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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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

Sep 29, 2010

Averting Catastrophe in South Asia

By Harlan Ullman

We can joke that the United States and Great Britain are two nations divided by a common language. But the gap between the United States and Pakistan is neither humorous nor easily reconciled. Only a fundamental improvement in mutual understanding can rectify the enormous misunderstandings and misperceptions on both sides that threaten this crucial relationship […]

New Atlanticist

Sep 29, 2010

Prime Minister Erdogan Calls for Regional Cooperation and Integration

By Ross Wilson and Michelle M. Smith

In a keynote address on September 29 before the Atlantic Council’s second annual Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum in Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke to an audience of 250 government and business leaders.

New Atlanticist

Sep 28, 2010

NATO’s Relevance

By James Joyner

“Is NATO irrelevant?” That’s a question that Harvard’s Steve Walt asked on his Foreign Policy blog last week and a major subtext of the NATO Beyond Afghanistan conference held yesterday at the Atlantic Council.

New Atlanticist

Sep 28, 2010

9/11 Imbroglio

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

No sooner did Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggest from the rostrum of the U.N. General Assembly that most of the world believes the U.S. government was involved in a 9/11 conspiracy, than 32 nations followed the U.S. delegation as it walked out. These were members of NATO, the European Union (21 countries are members of […]

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Sep 27, 2010

Afghan Realities

By James Stavridis

Gilles Dorronsoro, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, argued in the New York Times on Sept. 15 that the Western coalition will not defeat the insurgency in Afghanistan, and “needs to start facing reality and begin negotiating with the Taliban before it’s too late.” NATO’s commander responds.

New Atlanticist

Sep 27, 2010

Yanukovych in Wonderland

By Alexander Motyl

The policy and business elites who attended the Atlantic Council’s September 24th luncheon in New York with Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych may be wondering just what he meant by what he said—and, more important, by what he did not say.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 24, 2010

Freedom and Defense Spending

By James Joyner

In a rather odd posting at RealClearWorld‘s Compass blog titled “Defense Spending and Freedom,” Greg Scoblette argues: If I’m reading this op-ed from Danielle Pletka and Thomas Donnelly correctly it sounds like they don’t want the Republican party (or the Tea Party) to cut defense spending. Which is fine, so far as it goes. But they […]

New Atlanticist

Sep 23, 2010

Obama’s Wars: Afghanistan and with His Generals

By James Joyner

Bob Woodward’s latest insider book, Obama’s Wars, reveals that the White House team has outsized egos, sharp disagreements over policy, petty bickering, and bureaucratic infighting. It also tells us some things we didn’t know.

New Atlanticist

Sep 23, 2010

Critical Questions on Iran

By Stuart Eizenstat and Mark Brzezinski

A confluence of events in the next few weeks again will put Iran at the top of the Obama administration’s foreign policy agenda and could shape its course in the months ahead. The annual United Nations General Assembly this week is likely to include another anti-American, anti-Western, anti-Israel rant from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while […]

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

Sep 22, 2010

Muddling Through to 2025

By James Joyner

Global Governance 2025, a joint effort of the Atlantic Council and its global partners, offers a wide range of trajectories for the international system depending on whether we adequately address known threats.

European Union International Organizations

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