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.

Enrichment Freeze at Fordow Key to Progress in Iran Nuclear Talks

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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New Atlanticist

Apr 12, 2012

Enrichment Freeze at Fordow Key to Progress in Iran Nuclear Talks

By Barbara Slavin

As diplomats from Iran and the world’s big powers assemble in Istanbul on the inauspicious day of Friday 13, the key to managing the Iranian nuclear crisis lies deep in a mountain near the Shiite theological center of Qom.

New Atlanticist

Apr 11, 2012

Will We Need NATO After Afghanistan?

By Stanley Sloan

Despite the Obama administration’s re-focusing US security commitments on Asia, we will need NATO after Afghanistan. Some historical perspective might help. When the Clinton Administration took office, it, too, sought to reorient American foreign policy toward Asia. It was the economy, stupid, and the future of American economic interests was to be found on the […]

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Apr 11, 2012

War and Peace in the Middle East

By Julian Lindley-French

Tolstoy writes in War and Peace; “What is the cause of historical events? Power. What is power? Power is the sum total of wills transferred to one person. On what condition are the wills of the masses transferred to one person? On condition that the person express the will of the whole people. That is, […]

Iran North Africa

New Atlanticist

Apr 11, 2012

A Rotten State of Affairs in America

By Harlan Ullman

To paraphrase Hamlet, “something is rotten in the state of America.” This isn’t a matter of American decline — a question that has been overrated and exaggerated. As global power diffuses, absolute, as opposed to relative, U.S. power will decline. Unfortunately, a certain malaise, to use a familiar phrase, may be much more prevalent inside […]

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2012

Disarmament by Timetable

By Andrew Wilson

Britain’s nuclear weapons—and its international relationships—are under challenge.

Nuclear Nonproliferation Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2012

Bringing Turkey and Russia Closer to the European Neighborhood Policy

By Kristina Mikulova

As NATO and the EU have shelved enlargement – the juiciest “carrot” motivating reform in aspirant countries – it is even more crucial for the transatlantic community to refine existing institutional frameworks for engagement in order to prevent reform inertia – or worse – backsliding.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Apr 10, 2012

US Returning to Security Council To Protect Syrians, Says Burns

By Barbara Slavin

Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns is a rare breed in Washington — a career foreign-service officer in a job typically held by political appointees and a man esteemed by both Democrats and Republicans. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who kept Burns on as undersecretary of state and then promoted him to his current job […]

International Organizations North Africa

New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2012

The Government’s Three Cyber Silences

By Jason Healey

The threat of Chinese espionage is so critical that the commander of our military cyber defenses has called it the “the biggest transfer of wealth through theft and piracy in the history of mankind.”

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2012

Mideast Imbroglio

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

The Egyptian revolution has led to economic bankruptcy, says Egypt’s Boutros Boutros-Ghali, a former U.N. secretary-general. Factories are closed and Egyptian workers are no longer wanted abroad, he lamented. Sub-Saharan Africans and Pakistanis from Baluchistan have replaced Egyptians who once worked in Libya and oil-rich Persian Gulf countries, adding millions to the 12 percent unemployed […]

North Africa

New Atlanticist

Apr 9, 2012

Malawi Gets Another Chance

By Peter Pham

Malawi became the latest African country to escape from a dangerous downward spiral when, on Saturday evening, Vice President Joyce Banda was able to take the oath of office as president in succession to the late and unlamented Bingu wa Mutharika. Now the international community which, although it had largely severed ties to the deceased […]

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