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 and the US: Deadly Embrace or Suicide Pact?

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

Apr 3, 2013

Iran and the US: Deadly Embrace or Suicide Pact?

By Harlan Ullman

During the Cold War, the thermonuclear standoff between the United States and Soviet Union was often described as two scorpions in a bottle. The notion was that both scorpions would sting the other to death no matter which struck first. Of course, the prospect of the scorpions being of the opposite sex with options other […]

Iran
National Security

New Atlanticist

Apr 2, 2013

Do Russia and America Have a Future Together?

By Joshua Foust

Since the end of the Cold War, Russia has been something of a mystery to the West. Two competing instincts, incorporating Russia into international institutions and “finishing the job” of marginalizing Moscow, have never coexisted peacefully. As a result, Western relations with Moscow have steadily declined over the last fifteen years. Leaders in the West […]

Energy & Environment
Energy Markets & Governance

New Atlanticist

Apr 2, 2013

Why Less Is More on the Korean Peninsula

By Rajan Menon

On February 12, North Korea conducted its third nuclear weapons test. The UN tightened existing economic sanctions in response. Since then, the Korean peninsula has become an even more dangerous place than usual. Now that’s saying a lot. There’s no place on earth that, per square mile, contains more soldiers and armaments.

East Asia
National Security

New Atlanticist

Apr 2, 2013

Drone Policy Hurts US Image in Yemen

By Danya Greenfield and David Kramer

Most news out of the Middle East these days is dispiriting: the devastating civil war in Syria, the autocratic nature of Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt, continued militia activity in Libya, a coalition collapse in Tunisia. Less discussed, and surprisingly positive, is the political situation in Yemen.

Drones
Technology & Innovation

New Atlanticist

Apr 1, 2013

Methane Hydrates: A Second Gas Revolution?

By Robert Manning

Speculation is rampant that a new gas cornucopia is coming. After a successful Japanese experiment to extract natural gas from methane hydrates 1,000 meters below the surface and 50 miles off its shores, some are beginning to wonder if the “shale revolution” was just the beginning. But don’t hold your breath. There is no question […]

Energy & Environment
Japan

New Atlanticist

Apr 1, 2013

Confronting What We Don’t Know About the Korean Crisis

By Rajan Menon

War cries, threats and counter-threats, moves and counter-moves are emanating from the Korean peninsula. Pundits have pronounced on what’s going on and where things are headed. So this may be a good time to engage in some humility and to reflect on how little we know.

Korea

New Atlanticist

Apr 1, 2013

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline Project Surging Ahead of Rival Nabucco-West: Part II

By Vladimir Socor

The gas producers’ consortium at Shah Deniz in Azerbaijan is holding parallel negotiations with the pipeline project companies, Nabucco and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), to select one of these routes to Europe. March 31 is the deadline for submission of Nabucco-West’s and TAP’s competing offers to the Shah Deniz consortium. The producer consortium’s decision on pipeline […]

Economy & Business
Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Mar 29, 2013

Building BRICS

By Julian Lindley-French

They represent 25.9 percent of the world’s land mass, 43 percent of the population and 17 percent of global trade. The UN Development Program states that by “2020, the combined economic output of three leading developing countries alone Brazil, China, and India–will surpass the aggregate production of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States.”

Brazil
China

New Atlanticist

Mar 29, 2013

The Measured Madness of North Korea

By Rajan Menon

You’ve got to hand it to North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-un: the man is a past master at panic promotion. He learned from the master, his dad, Kim “Dear Leader” Jong-il, whose tantrums, threats, and theatrics routinely rattled South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The reactions that followed were invariably the same: the […]

New Atlanticist

Mar 29, 2013

Trans-Adriatic Pipeline Project Surging Ahead of Rival Nabucco-West: Part I

By Vladimir Socor

Among the roles of Gazprom’s South Stream pipeline project was that of aborting the EU-backed Nabucco, merely by threatening to preempt Nabucco’s markets along the same route downstream. Conversely, Nabucco’s European rival Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP) can abort Nabucco by preempting the gas supply source upstream. Both TAP and the reformatted Nabucco-West depend fully on […]

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