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
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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Our experts decipher and annotate major speeches and policy documents to break down big ideas and lay them out in plain language.

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 […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 5, 2011

Flying Crocodiles: The Latest Russian Position On Missile Defense Cooperation with NATO

By Barry Pavel

The Russian government is working hard to evolve their latest position opposing cooperation with NATO on a range of potential missile defense projects. The latest from Dimitry Rogozin, Russian Ambassador to NATO and Special Envoy of President Medvedev on Missile Defense Cooperation with NATO, is that “crocodiles will fly” before any Middle Eastern nation will […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 5, 2011

How to get Pakistan to break with Islamic militants

By Zalmay Khalilzad

In his Afghanistan speech last week, President Obama said we must “address terrorist safe havens in Pakistan.” He vowed to “press Pakistan to expand its participation in securing a more peaceful future,” “work with the Pakistani government to root out the cancer of violent extremism” and “insist that it keep its commitments.”

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Jul 5, 2011

Azerbaijan, Armenia will ‘soon be left on their own’ to resolve Karabakh

By Jason Harmala

Borut Grgic, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, and a member of the advisory board of the European Policy Institute, was interviewed by News.Az on recent developments in the Azerbaijan-Armenia relationship. What are your impressions of the summit in Kazan? Are there grounds for pessimism that no document was signed during this meeting? No, […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 2, 2011

U.S. Continues Carrying Load in Libya Despite Pretense Otherwise

By James Joyner

The Obama administration has been downplaying the American role in Libya. A Thursday report in the Military Times family of newspapers reported that “Air Force and Navy aircraft are still flying hundreds of strike missions over Libya despite the Obama administration’s claim that American forces are playing only a limited support role in the NATO […]

Libya

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