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.

Could Elections be Democratic in Ukraine without Tymoshenko?

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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Dive deep into developing stories, guided by continually updated expert analysis that leaves you better informed about the most pressing global issues behind the headlines.

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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

Jun 28, 2011

Could Elections be Democratic in Ukraine without Tymoshenko?

By Taras Kuzio

Speaking to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on June 21, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych defended the criminal cases launched against former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and twelve ministers from her 2007-2010 government. Together with nine leaders of the fall 2010 anti-tax code protests and ten nationalists who admitted to beheading the […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Jun 28, 2011

Atlantic Update 6/28/2011

By HuiHui Ooi

The IMF announced Christine Lagarde as its next managing director, becoming the first female to lead one of the world’s largest lending organization. Strikes in Greece turn into violent clashes as Greece continues to deal with its financial crisis. Greece also faces a parliamentary vote on Wednesday to approve a third austerity package in order […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 27, 2011

Reaching Across the Border

By Raja Menon and Lalit Mansingh

Pakistan’s deceit in cocooning Osama bin Laden in Abottabad as well as the ISI support to the Mumbai attackers has angered Indian public opinion. Unfortunately, Pakistan is a geographical reality and it will always be a neighbour. Punishing Pakistan by not engaging it in areas of our national interest is therefore not wise. Given this, […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 27, 2011

After the bin Laden Raid

By Shuja Nawaz

For the second time in the life of the current government a parliamentary session has produced a unanimous “feel good” resolution, after what must have been serious prodding by the military. Private discussions again leaked badly to the media, making it difficult to ascertain what was really said, given that we cannot judge the motivations […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 24, 2011

NATO Cyber Defense: Moving Past the Summit

By Jason Healey

Earlier this month, the Alliance’s defense ministers adopted a new Cyber Defense Policy and Action Plan, fulfilling and moving beyond the policy basics of the Strategic Concept from the 2010 Lisbon Summit. Though the details are still classified, this blog will discuss the basics of the new policy which seems to root NATO in the things […]

Cybersecurity
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jun 24, 2011

Cartoon: Obama’s GPS

By James Joyner

Florida Today‘s Jeff Parker offers this take on President Obama’s Afghanistan "drawdown," which will culminate in getting American forces down to Bush era levels by the end of 2012.

New Atlanticist

Jun 23, 2011

Morocco Bets on Reform

By Peter Pham

At a time when, as the experts assembled at a symposium earlier this month hosted by the Atlantic Council’s Ansari Africa Center noted, the fate of both the “Arab Spring” in general and the North African revolutions in particular remain far from certain, Morocco has made an audacious bet with the new constitution that King […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 23, 2011

Cyber Incidents and State Fingerprints

By Jason Healey

“We see the state fingerprints on this hack” has been a relatively common phrase in news articles over the past months, but what does it really mean?

Cybersecurity
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jun 23, 2011

Atlantic Update 6/23/2011

By HuiHui Ooi

European leaders react positively towards President Obama’s declaration to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. The EU extended its sanctions against the Syrian regime. In the European missile defense arena, Aselsan won a $1B contract with the Turkish Air Defense. The Greek financial crisis is the top priority of the EU summit in Brussels this week. Is the EU’s […]

New Atlanticist

Jun 22, 2011

Are Leadership and Political Courage Enough?

By Harlan Ullman

Two completely unrelated data points ironically apply to repairing U.S.-Pakistani relations: George Bernard Shaw quipped that America and Britain were two nations divided by a common language. Seventy years ago — June 22, 1941 — Nazi shock troops stormed into Soviet Russia in a surprise attack that ultimately helped lead to the defeat of Hitler’s […]

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