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

Jul 5, 2012

Bomber Boys

By Julian Lindley-French

It is sixty-seven years too late. The Bomber Boys gaze over me looking exhaustedly and exhaustively for comrades who will never return. Seven RAF Bomber Command aircrew cast in bronze probably just off a Lancaster that has somehow miraculously survived a World War Two ‘trip’ over Nazi Germany.

Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Jul 5, 2012

July 4th and September 11th

By Harlan Ullman

For polar opposite reasons, two dates currently loom large in the American psyche. This July 4th marked the 236th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the war that would turn 13 English colonies in America into the United States. Sept. 11, 2001, was the day al-Qaida turned four American airliners into […]

Afghanistan Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Jul 3, 2012

Afghanistan: Don’t Turn Off the Lights

By Abigail Friedman

After more than a decade of fighting in Afghanistan, Americans are ready for this war– or at least our involvement in this war – to end. If history is any guide, the roar of engines from the planes bringing our soldiers home will drown out any conversation over what happens next in Afghanistan. The whiff […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Jul 3, 2012

Anchoring the Alliance: Poland, Italy, Spain, and Canada Stepping Up

By R. Nicholas Burns Damon Wilson and Jeffrey Lightfoot

For NATO to enjoy a more effective future, the Alliance’s other leading powers–Poland, Italy, Spain, and Canada—must be offered—and must be willing to earn—more responsibility within the Alliance.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 2, 2012

Global Trends and International Security

By Derek Reveron

Understanding how the world works is key for developing a sound national security policy. The security environment provides the context for developing strategy and building forces to advance and defend national interests. At the same time, strategy shapes the security environment and is shaped by it. For example, a strategy that emphasizes global trade can […]

Economy & Business National Security

New Atlanticist

Jul 2, 2012

Stop Playing Games over Europe Mr. Cameron

By Julian Lindley-French

In an article yesterday in London’s Sunday Telegraph, British Prime Minister David Cameron hinted at a possible in/out referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. “Let us start to spell out in more detail the parts of our European engagement we want and those we want to end”, Cameron urged.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jun 29, 2012

Syria’s Rebels Are Winning

By Michele Dunne

Distracted by the tumult caused by the Syrian shoot down of a Turkish F 4, few observers have noted that the Syrian conflict has turned a corner. What I myself termed a “slow motion train wreck” of inexorable slaughter of civilians by government forces and militias just a couple of weeks ago has now shifted […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jun 29, 2012

Is NATO Deterring Itself?

By Julian Lindley-French

Is NATO deterring itself? A two day meeting here in a searingly hot Rome on NATO’s Deterrence and Defense Posture Review (DDPR) reaffirmed to me the deep transatlantic gulf over NATO’s twenty-first century role. Sadly, no answer will be found to NATO’s existential twenty-first century question: is the Alliance integral to America’s world view or […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

New Atlanticist

Jun 29, 2012

Rising Iraqi Oil Output Greases Iran Sanctions

By Barbara Slavin

Iraq’s once-battered oil sector is further eclipsing production in Iran, relieving pressure on world oil markets and facilitating the imposition of draconian new sanctions on Iran.

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jun 28, 2012

US Strategy for the 21st Century Needed

By Harlan Ullman

All leaders are easily criticized for either having the “wrong” strategy or “no” strategy at all regardless of the issue. In politics, elections exacerbate these critiques without always offering an alternative. In 1968, trapped in Vietnam, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson’s (flawed) strategy was to continue the status quo of defeating the North Vietnamese army and […]

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