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.

Middle East in Search of a New Equilibrium

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

Jan 10, 2014

Middle East in Search of a New Equilibrium

By Barbara Slavin

Many U.S. veterans of the Iraq war are feeling understandable anguish about recent al-Qaida gains in Ramadi and Fallujah. More American servicemen and women died in Anbar province, where Ramadi and Fallujah are located, than in any other region of Iraq during the U.S. military intervention. Now the sheikhs of Anbar are fighting al-Qaida in an uneasy […]

Middle East

New Atlanticist

Jan 8, 2014

North Korea: Expect the Unexpected

By Robert A. Manning

Where is North Korea headed? When we last heard from the Boy General, Kim Jong-un, he was rationalizing the sudden and brutal execution of Pyongyang’s No.2, Jang Sang Thaek, followed by threats to “strike mercilessly without notice” in response to anti-Kim protests in Seoul.

Korea National Security

New Atlanticist

Jan 7, 2014

Still Time to Attack Iran

By Matthew Kroenig

The Illusion of a Comprehensive Nuclear Deal Much has changed in the two years since I wrote “Time to Attack Iran,” but one basic fact hasn’t: diplomacy remains unlikely to neutralize the threat from Iran’s nuclear program. A truly comprehensive diplomatic settlement between Iran and the West is still the best possible outcome, but there […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jan 6, 2014

Technology Policy in an Age of Unknowledge

By Peter Haynes

Technology evolves so quickly that government regulations are outdated from the day they are written. Policymakers should consider the thirty-year-old insights of an obscure British economist for a map to the new approach we need to regulating technologies. We are moving rapidly into the age of the “Internet of Everything” (IoE), in which tens of billions […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 6, 2014

Saving South Sudan

By J. Peter Pham

The new year opens with the very real possibility that the world’s youngest country, South Sudan, may fail at statehood without ever having acquired more than its pro forma trappings: a flag, an anthem, and a seat at the United Nations. The government and rebel forces continued to fight over the weekend and failed to […]

Africa East Africa

New Atlanticist

Dec 31, 2013

Pluralism Key to Real Change in Arab World

By Barbara Slavin

Three years after the start of political upheaval across the region, transitional governments are struggling to maintain popular support amid rising sectarianism, poverty and violent extremism. Of six Arab countries that have experienced revolts since late 2010, only tiny Tunisia and Yemen appear to be making fitful progress toward political pluralism. Libya is plagued by tribal and religious […]

Middle East

New Atlanticist

Dec 24, 2013

More Complexities in Implementing the Nuclear Deal With Iran

By Jofi Joseph

Jofi Joseph worked on US policy toward Iran’s nuclear program at the White House. This is the second of his two reports on complications in implementing the November 24 agreement with Iran to limit its nuclear program. Read his previous report here. As Iran and six major powers prepare to implement their November 24 deal to limit Iran’s nuclear […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Dec 23, 2013

Ukraine’s Crisis Settles into Deadlock – for Now

By Adrian Karatnycky

Ukraine’s political crisis approaches the New Year holiday (and the Christian Orthodox Christmas on January 7) in an emerging deadlock. At least for now. President Viktor Yanukovych, reinvigorated by his December 17 cash infusion from Russia, shows signs of having decided to tough it out and play for the long haul. Russia’s offer of $15 billion in loans, […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Dec 23, 2013

South Sudan on the Edge

By J. Peter Pham

Not even thirty months after it achieved independence, South Sudan teeters on the edge of a profound abyss. What started a barely week ago as an “attempted coup”—at least according to President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s version of events—quickly transformed into an orgy of ethnic violence which, in turn, precipitated a renewed call to arms by […]

Africa East Africa

New Atlanticist

Dec 20, 2013

A Corruption Investigation Arrests Turkey’s Political Calm

By Ross Wilson

The sweeping anti-corruption arrests carried out this week by Turkish law enforcement authorities and the government’s stern response in sacking a wide range of police commanders mark the biggest political crisis in Turkey since 2007 and signal a further intensification of conflict and turmoil as the country looks at a series of elections in 2014-15. […]

Turkey

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