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 14, 2010

Worms of Mass Destruction

By Harlan Ullman

The alarms are deafening but who is listening? U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn wrote a remarkable piece in Foreign Affairs warning of the threats and dangers posed by cyberattacks. Shortly thereafter, as if on cue, the Stuxtnet worm struck Iran. Its target was controllers made by Siemens that Iran is using in its […]

Cybersecurity
Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 14, 2010

Pakistan: Dissension in the Ranks

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Pakistan’s most prominent — and vocal — retired chiefs of the army are demanding that the country’s air force be ordered to shoot down drones and helicopters — and increasingly angry active duty officers are voicing their approval in off-the-record conversations with Pakistani journalists. The country’s senior generals on active duty are being blasted as […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 13, 2010

Fueling Growth in Asia: Energy, Investment, and a Home-Grown Middle Class

By Boyko Nitzov and Rustam Makhmudov

Many would argue that export-oriented Asian economies are the paragon of economic success and an engine of global growth. Plenty of evidence supports this opinion: the economies of China and India grew by 10-11% and 6-7% annually for the greater part of the last ten years, and even when the global financial crisis induced a […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 13, 2010

5 Questions for Kurt Volker

By Jorge Benitez

Kurt Volker is a senior adviser at the Atlantic Council and member of the Council’s Strategic Advisors Group. He is also a former US ambassador to NATO and current managing director of the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies. I had the opportunity to discuss his thoughts on some […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 12, 2010

NATO Missile Defense: An American Affair

By James Joyner

A consistent theme of today’s "Transatlantic Missile Defense" conference hosted by the Atlantic Council was the extent to which the United States dominates the domain.

New Atlanticist

Oct 12, 2010

Mistral Between Scylla and Charybdis

By David Smith

As French officials sat on the beaches of the Côte d’Azur last August, some no doubt thought that they were on a well-earned break from negotiations to sell Mistral amphibious assault ships to Russia. Imagine their surprise when a northeast wind kicked up the seas, instantly transforming what they thought were nearly concluded exclusive negotiations […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 12, 2010

Killing Olive Trees and Peace Prospects

By Don Snow

The essentially cadaverous Palestinian-Israeli “peace process” took another of its periodic turns away from any meaningful or likely movement in the direction of a peace settlement in the past week, after the equally ritualistic and doomed staging of another peace meeting in Washington last month

New Atlanticist

Oct 8, 2010

Rebuilding Central Europe

By Kurt Volker

Central Europeans are known for their persistent pessimism. An old Hungarian joke sums it up well: "We know that next year is going to be an average year – because it’s going to be worse than this year, but better than the year after that." That glass-half-empty mentality was on public display in July 2009, […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 7, 2010

Kyrgyzstan’s Historic Elections: A Guide

By Meerim Abdieva and Ross Wilson

Kyrgyzstan’s political drama that began with the overthrow of President Bakiyev in April, violent ethnic clashes in the country’s south in June, and a constitutional referendum two weeks later reaches it next pivot point in parliamentary elections that take place on Sunday.

New Atlanticist

Oct 7, 2010

The Case Against the Case Against NATO

By James Joyner

Daniel Larison‘s "The Case Against NATO" makes compelling reading. Here’s why it’s wrong. Larison charges: In the end, the main argument for perpetuating the NATO relic is that it provides the support structure for projecting power into remote parts of the globe where American interests are even less clearly defined. In other words, what once was […]

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