New Atlanticist

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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.

Welcome to NATO Operation Protecting Disunity

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

Apr 15, 2011

Welcome to NATO Operation Protecting Disunity

By Julian Lindley-French

Don’t you just love NATO speak? Yesterday in Berlin NATO Foreign Ministers settled down to a working lunch to discuss ‘progress’ on Operation Unified Protector (OUP) in the skies over Libya. Personally, I have never been able to eat and think which could explain the ensuing Statement on Libya, which in its brevity and truth […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 15, 2011

Atlantic Update 4/15/11

By Klee Aiken

President Obama, Prime Minister Cameron, and President Sarkozy appeal to the public in today’s New York Times, Le Figaro, and Times of London, while NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen writes in to The Washington Post, arguing that "NATO made the right call in Libya." The NATO theme continues throughout the papers as yesterday’s Foreign […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2011

Operation Libyan Freedom

By Harlan Ullman

The stated political aim of NATO and the coalition now conducting military operations over Libya authorized by U.N. Security Resolution 1973 to “use all necessary measures” to protect civilians is to end the rule of Moammar Gadhafi and his regime. But when queried about the seeming inconsistency between the military objective of protecting civilians and […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2011

Coming Geopolitical Upheaval

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Take the last two digits of the year in which you were born, then add the age you will be this year – and the result will be 111 for everyone born in the 20th century. This year will also experience four unusual dates: 1/1/11, 1/11/11, 11/1/11/ 11/11/11. October 2011 will have five Sundays, five […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 14, 2011

Atlantic Update 4/14/11

By Klee Aiken

Today Europe is preoccupied with finance. Finland threatens to block the Portuguese bail out, The European Commission looks to increase its budget, and Greece is on the edge of further unrest as austerity measures lead to restructuring. Meanwhile in Berlin NATO foreign ministers discuss the way forward in Libya including the recent call for Gaddafi […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2011

Obama Must Not Delay in Brokering a New Mideast Peace

By Brent Scowcroft

The ‘Arab Spring’ that is flowering in fits and starts in most countries of the Middle East has significantly altered the geopolitical situation in the region, and is likely to have a profound effect on American interests. No one knows how or when the region will settle down, and there is little that the US […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2011

Feeding Pakistan’s Paranoia

By Shuja Nawaz

Behind all the talk of a strategic dialogue and strategic partnership between the United States and Pakistan lurks the reality of a persistent transactional relationship, based on short-term objectives that intrude rudely into the limelight every time a drone attack kills civilians inside Pakistan or in the instance when an American “operative” is caught by […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2011

Obama’s Very Conventional Foreign Policy

By James Joyner

Harvard’s Stephen Walt reflects on the impending game of musical chairs at the top levels of the Obama administration’s foreign policy team: I don’t think these changes are going to make much difference. It’s not like Obama will be replacing the current set of officials with people who have a fundamentally different perspective on foreign and defense […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2011

Georgia Gives Up MAP, but Expects to Join NATO Anyway

By Matthew Czekaj

It should now be crystal clear: Georgia no longer wants a Membership Action Plan (MAP) for NATO accession. But it still expects to become a member of the Alliance.

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2011

Atlantic Update 4/13/11

By Klee Aiken

The trial of Geert Wilders on the charge of "inciting hate" resumes in Amsterdam amidst the controversial decision by France to ban the wearing of a burqa. While the European Union mulls extending the single market across the Mediterranean, the drawing power of membership begins to wane as many in Croatia see the topic as […]

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