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 Pentagon’s Most Perplexing Challenge: People

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.

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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

May 15, 2013

The Pentagon’s Most Perplexing Challenge: People

By Harlan Ullman

Here at a conference on Professional Military Education, attention is being focused on one small sliver of the largest challenge facing militaries in general and Western forces in particular: People.

New Atlanticist

May 15, 2013

Stand with Our Allies on Syria

By Ross Wilson

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan comes to Washington at a time of domestic crisis over car bombings at Reyhanlı on the Syrian border that killed over 50 and resulted in hundreds of wounded, many seriously. The Turkish public, which has never supported Ankara’s tough line on President Bashar al-Assad, is alarmed. Syria was already […]

Syria Turkey

New Atlanticist

May 14, 2013

Forging a Trilateral Bond: Solving the Transatlantic Problem by Expanding It

By James Joyner

“If the United States and Europe are to remain competitive—economically, politically, and strategically—in this increasingly multipolar world, they must reach out to partners who share their values and can contribute to a stronger transatlantic economy. That partner is Latin America.”

Economy & Business Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

May 14, 2013

Hollande’s Survival Mode Endangers Survival

By Nicholas Dungan

From his 75 percent income tax to his 25 percent approval ratings, François Hollande, the French president who took office one year ago, has already been judged the hapless Louis XVI on the eve of the French Revolution or the feckless René Coty who presided over the demise of the Fourth Republic. But what has […]

European Union France

New Atlanticist

May 13, 2013

The Growing Franco-German Schism

By Frederick Kempe

Occasionally a public opinion survey surfaces that signals a seismic event. That is the case with a new report from the Pew Research Center that measures the widening tremors of a political earthquake now shaking Europe. Although the report leads with evidence that Europeans are increasingly losing faith in the European Union (which I wrote […]

Economy & Business European Union

New Atlanticist

May 13, 2013

Park-Obama Summit Bolsters US-ROK Alliance, Impacts Northeast Asia

By Robert Manning

Successful summits tend to be more about symbolism than substance. South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s summit with US President Barack Obama certainly had its share of symbolism: the first foreign trip of the ROK’s new first woman President, 60th anniversary of the US-ROK alliance, and US-ROK messages to North Korea, to Japan and China. But Ms. […]

East Asia Korea

New Atlanticist

May 13, 2013

JFK’s Wisdom for Graduates

By R. Nicholas Burns

In a season of commencement speeches, those trying to impart a measure of wisdom to college grads would do well to consult President John F. Kennedy’s American University speech, given 50 years ago next month.

New Atlanticist

May 10, 2013

Europe’s Defense Double Dutch

By Julian Lindley-French

On this anniversary of the 1940 Nazi invasion of the Low Countries it is perhaps appropriate to consider the state of Europe’s defense. Two events highlighted the essential contradiction between resources and commitments that bedevils European defense. On 29 April the French published their first defense review in over twenty years. Full of Parisian sophistry it failed […]

Maritime Security Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

May 10, 2013

Defense: And What Will Europe Do?

By Sven Biscop

The debate about European defense tends to focus on the need to spend more and deploy more. One deceptively simple question is usually ignored: why? Americans seem to assume that more European capabilities will be deployed where it is convenient for the United States. Europeans just seek to avoid the difficult debate that it would […]

Europe & Eurasia European Union

New Atlanticist

May 9, 2013

The Treacherous Road to Pakistan’s Historic Elections

By Shuja Nawaz

Pakistan’s upcoming elections on May 11 provoke both fear and hope.

Elections Pakistan

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