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.

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

New Atlanticist

Aug 3, 2012

In Putin’s Circle, Obama Is Gorbachev

By Frederick Kempe

In private conversations with visiting U.S. business leaders, Russian officials close to President Vladimir Putin have recently referred to President Barack Obama as “your Gorbachev.” And they haven’t meant it positively.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Aug 2, 2012

Both Regime and Opposition in Syria Are Mysteries

By Sarwar Kashmeri

Professor Heidi Lane of the Naval War College suggests that prudence not intervention is the best course of action in Syria in a conversation with Sarwar Kashmeri, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. (8 minute audio interview)

Syria

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2012

Keeping America Great By Keeping Our Heads

By Harlan Ullman

For good or ill, myths are endemic to the human condition. We develop mythologies around our leaders and our foes to fit expectations, emotions and egos. George Washington, for example, never told a lie and hurled a dollar coin across the Potomac.

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2012

Britain Adrift

By Fran Burwell

The country most at risk in the eurozone economic crisis is not Spain, Italy, or even Greece, but Britain. While attention has focused on countries that seem perpetually on the brink of sovereign default or banking collapses, the British government has embarked on a path that could lead it out of Europe, with profound consequences […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jul 31, 2012

The United States and the Moroccan Status Quo

By Alec Simantov

The Pentagon attracted quite a bit of attention recently when it announced new military assistance programs in controversial places like Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan, raising questions about the balance between US national security interests and promotion of human rights and democracy.

National Security Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 31, 2012

Syria’s Olympian Tragedy and the New Middle East

By Julian Lindley-French

The struggle for Syria is forging a new Middle East. Summer Olympics are often used by desperate, repressive, time-expired regimes to act repressively. The Russians invaded Georgia in the midst of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Now, the Assad regime is attacking Syria’s largest city Aleppo. Some estimates suggest up to 200,000 people have already been […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jul 30, 2012

Cyber Offense is King

By Jorge Benitez and Jason Healey

Every single computer in the world can be hacked. From your personal computer at home to the office workstation of the CIA director, it is not possible to fully protect any computer from cyber penetration. For all the talk about cyber protection and the billions of dollars being spent ($3.2 billion in 2012 for the Pentagon […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 30, 2012

China’s New City: Is this Beijing’s Pivot?

By Robert Manning

It’s not relocating aircraft carriers to the Pacific or stationing 2500 marines in Australia but China’s provocative establishment of a new city, Sansha, in the disputed Paracels chain takes the geopolitical drama in the South China Sea to a new stage. This escalating assertiveness may have a larger strategic importance as part of Beijing’s response to […]

China

New Atlanticist

Jul 27, 2012

Olympic London

By Julian Lindley-French

Nineteenth century British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once described London as the modern Babylon. Today, the Games of the XXX Olympiad begin in London. Over five weeks both the Olympic Games and the Paralympics will, to employ one of the many Olympic cliches now in the starting blocks, shine the light of the world on […]

Europe & Eurasia United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Jul 27, 2012

Oversight or Not, Drones Are Here to Stay

By James Joyner

In “The Imperial Presidency: Drone Power and Congressional Oversight,” Michael Cohen argues persuasively that the U.S. Congress has abdicated its constitutional and statutory responsibility to reign in the executive branch in matters of national security policy. Then again, few who have been paying attention this past decade — some would say, the past several decades […]

Politics & Diplomacy

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