’s Strategy Initiative in Washington. Xenia Wickett, Dean […]

Would You Care More About Climate Change if You Knew it Would Change Your Life?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Panel discusses ‘power of narrative’ in getting message across on important issues and preparing for future challenges Do you care much about climate change? How about the fate of polar bears gingerly making their way across thinning Arctic ice? Most people would probably care a lot more if they heard how dramatic temperature spikes and […]

Enhancing Foresight: Experts See a Future of Robot Swarms, DNA-Modified People

By Larry Luxner

Tiny robots that can predict the exact fruit yield of apple trees while helping farmers cut water usage. Drone swarms which respond to 911 emergency calls without risking human lives. Genetically modified humans free of dozens of diseases that once killed millions. Science fiction? Maybe, but not for long, say two scholars who spoke April […]

Is Assad Losing Control?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Atlantic Council report suggests more US support for ‘nationalist opposition’ in Syria Iran has fueled the war in Syria by providing a steady stream of assistance to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but his regime is gradually losing control, says Robert S. Ford, a former US Ambassador to Syria. “I think we would have been able […]

Another Voice Silenced in Pakistan

By Huma Haque

It was Friday afternoon and as I was getting ready for the weekend, news broke that Sabeen Mahmud, director of The Second Floor (T2F), had been shot dead in Karachi. Even after reading it a few times, it just did not sink in. I stared blankly. The death of Pakistan’s leading human-rights activist is a […]

Dying to Get to Europe

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Libya’s ‘slave trade’—exodus of migrants from Africa—is a European crisis, says Atlantic Council’s Mezran A European commitment to save lives is “backfiring” as human traffickers continue to pack boats full of migrants fleeing desperate situations in Africa and the Middle East, says Atlantic Council analyst Karim Mezran. Traffickers have exploited instability in Libya to funnel […]

Kerry Goes to Bat for Free Trade

In Atlantic Council address, Secretary of State says case for TPP, TTIP ‘overwhelming’ US Secretary of State John F. Kerry delivered a strong pitch for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) April 23, saying the economic case for both deals is “overwhelming.” A day earlier, the Senate Finance Committee […]

A ‘Window of Opportunity’ for TPP, TTIP

By Ashish Kumar Sen

White House official makes pitch for free-trade deals as Senate panel backs Trade Promotion Authority Two free-trade agreements currently being negotiated by the Obama administration will ensure a level playing field and benefit American workers, a senior White House official said April 23 at the Atlantic Council. “If we do not do this … the […]

Defining US Strategy for a World in Transition

By Larry Luxner

With war tearing apart eastern Ukraine, ethnic strife claiming lives from Libya to Yemen, and record numbers of African refugees drowning in the Mediterranean, it’s easy to conclude that the once-familiar world order is falling apart. Whether or not that’s true, few scholars would dispute that the United States is no longer in charge as […]

Gazprom, Just Follow the Law

By Richard L. Morningstar

European energy security has received a great deal of attention on both sides of the Atlantic since Russia suspended gas shipments through Ukraine in the winter of 2009. In response to Ukraine’s experience, the European Union has taken steps to develop interconnectors and new liquefied natural gas facilities that would allow gas to flow to […]