New Atlanticist

Brent Scowcroft: An Enlightened Realist

By Fred Kempe and Jeffrey Lightfoot

The battleground was a familiar one to General Brent Scowcroft: the White House Cabinet Room where President George H.W. Bush had convened his National Security Council to reach urgent decisions amid an unfolding crisis. It was eight in the morning of August 2, 1990, only thirteen hours after Saddam Hussein had sent his Iraqi army […]

Happy Birthday, General Scowcroft

“Brent has a great propensity for friendship,” former President George H.W. Bush said of his friend and National Security Advisor, Brent Scowcroft. On his 90th birthday, some of those friends join the Atlantic Council in wishing General Scowcroft a very happy birthday. Fred Kempe, President and CEO of Atlantic Council Dear Brent, How does one […]

Future Tense: A Creative Look at How the Next Great War Begins

By Larry Luxner

In one scenario, an intelligence officer named Army Maj. Morgan Maltz is arrested on suspicion of espionage and possible treason. The top-secret computer files he sold to Beijing have allowed China to destroy a crucial Pentagon undersea communications cable, putting the entire Asia-Pacific region on its highest alert since World War II. In another, a […]

Museum Attack Puts Spotlight on Tunisia’s Security Challenges

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Terrorist rampage in Tunis may force government to shift focus, says Atlantic Council’s Mezran Tunisia’s new government may be forced to clamp down on security following the March 18 terrorist attack on a prominent museum in the heart of Tunis. This could jeopardize the country’s nascent political process, says Atlantic Council analyst Karim Mezran. “If […]

Netanyahu, Obama Will Have to Learn to Live With Each Other

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Prime Minister’s election victory could cost Israel US diplomatic cover at United Nations, says Tamary of Israel’s Channel 10 News The Obama administration may refuse to protect Israel at the United Nations Security Council if Benjamin Netanyahu forms a narrow right-wing coalition government. But the White House would find it much harder to do so […]

Why Has the West Forgotten About Crimea?

By Alina Polyakova

One year after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in a brazen act that violated international treaties and rewrote Europe’s borders for the first time since World War II, Western governments and the media have largely forgotten the peninsula’s plight. In Russia, however, that land grab is far from forgotten. Crimea annexation day will be celebrated […]

Israel Votes: Netanyahu’s Fate Hangs in the Balance

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Prime Minister’s Re-Election Would Further Strain US Ties, Says Israeli Analyst Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future hangs in the balance as millions of Israelis vote March 17 in an election that most polls suggest is too close to call. In a clear attempt to rally his right-wing base, Netanyahu announced on the eve […]

Strange Bedfellows: Saudi Arabia, Israel Oppose Iran Nuclear Deal for Different Reasons

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Saudis worry about regional power, Israelis about an ‘existential threat,’ say analysts Saudi Arabia and Israel find themselves in the same camp as opponents of a nuclear deal with Iran, but the Sunni kingdom and Jewish state have very different reasons for their opposition. Israelis are concerned mainly with a nuclear-armed Iran, while the Saudis […]

US Foreign Policy Falls Victim to Partisan Gridlock Ahead of 2016 Elections

By Larry Luxner

Atlantic Council launches strategy initiative to boost Washington’s global influence With the 2016 presidential elections a little over a year and a half away, analysts agree that the partisan bitterness consuming Washington is hurting US leadership on the world stage. That bitterness reached a new low in March when a group of 47 Republican senators […]

‘Global Solution’ Needed to Fight Climate Change, Says Kerry

By Ashish Kumar Sen

‘There is no Planet B’: In Atlantic Council address, Secretary turns up heat on global warming deniers Climate change is “one of the biggest threats” facing the Earth today, and anything less than a “global solution” to fight it will not work, US Secretary of State John F. Kerry said March 12. In an impassioned […]