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

Jan 13, 2012

No Snow in Lithuania

By Julian Lindley-French

The Snow Meeting is famous. Every January Lithuania brings together prime ministers, foreign and defence ministers from across what is increasingly referred to as the Nordic Baltic region, together with senior American, French, and German officials and commentators. The British were of course not there. Shame.

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Jan 12, 2012

A More Practical Approach To National Sovereignty

By James Joyner

Dutch defense minister Hans Hillen argues that transatlantic defense cooperation must be deepened and that this requires “a more practical approach to national sovereignty.”

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

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