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
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

Oct 2, 2012

Cyber Pearl Harbor

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

A shadowy hacker group in the Middle East has disrupted the electronic banking operations of some of the United States’ largest financial institutions, The Seattle Times reported.

Cybersecurity National Security

New Atlanticist

Oct 1, 2012

The US Needs to Discuss Implications of Iran War

By Fallon Hagel Hamilton Pickering and Zinni

War with Iran is not inevitable, but U.S. national security would be seriously threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. Particularly given the recent speeches at the U.N. General Assembly, military action is being discussed intensely. Public discussion of military action, however, is often reduced to rhetoric and partisan politics. We propose a nonpartisan, reasoned debate about […]

Iran National Security

New Atlanticist

Oct 1, 2012

Punching Above Their Weight

By Michael Hannan

The U.S. admires certain nations for their willingness to be involved in crises and contingency operations, but we rarely challenge them to lead. We must change this — by helping carefully selected nations to improve their ability to participate in and ultimately take charge of regional security efforts, and by championing them as fuller partners […]

Maritime Security National Security

New Atlanticist

Sep 28, 2012

Smart Defense Not a Trojan Horse

By Leo Michel

Is “smart defense”—NATO’s effort to promote greater cooperation among the allies in military capabilities and training— a “Trojan Horse” at the service of the “war machine of the American defense industry”? That would appear to be the conviction of one French senator, according to his remarks before a few hundred parliamentarians, high-ranking officials, general officers, […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 28, 2012

Energy Resources in the Eastern Mediterranean: Promise and Peril

By David Koranyi and Adnan Vatansever

A year ago, a tempest was looming in the Eastern Mediterranean. A Turkish exploration vessel named Piri Reis accompanied by warships and jets approached a contested area of newly discovered natural gas fields around Cyprus. Direct confrontation was eventually avoided, thanks in no small part to US and European calls for restraint. Nevertheless, the incident […]

Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Sep 28, 2012

Obama v. Romney: More Style than Substance

By Jeffrey Lightfoot

The 2012 US presidential campaign is decidedly not about foreign policy. For Governor Mitt Romney, the campaign is about convincing the American electorate that President Barack Obama has been a poor steward of the economy and should be replaced. For Obama the task is to convince voters that Romney is too out-of-touch with the American […]

Elections National Security

New Atlanticist

Sep 27, 2012

Drone War AWOL From Presidential Campaign

By James Joyner

A new study released this week by researchers at Stanford and NYU has found that American drone strikes in Pakistan are killing far more civilians than advertised, taking out few high value targets, and have become the primary recruiting tool for the terrorist groups the policy is aimed at combating. The report, “Living Under Drones: […]

Drones National Security

New Atlanticist

Sep 27, 2012

Strategic Pivot to Nowhere

By Harlan Ullman

When Britain and France launched pre-emptive military strikes last year that would eventually depose Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and his regime, one of President Barack Obama’s most senior advisers described U.S. involvement as “leading from behind,” a most unfortunate descriptor that haunted the administration much as George W. Bush’s “mission accomplished” label early in the […]

Indo-Pacific National Security

New Atlanticist

Sep 27, 2012

A Yankee Spring in the Middle East

By Sarwar Kashmeri

The United States has earned the thanks of a freer Arab people, but has yet to earn their respect, and for good reason. For over 30 years American taxpayers shelled out over $60 billion in aid to the authoritarian Hosni Mubarak regime in Egypt that jailed its opponents and stifled dissent to keep the country […]

Middle East North Africa

New Atlanticist

Sep 26, 2012

Europe’s Naked Emperors

By Julian Lindley-French

With a loose heritage that dates back to Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire Vienna is the quintessential post-imperial European city. Now the capital of a small but rich and modern European state it was once the epicenter of a vast multicultural, multi-ethnic empire that collapsed in 1918 under the weight of its own political […]

European Union International Organizations

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