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
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

Jul 11, 2011

South Sudan: Free at Last! Now What?

By Peter Pham

The birth this past weekend of the Republic of South Sudan as the world’s newest independent state is, in many respects, a triumph for the Atlantic community’s diplomatic efforts in general and United States leadership in particular. The acceptance of the possibility of secession was the central feature of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) […]

East Africa

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2011

Should the United States Be More Like China?

By James Joyner

I’m continually shocked when demonstrably bright and accomplished people come back from posh meetings in authoritarian states gushing about what they saw and exhorting their fellow citizens that we need to emulate those societies. The latest victim of this affliction, of which Tom Friedman is the exemplar, is former Microsoft CEO Robert Herbold. In a Wall Street […]

China

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2011

The Necessity of U.S. Naval Power

By Gordon England James L. Jones and Vern Clark

All our citizens, and especially our servicemen and women, expect and deserve a thorough review of critical security decisions. After all, decisions today will affect the nation’s strategic position for future generations. The future security environment underscores two broad security trends. First, international political realities and the internationally agreed-to sovereign rights of nations will increasingly […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 8, 2011

Future of the Marine Corps: Looking Beyond Afghanistan

By Magnus Nordenman

I’m zooming across Virginia at 9,000 feet inside a Marine Corps V-22 Osprey, the sometimes maligned aircraft that just recently entered service with the Marine Corps. I am hitching a ride down to Cherry Point, North Carolina to observe part of Exercise Mailed Fist, the largest Marine Corps exercise on the east coast in decades. […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 8, 2011

Topsy-Turvy Alliance

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

The ingredients for a pluperfect national storm coupled with a pluperfect action completed at or before the time of another past action are the best way to try to understand the crazy mixed-up — but still critically important — alliance between Pakistan and the United States. Fickle friends and strong enemies at the same time […]

Pakistan

Lord Robertson Atlantic Council Makins Lecture, March 2, 2010

New Atlanticist

Jul 7, 2011

Former NATO Boss to Europeans: Have We No Pride?

By James Joyner

Former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson, a member of the Atlantic Council International Advisory Board, says that not only were Bob Gates’ parting shots at NATO correct but “he may well have pulled some punches.” Speaking at London’s Chatham House, he declared that “Bob Gates’ words should put a shiver down the collective European spine.” At […]

Libya NATO

New Atlanticist

Jul 7, 2011

Can Europe’s Small Leaders Make Big Strategy?

By Julian Lindley-French

George Washington wrote, “A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends”. As Leon Panetta takes over at the Pentagon the US military faces cuts unknown for a generation. A defence budget of $700 billion is unsustainable given the intensive care […]

Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Jul 7, 2011

Reconnecting with Europe

By Ana Palacio and Margaritis Schinas

On Wednesday June 29, the Barroso Commission presented the European Union 2013-2020 budget. The negotiations between the member states and the European Parliament have thus begun, and the process will be long and difficult. Long, because the final agreement will have to be decided unanimously in the midst of the worst financial and economic crisis […]

Economy & Business European Union

New Atlanticist

Jul 6, 2011

Keeping Up With Mideast Changes

By Barbara Slavin

The Obama administration took two important steps last week that demonstrated much-needed realism and nuance in the evolving U.S. relationship with political Islam. First, on Wednesday, it unveiled a new counterterrorism strategy that focuses squarely on Al Qaeda and its affiliates. It acknowledges that other groups, like Hezbollah and Hamas, might menace U.S. allies and […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 6, 2011

The (New) Morality of the (New) American Way of War

By Harlan Ullman

War, according to the great Prussian military philosopher Carl von Clausewitz was most profoundly a conflict of wills through an admixture of policy with “other means.” But Clausewitz never fully defined “other means.” There was little need. For most of history, war was a contest between more or less like military forces. Defeating the enemy […]

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