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.

NATO and the New Conventional Deterrence

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

Apr 14, 2014

NATO and the New Conventional Deterrence

By Henrik Breitenbauch

Russia’s assaults on Ukraine this spring are about to revive an old idea within NATO that has not been in vogue since the Cold War: conventional deterrence . Russia’s ready use of military force in Ukraine, Georgia and beyond puts its non-NATO neighbors very much at risk of military intervention. President Putin’s fracturing of the region’s […]

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2014

In the War for Ukraine, Russian Gunmen Seem Organized, But No-One Else

By Irena Chalupa

Amid the fighting that has spread across towns in southeastern Ukraine, local Russian- and Ukrainian-language websites and news organizations depict a battle in which squads of Russian gunmen are moving and fighting in tight, militarized formations to seize more government buildings and police headquarters. They are fearsomely aggressive, heavily armed, and well organized. The government […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2014

US Ex-Ambassador to Ukraine Urges US Military, Intelligence Help for Kyiv

By James Rupert

A former US ambassador to Ukraine, John Herbst, is urging the Obama administration to begin providing direct military help to the government in Kyiv, saying new violence by Russian-backed gunmen in eastern Ukraine appears to reflect a Russian government escalation of the crisis. “The United States should provide Ukraine with anti-air and anti-tank equipment, along […]

Eastern Europe NATO

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2014

How Washington’s Polarization Endangers Nuclear Arms Control

By Jofi Joseph

The Global Treaty Banning Nuclear Test Explosions is Increasingly at Risk Five years ago this month, President Obama won international applause for his landmark speech in Prague calling for a world free of nuclear weapons – a commitment intended as a central organizing principle of his national security framework. But progress on that “Prague Agenda” […]

Nuclear Nonproliferation Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2014

Europe Awaits the Great Gas Cutoff

By New Atlanticist

Escalating Ukraine Crisis Is Unlikely to Let Russian Gas Flow Smoothly to Europe “European countries from Germany and Poland to Italy and Turkey now need to ensure they have emergency plans in place to deal with a possible cut-off of Russian gas supplies,” Atlantic Council Senior Fellow John Roberts writes in an essay. As new violence […]

Central Europe Eastern Europe

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2014

Playing to Putin’s End Game

By R. Nicholas Burns

It is best to watch what Putin does, not listen to what he says This week’s ethnic Russian demonstrations in Eastern Ukraine, fistfights in the Ukrainian parliament, and the image of a country unraveling are all too predictable. They are right out of Putin’s Crimea playbook from a month ago. And just as in Crimea, […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2014

Military Analysis: How Much of Ukraine is Putin Thinking to Invade?

By Irena Chalupa

Less than a month after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a further Russian incursion into eastern Ukraine remains a distinct possibility. President Vladimir Putin may be emboldened by the weakness of the central government in Kyiv and a failure so far of Western sanctions to enforce painful to consequences on Russia. Putin has had an invasion […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2014

US and Europe Can Ramp Up Their Pressures on Russia

By Irena Chalupa

Both Europe and the United States are designing broader sets of economic sanctions against Russia over its assaults on Ukraine says the Atlantic Council’s Fran Burwell. Like the Obama administration, the European Union is considering a further phase of sanctions that will likely include restrictions on Russian banks doing business in Europe, and on European […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2014

Senate Testimony: Transatlantic Security Challenges in Central & Eastern Europe

Council Senior Fellow Ian Brzezinski will testify before a panel of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recommending policies dealing with the crisis in Ukraine. The hearing starts at 3:00 p.m. The lineup of panelists is below. We will make the video and Ian Brzezinski’s testimony as prepared for delivery available on this page as soon […]

Russia Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2014

Mideast Diplomacy Looks Bleak but Alternatives are Worse

By Barbara Slavin

The Obama administration has certainly had better weeks in Middle East diplomacy. The Israeli-Palestinian talks appear to be collapsing in a fit of finger-pointing, and Syria increasingly resembles a slow-motion Rwanda. Only Iran negotiations continue to progress, albeit with obstacles looming as the parties approach a mid-summer deadline for a long-term nuclear agreement.

Israel Middle East

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