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.

Law of the Sea Tribunal Ruling Muddies the Waters Not Just for Ghana

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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New Atlanticist

Dec 18, 2012

Law of the Sea Tribunal Ruling Muddies the Waters Not Just for Ghana

By Peter Pham

Two months ago, Ghana struck a blow for both the rule of law and fiscal probity when it detained the storied flagship of the Argentine navy as part of court-ordered relief for the Latin American country’s jilted creditors. Over the weekend a somnolent United Nations tribunal has waded into the controversy with a decision that not […]

Maritime Security Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 18, 2012

Turkey and the EU: Too Late?

Though his country has been aspiring to join the European Union since the 1960s, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warns “the EU will lose Turkey” if action in accession does not happen by the 2023 centennial of the Turkish Republic.

Economy & Business European Union

New Atlanticist

Dec 17, 2012

China’s Bad Diplomacy

By James Clad and Robert Manning

A joke now making the rounds in Asia asks, “who is America’s most effective diplomat in Asia?” The punch line brings knowing laughter: “‘Mr. Beijing.’ Yes, Mr. Bob Beijing is playing America’s best hand.”

China Maritime Security

New Atlanticist

Dec 17, 2012

Pacific NATO?

By Julian Lindley-French

The Atlantic Alliance is about to enter a tumultuous period of change both in Europe and the wider world. How we all conceive of our place in that world will be critical to the Alliance.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Dec 13, 2012

The Fog of Political War

By Harlan Ullman

This isn’t an original theme. The reference was suggested to me two years ago by the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Salman Taseer, three months before he was killed by one of his bodyguards in Islamabad.

Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Dec 12, 2012

Predictions are Hard, Especially About the Future

By James Joyner

We can’t predict next week with accuracy, much less 2030. But there’s still value in thinking about the future. Joshua Foust, a fellow at the American Security Project and member of the Atlantic Council’s Young Atlanticist Working Group, points out in “The World in 2030 Won’t Look Anything Like You Think” that the National Intelligence […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 12, 2012

Mega-trends, Mega-change, Mega-failure

By Julian Lindley-French

Two reports this week past demonstrate both the sheer enormity and pace of change in this world and the utter inability of democratically-elected Western European politicians to deal with it. This week the US National Intelligence Council (NIC) published Global Trends 2030, which neatly captured mega-change. Yesterday a report was published in Britain on the 2011 […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Dec 12, 2012

America’s Second Chance at Global Leadership

By Frederick Kempe

Read between the lines of the U.S. intelligence community’s quadrennial global trends report, a document released this week that has significant influence on White House thinking, and the message to President Obama is clear.

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Dec 11, 2012

Scowcroft: Inflection Point Much Different Than End of Cold War

By James Joyner

Brent Scowcroft believes the world is “at an inflection point but a much different one than end of Cold War.” Scowcroft, the former National Security Advisor to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush and current chairman of the Atlantic Council International Advisory Board, was the featured luncheon speaker at the Global Trends 2030: US Leadership […]

New Atlanticist

Dec 11, 2012

Israel’s Apartheid Policy

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

A majority of Israelis recoil in horror at the very thought of emulating the regime of apartheid, a system of institutionalized racial segregation once practiced in South Africa, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Yet that is what Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu considers less threatening than full-fledged Palestinian independence.

Middle East Security & Defense

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