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.

Fostering Sources of Growth Across the Atlantic

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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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 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

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

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