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.

Building the Afghan National Security Force under Fire

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 4, 2011

Building the Afghan National Security Force under Fire

By William B. Caldwell IV

The first tranche of geographic transition is now complete in Afghanistan; geographic transition is a positive step, but it will not be risk-free. As recent media accounts have made clear, the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and other insurgent groups seek to regain lost territory. Over the past two years, approximately 2,800 Afghan police and 1,050 Afghan soldiers […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Aug 3, 2011

An Effective, Affordable Uncommon Defense, Part 3

By Harlan Ullman

The West is in the process of drastic defense reductions, justified by the lack of existential or even serious military adversaries and catalyzed by the toughest economic times in decades. This third column on an uncommon defense argues that absent an existential threat –and draconian budget cuts may well be the only prospect to fill […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Aug 3, 2011

The Enemy of Iran’s Enemy

By Barbara Slavin

Despite the alarmist headlines, no one should have been shocked by last week’s U.S. Treasury Department designation of a Syrian based in Iran as a conduit for sending money and personnel to al Qaeda. Iran has had links to members of what became known as al Qaeda since the early 1990s, when both had a […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 3, 2011

The Lamps Are Going Out All Over Europe

By Julian Lindley-French

The German-Belgian border. 3 August, 2011. Ninety-seven years ago to the day Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, looked out of his palatial, imperial London office and said, “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our time”. A few hours later two German armies smashed […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Aug 2, 2011

Fiddling Whilst the West Fails: The Great Globalisation Disaster

By Julian Lindley-French

“Forget these frivolous demands which strike a terror to my fading soul”. So Mephistopheles beseeches Marlowe’s Dr Faustus. With American politicians not so much debating whether or not to sell America’s soul, but for what price, the most profound of strategic questions is now apparent. For how long does the West support a system of […]

Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Aug 2, 2011

Afghanistan and Libya Point NATO to Five Lessons

By Kurt Volker

Both the wars in Afghanistan and Libya reveal serious flaws in the Alliance. If they can’t be fixed, perhaps it’s time for a ‘back to basics’ NATO and a return to coalitions of the willing. Whether it is a matter of weeks or months, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi will probably fall from power, and opposition forces will likely gain […]

Afghanistan Libya

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2011

Somalia: Beyond the Famine

By Peter Pham

Today Somalia is not only the world’s most spectacular case of a failed state—it has, after all, been more than twenty years since the benighted land has had anything resembling a central government—but, thanks to the worst drought in six decades, it is what the United Nations refugee agency has described as the “worst humanitarian […]

Somalia

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2011

Slouching Towards a Fiscal Union

By Ben Carliner

It is an old cliché that the European Union only advances in the wake of a crisis. Recently though, it has seemed like every time the EU takes action its response is deemed too little too late.

Economy & Business European Union

New Atlanticist

Aug 1, 2011

India-Israel: BFFs or Fair Weather Friends?

By Shikha Bhatnagar

Earlier this month, India experienced the first significant terrorist attack within its borders since the horrific events of November 26, 2008 (“26/11”). Although no conclusive evidence of perpetrators has been found to date and clues strongly suggest homegrown elements, the news clips, blogospheres, and twitter-universe were abuzz with conjectures on what India’s actions would and […]

India Israel

New Atlanticist

Jul 29, 2011

Turkish Military Leadership Resigns and What It Means

By Ross Wilson

Media reported in Turkey late on July 29 that the Chief of the Turkish General Staff (TGS), General Işık Koşaner, and the military service chiefs under him at Land Forces, the Air Force and the Navy have all submitted their resignations.

Turkey

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