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.

What Can Hurricane Sandy Tell Us About Climate Change?

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

Nov 5, 2012

What Can Hurricane Sandy Tell Us About Climate Change?

By Paul Saffo

Linking a single storm to climate change is perilous at best for the simple reason that anything less than a decade or two of data isn’t climate, it’s just weather. But Sandy may yet prove the exception owing to its sheer anomalousness.

Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Nov 5, 2012

Anatomy of a Deal with Iran

By Rajan Menon

The on-again, off-again musings about a deal between Washington and Tehran are on again. A deal might reconcile the most important demands of each side: Iran’s insistence that it has a legal right to an independent fuel cycle for what it insists is a nonmilitary nuclear program and the declaration of the United States that […]

Iran Nuclear Nonproliferation

New Atlanticist

Nov 2, 2012

Peace Prize an Important Warning Sign for Europe

By Daria Dylla

The recent awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union can be interpreted as a strong and important message to every single European: think about the disastrous consequences if the European project fails.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Nov 2, 2012

Britain’s Decade of Choices

By Julian Lindley-French

As I write this I am sitting in the Senate Chamber of Church House at the Chief of the Royal Air Force’s air power conference organised by the Royal United Services Institute. Church House is the Supreme Spiritual Headquarters of the Church of England and there can be no better place to discuss the future […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Nov 1, 2012

Pakistan’s Heavyweights

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan’s national hero who peddled nuclear weapons secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya (under Moammar Gadhafi), now has his own political party to promote his presidential ambitions. He is also a media columnist and his anti-U.S. lucubrations are read in both English and Urdu.

Nuclear Nonproliferation Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Nov 1, 2012

A Tale of Two Asias

By Evan A. Feigenbaum and Robert A. Manning

Whatever happened to the “Asian Century?” In recent months, two Asias, wholly incompatible, have emerged in stark relief.There is “Economic Asia,” the Dr. Jekyll — a dynamic, integrated Asia with 53 percent of its trade now being conducted within the region itself, and a $19 trillion regional economy that has become an engine of global […]

Economy & Business Indo-Pacific

New Atlanticist

Oct 31, 2012

Would Romney White House Be a Trick or Treat?

By Harlan Ullman

On Oct. 31, in many countries, tens of millions of children will don costumes to celebrate Halloween and go “trick or treating” for candy and other trinkets. Encouraging treats is meant to discourage tricks. And costumes in the United States range from scary Frankenstein monster lookalikes to movie characters and celebrities such as Superman, Hollywood […]

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Oct 31, 2012

2014: NATO Year Zero

By Julian Lindley-French

As I write this I am gazing down from on high over-looking the Po Valley that separates Bologna from Milan re-thinking NATO. That in any case was the title of the conference I have just attended (high level of course); Dynamic Change: Re-thinking NATO. Still, as I wrapped up the conference in my now accustomed […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 30, 2012

Let’s Wage Cross-Border Peace Now

By Shuja Nawaz

Hurry up and wait! This seems to be the order of the day as Pakistan and India take tentative steps towards normalcy.

India Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 30, 2012

What the US Risks by Relying on Drones

By Kurt Volker

As documented in the recent Post series “The Permanent War,” the United States increasingly relies on drone strikes as a principal and permanent component in fighting global terrorism. This is effective at killing terrorist leadership and is relatively painless politically at home, as it does not require massive military engagements or put U.S. soldiers or […]

Drones National Security

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