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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Experts React

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

Oct 28, 2010

Cybered Conflict as a New Frontier

By Chris Demchak

Understanding basic cybered conflict begins first with two critical adages for the cyberspace user at any organizational scale: ‘user beware’ and ‘user prepare’. First, if you or your organization are digitally connected to others to obtain something critical to the ability to operate, neither of you can sensibly fully trust anything reachable from that connect, […]

Cybersecurity
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 28, 2010

U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Again Tested by Nuclear Issue

By Ronak Desai

With President Obama scheduled to visit India in early November, officials in New Delhi are working with Washington to ease American concerns over nuclear liability legislation recently enacted by the Indian parliament that effectively precludes nuclear commerce between the United States and India. Formally entitled, “Civil Liability for the Nuclear Damages Bill, 2010,” passage of […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 27, 2010

NATO Losing in Afghanistan

By James Joyner

In a much-cited January 2008 report, the Atlantic Council warned, "Make no mistake, the international community is not winning in Afghanistan. Unless this reality is understood and action is taken promptly, the future of Afghanistan is bleak, with regional and global impact."

New Atlanticist

Oct 27, 2010

Why Great Institutions Fail

By Harlan Ullman

Why have a surprisingly large number of great institutions, supposedly impervious to failure, from super banks and mammoth insurance companies to giant automakers recently failed? Are these spectacular failures cyclical and thus inevitable whether due to God or man? Or are there more universal explanations? Do governments, irrespective of political basis or party affiliation, […]

Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Oct 27, 2010

NATO in an Age of Austerity

By James Joyner

World Politics Review has published a special issue on "NATO’s Identity Crisis" ahead of next month’s Lisbon summit and the unveiling of a new Strategic Concept. I contributed the lead essay, "NATO in an Age of Austerity."

New Atlanticist

Oct 26, 2010

Save NATO: Merge it with CSDP

By Sarwar Kashmeri

NATO isn’t working, warns Sarwar Kashmeri, who advocates a U.S, Canadian and EU joint project that would "bridge" the Atlantic alliance with Europe’s fledgling defence and security framework. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has been the most successful military alliance in history. Few people on either side of the Atlantic, or anywhere else in the […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 26, 2010

Afghan Peace Solution

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

America’s 17 intelligence agencies have spent more than half a trillion dollars — more than $500,000,000,000 — since 9/11, most of it on the global war on terror, and the Obama administration still believes that if Taliban supremo Mullah Mohammad Omar Akhund were to return to power in Kabul, al-Qaida would be back too — […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 25, 2010

U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue

By Huma Yusuf

What began last week as a strategic dialogue between US and Pakistani civilian and military leaders ended in strategic disconnect. Despite the US State Department’s efforts to make Washington’s relationship with Islamabad less one-dimensional – 13 working groups discussed development issues as wide-ranging as water and women’s empowerment – security issues remained the focus of […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 25, 2010

An Opportunity to Reimagine Eurasia

By Samuel Charap and Alexandros Petersen

Despite the smiles, hearty handshakes and declarations of partnership, President Obama’s meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in New York last month was actually a symptom of waning U.S. influence in Eurasia.

New Atlanticist

Oct 22, 2010

The U.S. and Pakistan: Uneasy Ties

By Shuja Nawaz

"Pakistan today is like a ship in heavy seas, having lost its propulsion’’ described a recent visitor to Islamabad. The imagery is dramatic but apt as the country reels under the effects of a massive flood and political squabbling that appear to have reduced government to firefighting rather than coming up with a credible long-term […]

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