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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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 […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 22, 2010

New world disorder

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

U.S. President Barack Obama’s reset button for a new America as the shining beacon on the hill for the rest of the world to look up to is jammed. And the prophets of doom and gloom are soaring.

New Atlanticist

Oct 21, 2010

Looking Beyond the EU: Natural Gas Politics in Ukraine

By Alexandros Petersen

The election of the relatively pro-Russian Victor Yanukovich as President of Ukraine in February 2010 was supposed to herald a new era of energy stability in a country wracked by natural gas cutoffs, disputes among energy-rich oligarchs and perennial political turmoil, but recent events show that energy security in Central Asia and a stable supply […]

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Oct 21, 2010

If Pakistanis Thought Like Americans

By Harlan Ullman

With the U.S.-Pakistani strategic dialogue resuming in Washington today, the relationship could hardly be worse. The trust deficit, already vast, has been stressed to the breaking point by NATO incursions into Pakistan and the subsequent ten-day closure of the major land supply route from Karachi to Afghanistan in retaliation. But there is a grimmer prospect. […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 20, 2010

Cybered Conflict vs. Cyber War

By Chris Demchak

The US military named cyberspace a military domain and spawned endless repetitive conferences trying to fit cyberspace into concepts tied to the air, land, sea, and even nuclear domains. The domain designation is useful for parsing the bureaucratic lines of authority among military services. It also makes for more accustomed objectives if our military seeks […]

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

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