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.

Negotiating a Solution to the Security Problem in Libya

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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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.

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 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

New Atlanticist

Jun 10, 2012

Lagarde: Time to Finish the Job

By Garrett Workman

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde made an impassioned plea for governments to “finish the job” of putting its financial house in order to staunch the bleeding from the accelerating crisis in Europe. The euro and the European project are now facing an existential crisis. Without clarity and decisive leadership at this historic moment, Europe may […]

Economy & Business
European Union

New Atlanticist

Jun 8, 2012

Why NATO Is a Pacific Power

By Barry Pavel and Jeffrey Reynolds

European members of NATO view America’s pivot toward Asia anxiously, seeing it as the beginning of a U.S. withdrawal from Europe. They should not be concerned. Instead, European members should see America’s turn to the Asia-Pacific region for what it is: the most consequential opportunity to bolster the trans-Atlantic link since the attacks of September […]

NATO
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jun 8, 2012

Have the British Armed Forces Met Their Waterloo?

By Julian Lindley-French

Winston Churchill once lamented the “Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong, these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.” Reading the speech of British Defence Minister Philip Hammond […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Jun 7, 2012

Former Iranian Negotiator Faults His Nation’s Nuclear Diplomacy

By Barbara Slavin

Iran undercut its own negotiators by withholding from them key details of its nuclear program, according to a new book by a former senior Iranian diplomat.

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jun 7, 2012

Montenegro: Why We Must Keep the Door Open

By Julian Lindley-French

Graham Greene once wrote, “There is always one moment when the door opens and lets the future in.” Here in beautiful Budva the Adriatic laps gently on the beach below my balcony and then stretches away like a carpet of crushed opal with the sun leaping from shard to shard. I have just spent the […]

NATO
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jun 7, 2012

Anchoring the Alliance: A Path to Turkish Leadership in the Alliance

By R. Nicholas Burns Damon Wilson and Jeffrey Lightfoot

If NATO hopes to maintain a central role in shaping its strategic neighborhood, it will need Turkey to take on a position of leadership within the Alliance. Within the next decade, a Turkish Secretary General should lead the Alliance. But for that to happen Turkey will have to act like the responsible power it should […]

European Union
International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2012

Anchoring the Alliance: A Stronger Germany

By R. Nicholas Burns Damon Wilson and Jeffrey Lightfoot

For NATO to succeed in the future, the Alliance needs a stronger Germany. One senior Alliance official labeled Germany a “lost nation” in its political and military leadership. Europe’s future relevance as a global strategic partner of the United States is contingent on Germany taking its full place as a much stronger political and military […]

NATO
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2012

Supporting Democracy

By Madeleine K Albright

America’s most valuable contribution to democracy is and always has been the successful implementation of freedom at home. If our country had grown up in despotism, the world would be a different and far bleaker place.

Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Jun 6, 2012

South Asian Meltdown?

By Harlan Ullman

Conditions in South Asia are chaotic, confused, critical and potentially catastrophic. Afghanistan, India and Pakistan are confronted with existential security, economic and political dangers that could overwhelm the capacity and limited resources of each state to address.

Pakistan

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