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.

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

Aug 25, 2014

Ukraine News Roundup | August 25

By Irena Chalupa

Russia’s Great Power Ukraine Strategy via National Interest Baltic Fears: NATO Debates Directing Missile Shield Against Russia via der Spiegel The Making of Vladimir Putin via Politico Russia’s Mock Democracy Feeds Off Apathy via Moscow Times Communism’s Victims Deserve a Museum via Daily Beast Tony Blair Gives Kazakhstan’s Autocratic President Tips on How to Defend a Massacre via Telegraph Battle for Ukraine: An Inside View of the Surreal Donetsk […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Aug 25, 2014

Life in Luhansk’s War Zone: Old People Search for Water, Cellphone Signal

By Irena Chalupa

Residents Recount Their Struggle to Survive Daily Shells and Gunfire Building by building, daily artillery explosions are blasting and burning Ukraine’s southeastern-most provincial capital, Luhansk, into a ruin whose remaining residents are those too poor or aged to escape. Roughly half of the city’s pre-war population of about 450,000 has fled—to other locales in Ukraine […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Aug 25, 2014

Ukrainian Anti-Corruption Crusader Quits Government

By Irena Chalupa

‘No Political Will’ for a ‘Large-Scale War’ Against Graft, Tetiana Chornovol Says Ukraine’s most prominent anti-corruption campaigner, Tetiana Chornovol, has quit her post as head of the government’s National Anti-Corruption Committee, writing on the prominent Ukrainian news website, Ukrainska Pravda, that the government is unprepared for “an uncompromising, large-scale war against corruption.”

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Aug 23, 2014

‘Zero Problems’ with President Erdoğan: FM Davutoğlu is the new handpicked PM of Turkey

By Pınar Dost-Niyego and Orhan Taner

Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has designated Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to be its new leader and the country’s 26th prime minister when current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is inaugurated as president next week. Davutoğlu will become the third prime minister to hail from the ranks of the AKP since it first […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2014

At NATO summit, the Alliance should re-affirm role of its nuclear arms

By New Atlanticist

As NATO leaders prepare for their annual summit conference in two weeks, they should be ready to re-affirm the importance to the Alliance of nuclear weapons, including US nuclear warheads deployed in Europe, several Atlantic Council analysts say in two new essays. Three Atlantic Council board directors who served as top presidential advisers on security […]

NATO Nuclear Nonproliferation

New Atlanticist

Aug 20, 2014

ISIS Execution: A Brutal “Message to America”

By New Atlanticist

The Islamist militant group ISIS executed US journalist James Foley as a political message aimed at changing US policy, with its recent air attacks on the group’s forces, says Atlantic Council resident fellow Faysal Itani. It also is meant to portray ISIS as a newly powerful player in the Middle East and thus to win […]

Iraq Syria

New Atlanticist

Aug 19, 2014

In Nagorno-Karabakh, an Old Caucasus War Flares Anew

By Sabine Freizer

Deadliest Fighting in 20 Years is Encouraged by Crisis in Ukraine The often-forgotten conflict between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh has flared this summer into the worst violence since a 1994 truce, killing at least eighteen soldiers in recent weeks. The surge in fighting not only shows that renewed, all-out warfare is a danger; […]

Russia The Caucasus

New Atlanticist

Aug 15, 2014

A Smart US Investment for Georgia’s Future

By Nino Ghvinadze and Laura Linderman

Despite Georgia’s readiness to become a candidate for NATO, the Alliance announced in late June that Georgia will not be offered a Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the Wales Summit this September. This is disappointing news for Georgia, which has undertaken years of political and military reforms and has long awaited to be welcomed into the […]

NATO NATO Partnerships

New Atlanticist

Aug 14, 2014

Ukraine News Roundup | August 15

By Irena Chalupa

‘Siberian Federalization´ Idea Spreads to Kaliningrad and Kuban via The Interpreter Ukraine Is Winning the War via Politico NATO Nears Agreement on Beefing Up Presence in Eastern Europe: Poland via Reuters Russia’s Soul: What Crimea Says About Putin’s Future via der Spiegel Circles of Power: Putin’s Secret Friendship with Ex-Stasi Officer via Guardian A Game of Russian Roulette? The West’s Dangerous Sanctions Play Against Russia via National […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Aug 12, 2014

To confront ISIS, get arms and emergency help to Iraq’s Kurds

By Bina Hussein and David Koranyi

US Has Declined to Arm Kurdish Forces, But That Now Must Change Iraq’s national army effectively has collapsed before the advance of the brutal guerrillas of the Islamic State, leaving only one effective fighting force – the Kurdish peshmerga – to confront them. As the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has seized much […]

Iraq

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