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.

Enlightened Engagement: US-China Relations

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

Jun 19, 2012

Enlightened Engagement: US-China Relations

By Victor Chu

It was Napoleon who said in 1803: “Let that sleeping giant sleep, for when he wakes up, he will shake the world.” Napoleon was, of course, referring to China. True enough, the rise (more correctly the renaissance) of China resulting from its remarkable, open-door economic structural reforms over the last thirty years has shaken the […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 18, 2012

US Offers Familiar Carrot For Iran Nuclear Compromise

By Barbara Slavin

Spare parts have been a perennial US offer to induce Iran to change its ways — or to reward it for positive steps — and were almost provided 20 years ago near the end of the George H.W. Bush administration, Al-Monitor has learned.

New Atlanticist

Jun 18, 2012

The Anglosphere: Two Hundred Years On

By Julian Lindley-French

Two hundred years ago today US President James Madison declared war on the British Empire and the War of 1812 began.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jun 15, 2012

OPEC and Saudi Shrewd Middle Power Diplomacy

By Robert Manning

For middle powers like Saudi Arabia an effective foreign policy requires both cunning and a knack for identifying force multipliers. Of course, being the world’s largest oil producer is a bit of a force multiplier by itself, as the move on Thursday by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) not to reduce production despite […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 15, 2012

Syrian Intervention Is Justifiable, and Just

By Anne-Marie Slaughter

Henry Kissinger recently argued against intervention in Syria [The perils of intervention in Syria,” Sunday Opinion, June 3] on the grounds that it would imperil the foundation of world order. His analysis was based on a straw man, one put forward by the Russian and Chinese governments, that outside intervention would seek to “bring about […]

Syria

New Atlanticist

Jun 15, 2012

Brent Scowcroft Warns Against Syria Intervention

By Barbara Slavin

Brent Scowcroft, a veteran Republican voice on US foreign policy, said the United States “isn’t smart enough” to solve the Syria crisis and “would pay a heavy price for [military] intervention,” in an interview with Al-Monitor Washington correspondent and Atlantic Council senior fellow Barbara Slavin.

Syria

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

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