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.

Brent Scowcroft Assesses the US-China Relationship

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.

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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.

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New Atlanticist

Apr 3, 2012

Brent Scowcroft Assesses the US-China Relationship

By Sarwar Kashmeri

In the latest edition of the New Atlanticist Podcast Series, General Brent Scowcroft discusses managing the US-China relationship with Sarwar Kashmeri, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and offers his personal observations on China’s President-in-waiting Xi Jinping following his visit to the United States in February.

New Atlanticist

Apr 2, 2012

Joint Strike Fighter II: The Best is the Enemy of the Good?

By Julian Lindley-French

Today is the thirtieth anniversary of the 1982 Argentine invasion of the Falklands about which I will say more later in the week. Last week I wrote a piece about the spiraling out of control costs of the ‘Fifth Generation’ F-35 Lightning II all-singing, all-dancing multirole combat aircraft.

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Apr 2, 2012

The mess in Mali

By J. Peter Pham

In less than two weeks, the West African nation of Mali has gone from being a rare oasis of democracy and stability to a near failed state whose troubles threaten to ripple across the Sahel where the security situation, always delicate even in the best of times, is especially stressed in the wake of the […]

Conflict
Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Mar 30, 2012

Will Iran’s Quest for Nuclear Weapons Bring a Second Holocaust?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

“SHOWDOWN” is splashed in large red letters across the cover of Newsmax, the April issue of the conservative monthly. Followed by, in smaller letters, “Iran’s Plan for a Second Holocaust Must Be Stopped.” And, in parentheses, in still smaller type, between the twin grim-looks of Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu, the cover story […]

Iran
Nuclear Nonproliferation

New Atlanticist

Mar 30, 2012

Alliance and Partnership

By Kenneth Weisbrode

NATO has made the strengthening of “global partnerships” a top priority. This is a good thing. They are better than the alternative: a polarized world of national, regional and even multinational rivals.

NATO
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Mar 30, 2012

Bradford: The Coming Crisis of European Democracy

By Julian Lindley-French

A political earthquake took place last night in the city of Bradford, in my home county of Yorkshire, that is relevant not only to Britain but could well signal a coming crisis of European democracy – the revolt of the people against the professional political caste. The defeat of the long-incumbent Labour Party by George […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Mar 29, 2012

The F-35’s Cyber Death Spiral?

By Jason Healey

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may have a far worse problem than overpromises, cost overruns, and technology overreach: we may be spending hundreds of billions of dollars on an aircraft for which our adversaries have apparently stolen the plans.

New Atlanticist

Mar 29, 2012

US Foreign Policy: Desperate But Not Serious?

By Harlan Ullman

George Bernard Shaw quipped that the United States and England were two nations divided by a common language. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that precipitated the global wars against terror and in Afghanistan and Iraq, Shaw’s observation has considerably broadened. Are differences between both sides of the Atlantic on threats and dangers so great […]

New Atlanticist

Mar 29, 2012

How the French Might Split their Vote

By Nicholas Dungan

The French people go to the polls to choose their next president in a first-round election on April 22, with a second round between the two top contenders on May 6.

Elections
France

New Atlanticist

Mar 28, 2012

America’s Number One Geostrategic Threat?

By James Joyner

Yesterday, likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney declared Russia “without question, our No. 1 geopolitical foe.”

Iran
Korea

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