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.

Iran Nuclear Deal Opens Doors for Students

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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Dive deep into developing stories, guided by continually updated expert analysis that leaves you better informed about the most pressing global issues behind the headlines.

Markup

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

New Atlanticist

Jan 23, 2014

Iran Nuclear Deal Opens Doors for Students

By Barbara Slavin

Among the beneficiaries of the interim nuclear agreement with Iran that went into effect this week are Iranian students abroad and the Western educational institutions that are already seeing rising interest from Iran. A senior Barack Obama administration official on Monday told reporters “we’ve committed that up to $400 million of Iran’s own money can […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jan 23, 2014

Some Good News from the Syria Talks

By New Atlanticist

Syria’s opposition movement made a credible start toward establishing itself as a serious interlocutor, one of two positive developments from the opening of UN-sponsored peace talks on the Syrian civil war that are noted by Senior Fellow Frederic C. Hof. The other good news, writes Hof, is that Secretary of State John Kerry made clear […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jan 23, 2014

Getting to Yes on Transatlantic Financial Regulation

By Chris Brummer

As 2014 gets underway, signs of a fraying regulatory relationship between the European Union and the United States seem to be everywhere. The US Federal Reserve’s tough new regulations on foreign banks have spurred the European Commission to threaten retaliation. Progress toward reconciling US and EU rules on derivatives – one of the main causes of the […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 23, 2014

Pham Discusses South Sudan on VOA

By J. Peter Pham

Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham joins VOA’s “On the Line” program to discuss the political rivalry between South Sudanese President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar, the origins of the current fighting in the country, and the implications of the violence for South Sudan, the region, and the world.

East Africa

New Atlanticist

Jan 22, 2014

Ukraine: A Dire Scenario

By Adrian Karatnycky

“Ukraine’s fate will be decided in the coming weeks. If a dictatorship triumphs in Kyiv, it will markedly set back Europe’s hopes of a significantly enlarged European democratic space.” Every Sunday for the past eight weeks, several hundred thousand Ukrainians have gathered in Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) to protest government policies. Initially, in late […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Jan 21, 2014

Syria Talks Could Clarify an Alternative to Assad

By New Atlanticist

The “Geneva II” peace talks on Syria that begin this week under UN auspices have “absolutely zero” chance of achieving their formal goal – the creation of a transition to a new government – according to Atlantic Council Senior Fellow Frederic C. Hof. But, Hof told reporters in a briefing at the Council, the talks […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jan 21, 2014

Assad Goes into Geneva with the Upper Hand

By Rajan Menon

It would certainly be wonderful if Wednesday’s peace conference in Geneva were to result in some kind of blueprint, however fragile, for winding down a Syrian civil war that is now approaching the three-year mark. The carnage has consumed some 130,000 lives — at least half of them civilians — turned 2.4 million Syrians into […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jan 20, 2014

Ukrainian Voices: A Dangerous Game Change

By Jim Rupert

The political conflict in Ukraine has deepened since January 16, when the government of President Viktor Yanukovych pushed new laws through parliament to outlaw the public protests that have challenged Yanukovych’s rule since November. The laws also criminalize “extremist” criticism of the government and tighten rules on independent organizations of the country’s vibrant civil society.

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Jan 20, 2014

Swapping Sovereignty

By Bilal Y. Saab

Iran and UAE Make a Deal? On January 15, Defense News, an online and print military newspaper, reported that Iran and the United Arab Emirates had reached an agreement on the disputed islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tunbs. The report quoted an unnamed high-level UAE source, who said that although a deal on Abu […]

Iran
The Gulf

New Atlanticist

Jan 17, 2014

Egypt’s Constitutional Vote: Not a Free Pass for Army Rule

By New Atlanticist

Last week’s constitutional referendum in Egypt yielded a lop-sided result that recalls the non-democratic elections of the decades before the Arab Spring of 2011. Election officials say 98 percent of voters approved the constitution proposed by the military-backed government. Egyptian lawyer Hafsa Halawa cautions against a conventional wisdom that sees this result as a success […]

North Africa
Political Reform

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