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
Mar 6, 2025

How European leaders are responding to Trump’s approach to Ukraine and Europe

From London and Berlin to Paris and Brussels, European leaders have taken several notable steps this week on security. This follows the blow-up between the Ukrainian and US presidents on February 28.

New Atlanticist
Feb 26, 2025

Why the US should not lift sanctions against Russia

By
Charles Lichfield

Sanctions are having an unmistakable effect, albeit below the inflated expectations of many in the West in early 2022. Lifting them now would be a mistake.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions

New Atlanticist
Mar 5, 2025

The Egyptian plan for postwar Gaza is a good starting point—but it needs changes

By
Thomas S. Warrick

While many obstacles remain, the Egyptian proposal could form the starting point for negotiations over a workable plan for postwar Gaza.

Conflict
Crisis Management

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New Atlanticist

Jan 12, 2012

Interoperability in an Age of Austerity

By John Deni

During one of his first public appearances since becoming Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey cited civil unrest in the Eurozone and US exposure to contracts involving partners in Europe as the main threats to America emanating from European economic instability. While these issues merit attention, the Defense Department’s primary concern […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jan 12, 2012

US Marines Desecrate Bodies of Taliban Dead: The Inevitability of Atrocities in War

By James Joyner

The video of what appears to be four US Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters has gone viral. For those who haven’t yet seen it, it’s embedded below. Needless to say, it’s not for the squeamish:

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Jan 11, 2012

Obama Administration Edges Toward Iran Regime Change

By Barbara Slavin

The Barack Obama administration is increasingly giving the impression that it supports a policy of regime change against Iran – a policy that could backfire and convince Iran to build nuclear weapons. Senior U.S. officials have suggested recently that mounting economic sanctions are meant to “tighten the noose” around the Iranian government. The Washington Post […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 11, 2012

One- or Two-Legged Stools Don’t Work

By Harlan Ullman

Last week at the Pentagon, with the Joint Chiefs present, President Barack Obama unveiled the nation’s newest defense strategy. To the administration’s credit, the strategy was intended to set priorities to drive budgets, not the reverse. Unfortunately, as was the case three years ago with the President’s Afghanistan-Pakistan study, the new strategy has several fundamental […]

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Jan 11, 2012

Threats to Watch in 2012

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

On Dec. 18, 2010, a police slap of a vegetable-cum-fruit peddler in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid triggered an “Arab Spring” that no one had forecast and that quickly spawned a long, dark Arab winter. Before the end of January 2011, violent unrest had spread to Egypt. By Feb. 11, after 18 days of […]

Libya North Africa

New Atlanticist

Jan 10, 2012

Interview: We Need to Encourage Research for Development

By Jason Harmala

Infosys’ Executive Co-chairman S. Gopalakrishnan, a member of the Atlantic Council’s International Advisory Board, spoke to Bibhu Ranjan Mishra of Business Standard on the reasons behind instituting research awards and also about technologies that are expected to steer the IT industry forward.

New Atlanticist

Jan 10, 2012

Pakistan’s Memogate: Where’s the Beef?

By Harlan Ullman

The question ‘where’s the beef?’ has an almost iconic place in American culture.

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Jan 10, 2012

Beaufort: Why We Must Leave Afghanistan Now, Not End 2014

By Julian Lindley-French

Beaufort is a great film. It tells the story of a platoon of young Israeli soldiers at the turn of this century pointlessly asked to defend an isolated, old Crusader fort deep in Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon at the very end of a failed occupation.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Jan 9, 2012

The War on Terror is Over

By Magnus Nordenman

Historians may look back at 2011 as the year that the war on terror finally ended. Counterterrorism was not removed from America’s security policy tool box but it no longer serves as a strategic priority and no longer guides how the US structures its relations with nations around the world or thinks and plans for […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 9, 2012

Current Woes Call for Smart Reinvention Not Destruction

By Lawrence Summers

It would have been almost unimaginable five years ago that the Financial Times would convene a series of articles on “Capitalism in Crisis”. That it has done so is a reflection both of sour public opinion and distressing results on the ground in much of the industrial world.

Economy & Business

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