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.

Hagel: Enlisted Troops Don’t Make Policy But Always Carry It Out

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.

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Hagel: Enlisted Troops Don’t Make Policy But Always Carry It Out

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

Hagel: Enlisted Troops Don’t Make Policy But Always Carry It Out

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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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.

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Content

New Atlanticist

May 8, 2012

Hagel: Enlisted Troops Don’t Make Policy But Always Carry It Out

By James Joyner

The Atlantic Council presented its 2012 Distinguished Military Leadership Award not, as has been the custom, to a famous general or admiral but to the Enlisted Men and Women of the United States Armed Forces.

New Atlanticist

May 8, 2012

Prince Harry: Wounded Veterans Paid Terrible Price to Keep Us Safe And Free

By James Joyner

Prince Harry of Wales paid tribute to the wounded veterans of the transatlantic Alliance, noting that, “They have paid a terrible price to keep us safe and free.”

New Atlanticist

May 8, 2012

Unilever’s Polman: Business Simply Has to Take the Lead

By James Joyner

Unilever CEO Paul Polman declared that “business simply has to take the lead” to solve global challenges ranging from hunger to climate change.

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2012

Ban Ki-moon: Assad May Suffer Fate of Qaddafi or Taylor

By James Joyner

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hinted that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will suffer the fate of Laurent Gbago, Charles Taylor, or Muammar Qaddafi if his reign of violence continues. He declared, “no leader, anywhere, should imagine that he—or she—enjoys impunity for crimes of atrocity.”

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2012

Ban Ki-moon: World Needs West’s Leadership

By James Joyner

Ban Ki-moon declared that the world faces “an over-supply of problems,” a “deficit of solutions,” and a “deficit of leadership” and called on the United States and its transatlantic allies to provide it.

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2012

In Sudan, Give War a Chance

By Gerard Prunier

Less than a year after South Sudan declared its independence, it appears headed for war once again with its northern neighbor, Sudan. At the same time, marginalized northerners are rebelling against the government of Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir. The international community has called for a cease-fire and peace talks, but the return of violence […]

East Africa Sudan

New Atlanticist

May 4, 2012

Chen Guangcheng Deal Struck, No Thanks to Chen Guangcheng

By James Joyner

Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese anti-abortion activist whose daring escape from house arrest set off a diplomatic brouhaha that grabbed the world’s attention, is about to get his wish to come to America. He didn’t make it easy.

China

New Atlanticist

May 4, 2012

Made in China: Is America Losing its Grand Strategic Mojo?

By Julian Lindley-French

Former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson once famously remarked that Britain had lost an empire but had not yet found a role. Sadly, many years later London’s strategic bankruptcy means Britain is still searching, but what of the US? Nothing that has happened of late suggests an America that is thinking hard about how […]

China

New Atlanticist

May 4, 2012

Iran and al Qaeda: More Enemies Than Allies

By Barbara Slavin

Newly released correspondence from Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan contradicts US assertions that al-Qaeda has a close relationship with Iran. According to a US analysis of letters found in the Abbottabad compound when US Special Forces killed bin Laden a year ago, “the relationship is not one of alliance, but of indirect and unpleasant […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

May 3, 2012

China’s Political Intrigue Ventures West

By Frederick Kempe

Imagine that an American intelligence agency organizes an “exercise,” as one occasionally does, on how to manage an unwanted but inescapable Washington role in a Chinese leadership struggle.

China
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