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.

Deep-Water Oil Rigs as Strategic Weapons

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

Sep 19, 2012

Deep-Water Oil Rigs as Strategic Weapons

By Martin N. Murphy

This, at least, is how Wang Yilin, Chairman of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), chooses to view them. He reportedly told an audience at CNOOC’s headquarters in Beijing in May that ‘large-scale deep-water rigs are our mobile national territory and a strategic weapon’.

China
Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Sep 18, 2012

United States on a Path to Nowhere

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

The round-the-clock killing of U.S. military advisers by Afghan soldiers they are training coupled with some $200 million worth of jet fighters and attack helicopters destroyed in a heavily fortified allied base in Afghanistan by Taliban guerrillas disguised in U.S. military uniforms are the latest reminders that 11 years of fighting have strengthened rather than […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Sep 18, 2012

US-Mideast Policy Is Isolating America, Not Iran

By Sarwar Kashmeri

Two thirds of the U.N.’s countries recently signed a communique expressing support for Iran’s nuclear energy program and rejecting, what they termed, the United States’ unilateral sanctions against the Islamic Republic. A flashing red light that signals the American policy aimed at isolating Iran in order to curb its nuclear ambitions appears instead to have […]

International Organizations
Iran

New Atlanticist

Sep 17, 2012

Turkish Ambassador Calls For NATO to ‘Act Decisively’ in Syria

By James Joyner

In the most powerful call for action yet by his government, Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan declared, “The implosion of Syria is a regional conflagration that threatens international peace and security. What we expect from our partners is a serious engagement and meaningful contribution to the resolution of this conflict.”

NATO
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 17, 2012

Can NATO Pass the Riga Test?

By Julian Lindley-French

The Riga Conference is a jewel in the crown of security conferences. Yesterday I shared a panel with the Italian, Latvian and Norwegian defense ministers, together with Ambassador Sandy Vershbow, NATO’s US Deputy Secretary-General to discuss “NATO post-Chicago”. Did something happen in Chicago? I must have missed it.

NATO
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 13, 2012

Mitt Romney’s Opaque Foreign Policy

By James Joyner

In the wake of the murder of U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney inexplicably and ironically declared, “President Obama has demonstrated a lack of clarity as to a foreign policy.”

Elections
Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Sep 13, 2012

Foreign Service and Ambassador Stevens

By Ross Wilson

The death in Benghazi of US Ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens, and three other staff members of the US mission in Libya is a chilling reminder of the risks that American diplomats and American diplomacy face at a time of violence and uncertainty in the Middle East and the world.

Libya

New Atlanticist

Sep 12, 2012

Free Speech in America Yields Violence in Egypt and Libya

By James Joyner

Dozens of Egyptian protestors climbed the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo Tuesday, stormed the compound and tore down the American flag, replacing it with a black Islamist flag bearing the inscription “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet.” Overnight, violent protests at the American consulate in Benghazi killed at […]

Libya
North Africa

New Atlanticist

Sep 11, 2012

Looking Back: The Wonders We Didn’t Expect

By Paul Saffo

It has been a wild ride of a century full of expected wonders. Molecular manufacturing became a reality well before 2050, turning all sorts of once-valuable materials into commodities, and yes, we even eventually got flying cars.

New Atlanticist

Sep 11, 2012

The Weak Hand of Somalia’s New President

By Peter Pham

Yesterday the members of Somalia’s rump parliament elected a civil society activist and educator, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, to head the failed state’s sixteenth transitional entity since 1991.

Elections
Politics & Diplomacy

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