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 Military and the Shutdown: Assessing the Damage

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

New Atlanticist

Oct 23, 2013

The Military and the Shutdown: Assessing the Damage

By James Joyner

With the government back in business, it’s worth reflecting on the toll the sixteen-day shutdown inflicted on the nation’s defense. While most of the media attention went to relative trivialities like service-academy sports and the closure of war memorials, we wasted enormous resources that could otherwise have gone toward the nation’s security.

New Atlanticist

Oct 22, 2013

Hispanics Must Embrace Entrepreneurship and Innovation to Improve Education

By Gabriel Sanchez Zinny

By now, we all know the numbers. When it comes to education, Hispanics in the US are in trouble. There is a clear and persistent achievement gap between the educational performance of white and Latino students — white graduation rates outpace that of Latinos by nearly 12 percent. Nearly 15 percent of all Latinos drop out before completing […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 22, 2013

Moving Out of Af-Pak

By Sherry Rehman

Tomorrow Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, will meet President Barack Obama in Washington, to signal Islamabad’s renewed interest in a broad-based relationship with the US. This will be the first opportunity for both leaders to size up each other’s resolve, identify new areas of cooperation, re-assess perennial issues, and calibrate upcoming challenges. Given that the bandwidth for […]

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 22, 2013

Advice on Doing Business with Pakistan

By Shuja Nawaz

Dear Mr. President, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is meeting with you on Wednesday with high expectations. He is a pragmatic business-oriented politician with a powerful electoral base who has shown magnanimity and deftness in allowing opposition parties to form governments in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces, and he backed the election of a nationalist Baloch as the chief minister in Baluchistan. […]

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 21, 2013

Nawaz Sharif Comes to Washington

By Shuja Nawaz

When Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lands in Washington this weekend, he would not be blamed if he is wracked by mixed feelings. His last visit to the US capital, in July 1999, occurred in the wake of the Kargil adventure with India that he allowed to get out of hand, and which led to a […]

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 21, 2013

Pentagon Meltdown

By Harlan Ullman

At various times in our history, alarms of a pending defense “train wreck” or “hollow force” reverberated throughout Washington. Today, the Pentagon is indeed vulnerable to a meltdown, in many ways far more severe than conventional wisdom holds. But, if we are clever, and that is a Herculean if, we can still field the forces […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 17, 2013

Euro-Realism: Now For the Long Term?

By Julian Lindley-French

In 1910 Brigadier-General Henry Wilson gave a lecture arguing that a European war was inevitable and Britain’s only option was to ally with France. One of the attending officers responded by suggesting that only “inconceivable stupidity on the part of statesmen” could trigger such a disaster. Wilson responded with derision, saying that “inconceivable stupidity is […]

Europe & Eurasia European Union

New Atlanticist

Oct 16, 2013

Iran Nuclear Talks in Geneva Get Down to Details

By Barbara Slavin

From the European venue to the power point presentation in English, this week’s nuclear negotiations with Iran showed a new seriousness that bodes well for a future agreement, even if it does not guarantee one. Iranian officials from US-educated Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on down spoke in English, dispensing with time-consuming translations, and outlined […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Oct 16, 2013

What Next for Syria – Breakdown, Breakthrough, or Botched Opportunity?

By Harlan Ullman

The Obama administration is on the verge of botching an unprecedented opportunity. Prior to the remarkable joint US-Russian initiative that established a process to dispose of Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, the outlook for the region was grim. The only certainty was continuing violence that will kill tens of thousands and displace many more hundreds of […]

Iran Russia

New Atlanticist

Oct 11, 2013

No Hollywood Ending to Piracy off Somalia

By J. Peter Pham

The Tom Hanks movie “Captain Phillips,” which opens Friday, will focus attention — again — on piracy off the coast of Somalia. The movie, in which (spoiler alert) the bad guys get caught, unfortunately might lead you to think that this is a problem that’s been solved. After all, since the April 2009 seizure of the cargo […]

East Africa

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