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.

Taking the Long View on the Middle East Revolts

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

May 20, 2011

Taking the Long View on the Middle East Revolts

By Barry Pavel

The President’s speech on the Middle East yesterday finally outlined the Administration’s initial principles for addressing one of the most significant developments in international relations in a generation. Until yesterday, the debate about options in Libya and how to approach the Middle East revolts in general was far too narrow in scope and too near-term […]

New Atlanticist

May 20, 2011

NATO and the EU: Centrifugal Forces and Fragmentation?

By Ioan Mircea Pascu

Even before the adoption of the New Strategic Concept and the Lisbon Summit, one of the major concerns of the new allies, namely us from East-Central Europe, was the necessity that NATO retains the capacity to honour its fundamental obligation to guarantee the security of its members. That was so because, on the one hand, […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

May 19, 2011

The European Onion and European Defence

By Julian Lindley-French

Deepest, darkest Yorkshire – The Awakening. When I was a lad my grandmother’s house in Sheffield had an outside toilet. This was not uncommon in the grittier parts of the Yorkshire industrial belt. There was a phrase used at the time to describe someone or something that had ideas above their station. “It is like […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

May 19, 2011

Long Live Web 3.0?

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Global Tower of Babel or new forms of social organization on a planetary scale? There are now a quarter of a million sites that call themselves social networks — up from 850 in two years. Twitter, Facebook, My Space, and Linkedin are the better known but few seem to understand the difference between social media […]

New Atlanticist

May 18, 2011

IMF Must Oust DSK Today; Fix Leadership Issues For Future

By Julie Chon

After three days of tepid statements from government officials, two female finance ministers from Europe finally questioned Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s ability to continue as Managing Director and Secretary Geithner echoed their concerns. While Strauss-Kahn is entitled to a fair trial, the IMF and the citizens it represents deserve a return to stability. The IMF Board has […]

New Atlanticist

May 18, 2011

Somaliland at 20

By Peter Pham

Today is the twentieth anniversary of the day when, in the wake of the collapse of the Somali state, clan elders in the onetime British Protectorate of Somaliland proclaimed their sovereignty. In the two decades since, while the rest of the country became the exemplar par excellence of a failed state, one best known today […]

New Atlanticist

May 18, 2011

Pakistan and Middle East Peace: Missions Impossible

By Harlan Ullman

During World War I and the height of the German U-boat campaign in the Atlantic that was sinking scores of ships and killing thousands of civilians, the great American humorist Will Rogers was asked for his solution to ending the submarine threat. Rogers replied “boil off the oceans” realizing the impossibility of his advice. When […]

New Atlanticist

May 17, 2011

A Time for Unity

By Robert Bracknell

Osama Bin Laden is no more. The latest Afghan war assessment notes frangible, delicate progress, but progress nonetheless. Commanders returning from Afghanistan cite real and substantial advances in the areas for which they were responsible, and even the newspapers give the counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan some chance for success.

New Atlanticist

May 17, 2011

Locating the Sources of Extremism in Pakistan

By Luv Puri

In 2006, a friend of mine took me to Abbottabad, which falls on the Karakorran highway, and introduced it as a city of oranges while driving from Islamabad to earthquake impacted areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Muzaffarabad district of Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Abbottabad, which was the final abode of the world’s most wanted man, […]

New Atlanticist

May 17, 2011

Atlantic Update 5/17/11

By Klee Aiken

The battle to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn begins in earnest, as Asia looks to wrestle control from a Europe keen on keeping the IMF focused on the Euro debt crisis. Greece continues to struggle, Portugal receives a stipend until the IMF and EU finance minsters can assess the post-election picture, and Irish commentators call for the […]

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