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.

Smart Defense Requires Smarter Defense Education

New Atlanticist
Jul 29, 2025

The Russia pressure menu: Options to convince Putin to negotiate on Ukraine 

As the US president cuts his deadline for Russia to ten days, there are several options for him to increase pressure on Moscow to pursue peace.

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Smart Defense Requires Smarter Defense Education

New Atlanticist
Jul 24, 2025

Dispatch from Manila: A lesson in calling out Chinese maritime aggression

By
Markus Garlauskas, Philip W. Yu

As the Philippines has focused more on Chinese threats to itself, Manila also seems increasingly inclined to see its own security as connected to that of the broader region.

China
Indo-Pacific

Smart Defense Requires Smarter Defense Education

New Atlanticist
Jul 1, 2025

The US must enforce sanctions to prevent Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program

By
Kimberly Donovan

To ensure that Tehran cannot get its hands on the financial resources it would need to rebuild its nuclear program, Iran sanctions enforcement should start with China.

Economic Sanctions
Iran

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New Atlanticist

Feb 22, 2012

Smart Defense Requires Smarter Defense Education

By Julian Lindley-French

Because the Euro crisis is not only disconnecting European security from world security but also turning many European armed forces into little more than armed pensions, something radical needs to be done to bridge the abyss between strategy and austerity through which our armed forces are now falling.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Feb 22, 2012

Al Qaeda’s Divisive Alliance

By Bronwyn Bruton

In a videotaped announcement released earlier this month by the Al Qaeda chief, Ayman al-Zawahri, the group officially endorsed the struggling rebel group Shabab, which has been fighting the Western-backed transitional government and African Union peacekeepers in Somalia since 2007.

Somalia

New Atlanticist

Feb 21, 2012

Brzezinski, Slaughter Discuss Obama’s Mideast Challenges

By Barbara Slavin

Zbigniew Brzezinski knows something about dealing with Iranians and his advice to President Barack Obama is this: Don’t start a war with Iran.

New Atlanticist

Feb 21, 2012

Yemen’s Election Might Matter

By Danya Greenfield

With daily massacres in Homs and prosecution of U.S. non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Cairo, the simmering conflict in Sanaa has faded into the background. Yet on February 21 attention will turn again to Yemen on the occasion of its presidential election.

Yemen

New Atlanticist

Feb 17, 2012

The Future of Energy-Dominated Foreign Policy

By Derek Reveron

Since almost every government in the world values economic prosperity as a national interest, energy is a key determinant of foreign policy. Of the BRIC countries, Brazil’s and Russia’s growth are dependent on energy exports while China’s and India’s rise are dependent on energy production and imports. China’s foray into the global economy can be […]

Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Feb 17, 2012

Entente Frugale: Why England and France Must Hang Together…or Hang Separately

By Julian Lindley-French

David Cameron is today in Paris to meet with his ‘friend’ French President Nicholas Sarkozy. The ostensible purpose of the meeting is to sign a treaty of co-operation on the sharing of civil nuclear technology, i.e. the French are to remind the English of what they once knew about nuclear stuff but have now forgotten, […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Feb 17, 2012

Opening Europe’s Mediterranean Window

By Ana Palacio

One year after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, with popular upheavals continuing to roil the Arab world, it is increasingly clear that Europe can no longer sit still and do nothing.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Feb 17, 2012

Putin’s Campaign

By Anna Borshchevskaya

Shaken by the largest wave of protests since 1991, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has stepped up his campaign for a third presidential term as the March 4 elections draw near.

Elections Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Feb 16, 2012

Pivot Towards Asia Not Pivot Away From Europe

By James Joyner

While President Obama’s new defense strategy is pivoting towards Asia, it’s “not a pivot away from Europe in any way at all,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter assured his Atlantic Council audience.

New Atlanticist

Feb 16, 2012

Why England Needs a First Amendment

By Julian Lindley-French

A democracy without a written constitution is always in peril from political law. Three current controversies underline the extent to which England today faces just such peril: the attempt to deport radical Islamist Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada; the Leveson inquiry into press standards and ethics; and the February arrest and jailing of a woman for […]

United Kingdom
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