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.

Crisis? What Crisis? How to Save a Debt-Drowning Planet

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

Aug 6, 2011

Crisis? What Crisis? How to Save a Debt-Drowning Planet

By Julian Lindley-French

In late 1979, with the public service unions on strike and with the national debt spiraling out of control, Britain began to resemble a toilet. Prime Minister Jim Callaghan returned from a ‘summit’ in Guadeloupe (they never seem to hold summits in Rotherham or Detroit). The Sun, one of Britain’s Murdoch tabloid newspapers, famed for […]

Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2011

Ales Byalyatski, 2011 Atlantic Council Freedom Awardee, Arrested in Belarus

By The Editors

On August 4, Belarusian authorities detained Ales Byalyatski, Chairman of the Human Rights Center “Viasna,” and a recipient of a 2011 Atlantic Council Freedom Award. In June, Byalyatski accepted the Council’s Freedom Award for Viasna’s extraordinary work and in recognition of his long-time struggle for human rights in Belarus. Representatives from Viasna, the Belarusian Association […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2011

Al-Qaeda’s North African franchise moves south

By J. Peter Pham

British and Italian officials are checking a video received Thursday by Agence France-Presse which, if authenticated, will confirm not only the fate of two Westerners abducted in Nigeria in May, but the worrisome fact that al-Qaeda in the Lands of the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has now extended its reach into Nigeria. While the Foreign Office […]

Africa
Extremism

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2011

4 Steps Merkel and Sarkozy Should Take Now

By Alexei Monsarrat

Wall Street Journal reports that German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Nicolas Sarkozy are to speak today “with the ‘current situation in the euro zone’ among the issues to be discussed.” They have much to talk about.

European Union
International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Aug 5, 2011

The Devil in the Budget Reduction Details

By Don Snow

After a game of chicken that lasted for weeks, the grand budget reduction package has finally passed. Tinged with more than a hint of disgust and distaste for the unseemly process that got to the final agreement, most people are heaving a sigh of relief that the debt default bullet has been dodged at least […]

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Aug 4, 2011

The European Union’s Fort Sumter Moment

By Sarwar Kashmeri

In 1776, the founding fathers of the United States made a grand bargain to ensure the birth of a new republic. They agreed to sideline the new country’s black population, even though the Constitution they were about to endorse proclaimed that all men are created equal. This compromise ensured approval of the constitution and the […]

Economy & Business
European Union

New Atlanticist

Aug 4, 2011

Unthinkable is Reality

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

The nail-biting, cliff-hanger produced something that didn’t pass mental math. To raise America’s $14.3 trillion federal debt ceiling hours ahead of Tuesday’s deadline by $2.4 trillion in two stages while committing to equal spending cuts over 10 years — still with me? — was more fool’s bargain than bargain basement. The complete collapse of the […]

Economy & Business
United States and Canada

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 […]

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