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
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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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

New Atlanticist

Feb 16, 2012

BHO Equals W on Steroids!

By Harlan Ullman

Ironic humor, fortunately, is never far from politics. Few may recall the so-called “freedom agenda” advanced by President George W. Bush a decade ago. Spreading democracy by muscular means would “transform” the Middle East as autocratic regimes crumbled. And it did but not the way Bush intended. Afghanistan and Iraq were the test cases and […]

Europe After The Vote

Feb 15, 2012

Who Will Pay for Greece?

By Julian Lindley-French

“Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit”, Aristotle once famously wrote. He could have been talking of Greece today.

Economy & Business
European Union

New Atlanticist

Feb 15, 2012

In Egypt, Follow the Advice of President Theodore Roosevelt

By Sarwar Kashmeri

Almost exactly 100 years ago President Theodore Roosevelt spoke to the General Assembly of Cairo University. Egypt was then, as it is today, in political turmoil as nationalist groups seethed under the rule of the British Crown, clamoring for freedom. The nationalists felt that the very act of deliverance from the Colonial power would translate […]

North Africa

New Atlanticist

Feb 15, 2012

Global Power Gone

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

From dust to dust, global power is no more. So says Zbigniew Brzezinski, the only rival to Henry Kissinger in America’s contemporary geopolitical hall of fame.

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Feb 14, 2012

As Athens Burns: Is the Cure Worse than the Disease?

By Alexei Monsarrat and Garrett Workman

Greece produces a mere 2.6 percent of the Eurozone’s GDP but remains front and center in the Eurozone crisis and the larger debate over the proper role of austerity and government spending in resolving the West’s economic woes. Sunday night, Greek parliamentarians overwhelming accepted the latest round of painful cuts—a precondition to receive the next […]

European Union
Greece

New Atlanticist

Feb 13, 2012

The Illogic of Intervention

By Daniel Trombly

The first two installments of this series have explored the difficulties of successful intervention in Syria from the air and ground. Yet, without foreign intervention, further violence and civil war are likely to ensue, leading to external spillover effects including refugees and a region more awash in arms and unaccountable paramilitaries.

Syria
United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Feb 13, 2012

Desperate or Serious? U.S. Must Drag Policies Out of Old Mindsets

By Harlan Ullman

A century ago, gallows humor about the inevitability of an otherwise avoidable world war permeated the upper ranks of the Kaiser’s Army. The German General Staff quipped that this gathering crisis, when viewed from Paris, was dismissed as serious but not yet desperate. In Berlin, however, conditions were seen as the opposite — desperate but […]

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