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.

Libya After Gaddafi: Lessons From Iraq 2003

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

Aug 23, 2011

Libya After Gaddafi: Lessons From Iraq 2003

By James Joyner

The end of Muammar Qaddafi’s regime appears near. Regardless of one’s views on the wisdom of American intervention, that’s cause for celebration.

Libya

New Atlanticist

Aug 23, 2011

Building a Capable, Affordable, and Sustainable Afghan National Security Force

By William B. Caldwell IV

For the past 22 months, NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan has been implementing a comprehensive security force assistance program in Afghanistan. President Obama laid out the goals of this effort during his December 2009 speech at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point: “deny al Qaeda a safe haven…reverse the Taliban’s momentum and deny it the ability […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Aug 22, 2011

The End of Gaddafi Isn’t the End of the Argument

By James Joyner

Is it time for those who criticized the Obama administration’s handling of the Libya intervention to eat crow?

Libya

New Atlanticist

Aug 22, 2011

Libya: Implementing the Peace

By Julian Lindley-French

Funny how history plays games. On this day in England in 1485 King Richard III lost the battle of Bosworth Field to Henry Tudor. The rest, as they say is history. In Shakespeare’s play the defeated king pleads for a horse so he can flee. I would imagine Colonel (soon-to-be retired) Gaddafi probably wishes for […]

Libya United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Aug 22, 2011

NATO Proves Critics Wrong

By Barry Pavel

The naysayers were in abundance during this long, hot summer in Washington, Brussels, and other major capitals. They said that NATO’s no-fly zone, and the rebel military operations in Libya which NATO was aiding, were ineffective. NATO was running out of ammunition.

Libya NATO

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2011

Libya: Carpe Diem Europe!

By Julian Lindley-French

“No-one starts a war-or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so-without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it.” Karl von Clausewitz Make no mistake; what is happening in Libya right now has the most profound of grand strategic […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Aug 18, 2011

Policymaker’s Fear Of The Italian Penalty Shot

By Edward Hugh

According to one anonymous German official speaking off the record to reporters from Der Spiegel, “a country like Italy can’t be saved.” We will have to trust that he was referring to the country’s size when he made the statement, and not its existential core. If he was, he may well be right, at least under […]

Economy & Business European Union

New Atlanticist

Aug 18, 2011

Defining the Defense Problem in an Age of Austerity

By Derek Reveron

With the intent to reduce the US defense budget over the next ten years by $350 billion, Einstein offers sage advice when thinking about major problems. “If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem, and only five minutes finding the solution.” The problem in this case is not […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 17, 2011

Droning on in Afghanistan

By Sarwar Kashmeri

A century ago, gunboats enforced England’s dominance in the far corners of the world. Kill a British colonial governor and you’d wake up one morning to see a Royal Navy gunboat steaming in over the horizon, guns blazing, as it leveled a village in retaliation. Today it is the drone — the ubiquitous pilotless airplane […]

Afghanistan Drones

New Atlanticist

Aug 17, 2011

Ramazan’s Lost Chance for an Afghan Truce

By Maleeha Lodhi

A slew of questions were raised when a Chinook helicopter was shot down on 6 August in Afghanistan ’s Wardak province killing 30 US servicemen – most of them elite Navy seals – and eight Afghans. Will the heaviest loss of American lives in a single incident since 2001 heighten doubts about the Afghan mission […]

Afghanistan

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