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.

Can We Succeed in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

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

May 12, 2010

Can We Succeed in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

By Harlan Ullman

This week’s very visible visit of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to Washington, combined with the fallout from Faisal Shahzad’s failed bombing attempt in New York’s Times Square and the specter of forcing Pakistan to go after terrorist training camps in North Waziristan, raises the question of whether or not “we” can succeed in Afghanistan and […]

New Atlanticist

May 12, 2010

Ukraine: Containing the Con

By Alexander Motyl

For five years Viktor Yanukovych claimed to be a democratic, moderate, and unifier—everything that the Orange elites presumably were not. In the two months that he has occupied the president’s seat, Yanukovych has shown that he is an authoritarian, radical, and disunifier—everything that the Orange revolutionaries had accused him of being in 2004.

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

May 11, 2010

Tory-Lib Dem Coalition Imminent, Inevitable

By James Joyner

Yesterday, in a bold gambit to secure a progressive Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition, Gordon Brown announced his resignation as prime minister and party leader. He failed. All signs point to an imminent power sharing arrangement between the plurality winning Conservatives and the third place Lib Dems.

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

May 10, 2010

Trillion Dollar Bet on the Euro

By James Joyner

The Economist‘s Charlemagne sums it up with characteristic pith: "At two in the morning on May 10th, European Union finance ministers agreed a huge increase in their political will to defend Europe’s single currency, backed by a stunning €750 billion in aid for weak links in the 16 member eurozone. Simultaneously, the European Central Bank […]

New Atlanticist

May 10, 2010

End of Ukraine and Future of Eurasia

By Alexander Motyl

For the first time in 20 years, Ukraine’s disappearance as a state is imaginable. Since Ukraine is a pivotal state of great geopolitical significance to the stability of both Europe and Asia, its collapse could have considerable geopolitical consequences.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2010

Britain 2010 and America 2000

By James Joyner

Like the 2000 American presidential elections, the results of the 2010 parliamentary elections are drawing some attention to some oddities in the system and bringing calls for reform. Most likely, the Brits will follow the lead of their American cousins and make no significant changes. Britain’s hung parliament, the first since 1974, is the result […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2010

Britain’s Hung Parliament: What Now?

By James Joyner

As expected, yesterday’s UK elections resulted in a hung parliament, with the Tories falling short of an outright majority needed to form a government on their own. While Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats wound up in distant third, they’re now in the driver’s seat. Conservative leader David Cameron has reached out to Clegg to […]

New Atlanticist

May 7, 2010

Fiscal WMD

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Even the world’s most savvy stock market giants (e.g., Warren E. Buffett) have warned over the past decade that derivatives are the fiscal equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction, potentially lethal, and the consequences of such an explosion would make the recent global financial and economic crisis seem like penny ante. But generously lubricated […]

New Atlanticist

May 6, 2010

Greek Meltdown Sends Dow Plunging

By James Joyner

It has long been an axiom that, "When America sneezes, the world catches a cold." But, in the era of globalization, it works both ways. AP business writer Tim Paradis: Stocks plunged Thursday as investors succumbed to fears that Greece’s debt problems would halt the global economic recovery. The Dow Jones industrials slid almost 1,000 […]

New Atlanticist

May 5, 2010

World Needs Strong, Independent Britain — And the Special Relationship

By Kurt Volker

It has become disturbingly fashionable to vow that Britain must not “slavishly follow America.” David Cameron has said it. Nick Clegg has said it. And I agree. Nor should Britain “slavishly follow” Luxembourg. Or Burma. Or even the Galapagos Islands, green as they may be. These latter examples are, of course, throw-aways. It is the […]

United Kingdom

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