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.

The Future of NATO Lies in Central Europe?

New Atlanticist
Jul 29, 2025

The Russia pressure menu: Options to convince Putin to negotiate on Ukraine 

As the US president cuts his deadline for Russia to ten days, there are several options for him to increase pressure on Moscow to pursue peace.

Read More

The Future of NATO Lies in Central Europe?

New Atlanticist
Jul 24, 2025

Dispatch from Manila: A lesson in calling out Chinese maritime aggression

By
Markus Garlauskas, Philip W. Yu

As the Philippines has focused more on Chinese threats to itself, Manila also seems increasingly inclined to see its own security as connected to that of the broader region.

China
Indo-Pacific

The Future of NATO Lies in Central Europe?

New Atlanticist
Jul 1, 2025

The US must enforce sanctions to prevent Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program

By
Kimberly Donovan

To ensure that Tehran cannot get its hands on the financial resources it would need to rebuild its nuclear program, Iran sanctions enforcement should start with China.

Economic Sanctions
Iran

Stay updated

Subscribe to our daily newsletter to receive the best expert intelligence on world-changing events


Explore our unique analysis

Fast Thinking

When major global news breaks, the Atlantic Council’s experts have you covered—delivering their sharpest rapid insight and forward-looking analysis direct to your inbox.

Read more

Experts React

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.

Read more

Markup

Our experts decipher and annotate major speeches and policy documents to break down big ideas and lay them out in plain language.

Read more

Content

New Atlanticist

Jun 14, 2012

The Future of NATO Lies in Central Europe?

By Jan Hamacek and Jakub Kulhanek

The popular belief holds that the future of NATO rests on the strength of the Euro-Atlantic bond, any weakening of which is interpreted as a potential death knell for the Alliance. The ongoing debate on the purported declining interest of the US in Europe in favor of the Asia-Pacific region clearly illustrates this strategic anxiety; […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

New Atlanticist

Jun 14, 2012

Relations with Pakistan: Forging a New Partnership

By Shuja Nawaz

Pakistan is at a precarious point in its faltering return to democratic order, after yet another extended period of military-dominated rule that has left its bureaucratic system and civilian institutions stunted. Its polity and society have undergone rapid change, with countervailing forces emerging to counter the military’s overwhelming power. Though political parties remain weak and […]

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Jun 14, 2012

Anchoring the Alliance: NATO Still Matters

By R. Nicholas Burns Damon Wilson and Jeffrey Lightfoot

It was the shot heard around the Alliance. In a hard-hitting farewell speech delivered in Brussels just days before his retirement as US Secretary of Defense on July 1, 2011, Robert Gates offered a tough-love message to America’s NATO allies. He warned that future US policymakers, and the American public, would lose interest in the […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

New Atlanticist

Jun 13, 2012

Anchoring the Alliance: The United States Must Lead

By R. Nicholas Burns Damon Wilson and Jeffrey Lightfoot

Despite their importance, key European allies cannot sustain a vigorous and effective NATO without an involved and committed United States.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jun 13, 2012

Fostering Sources of Growth Across the Atlantic

By Josef Ackermann

In times such as these, amid severe economic crisis in many European countries and persistent troubles in the United States, it may seem misplaced to search for Atlantic sources of growth. In many nations, a succession of crises has had to be contained, from real estate to banking, from private debt to public debt, from […]

Economy & Business European Union

New Atlanticist

Jun 13, 2012

US Exclusion of Iran on Syria Threatens Syria, Nuclear Talks

By Barbara Slavin

The Barack Obama administration’s apparent decision to cut Iran out of a multilateral group trying to resolve the Syria crisis may backfire, encouraging Tehran to sabotage any post-Assad government and also undermining nuclear talks with Iran. The US gave its most explicit rejection of Iranian participation Tuesday, June 12 when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton […]

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jun 12, 2012

Day of Russia or Day of the Kremlin?

By Julian Lindley-French

Today is the Day of Russia. It marks the moment in 1992 when the Declaration on Russian National Sovereignty was adopted by the Russian Parliament and Russia re-emerged from the wreckage of the Soviet Union. Back then there was much hope both in Russia and the rest of the free world that this enormous, great […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Jun 12, 2012

Are the Financial Markets Really Europe’s Savior?

By Frederick Kempe

If the euro is saved, the much-maligned power of global financial markets will deserve much of the credit. The conventional wisdom among many on the intellectual left is that unbridled financial players threaten to destroy the European Union, one of history’s noblest, war-ending projects. The truth, however, is something else. To be sure, speculators lack […]

Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Jun 11, 2012

Enduring Soft Power of the United States

By Derek Reveron

The rise of China and the US pivot to the Pacific has renewed the debate about American decline. One look at America’s university campuses will confirm that its soft power, at least, endures. 

China

New Atlanticist

Jun 11, 2012

Negotiating a Solution to the Security Problem in Libya

By Karim Mezran

The security situation in Libya remains tenuous. In addition to the well publicized clashes between competing militias, there is continuous infiltration of armed elements from neighboring countries, especially Egypt, that range from mere criminal gangs to terrorist groups which cause tension and threats to the whole area.

Libya NATO
Load More