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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New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2010

Arctic Climate Change Strategy

By Derek Reveron

Strategy is a roadmap that individuals, organizations, and countries use to advance interests over time. At a minimum, strategy is designed to prevent anticipated tragedies (such as conflict over a disputed territory) or at least be prepare for when tragedy strikes (e.g., humanitarian assistance after an earthquake). When it comes to climate change, emerging strategies […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 23, 2010

Singapore Security Motto: Be As One

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

The rule book on unintended and unanticipated global disasters is yet to be written. In the past decade, the world has experienced several surprise disasters that dwarfed 9/11, in either casualties and/or cost — e.g., the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that triggered a gigantic tsunami that killed more than 200,000 in 11 countries; the 2007 […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2010

Finishing The Job in Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo

By Kurt Volker

Remember Bosnia? Kosovo? In the 1990s, we learned a new phrase – ethnic cleansing – and we embarked on the first of what have now been many interventions in regional crises. Yet 15 years after the Serbian massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims at Srebrenica, we have still not finished the job of making the […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2010

Ukrainian Coalition Deal Makes Government Unworkable

By Alexander Motyl

Most Ukrainian analysts agree that President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to change the way governing coalitions are formed is, despite the Constitutional Court’s recent ruling to the contrary, unconstitutional. But how will that change actually affect the workings of government? Will it make for more or less stable government? Will it enhance or diminish the prospects […]

Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Apr 22, 2010

Cut Short-Range Nukes, Too

By Ralston-Robertson-Miller-Schake

With the new START treaty and the Nuclear Posture Review accomplished, the Obama administration has an enormous opportunity to capitalize on its momentum. It should propose that NATO negotiate with Moscow to reduce the number of short-range nuclear weapons in Europe.

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2010

Russia-Poland “Reset”?

By Angela Stent

Will the tragic plane crash over Smolensk that killed 96 of Poland’s top political elite provide the opening for a less fraught and more productive Russian-Polish relationship? That would require both countries coming to terms with a contested history, and with policy differences over the joint EU- Russia neighborhood, pipeline politics and broader questions of […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2010

Restoring Legitimacy in Kyrgyzstan

By Borut Grgic

With ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev now out of the country, and fears of a civil war weaning, the international community should carefully consider its agenda if it wishes to bringing about stability and true change to Kyrgyzstan. It would be a mistake to blindly accept the transition government as the trigger of the country’s democratic […]

New Atlanticist

Apr 21, 2010

Nuclear Iran: Accepting the ‘Unacceptable’

By Harlan Ullman

Iran possessing nuclear weapons is “unacceptable,” a warning repeated by many heads of state and senior government officials. The same was said of North Korea,although it may have little more than a nuclear device and thus far lacks a means of delivery.

New Atlanticist

Apr 20, 2010

Turkey’s Pivotal Future

By Robert Manning

It wasn’t exactly Page 1 news last month when Turkey responded to a Congressional committee labeling the murder of Armenians a century ago “genocide” by freezing its diplomatic, defense and energy ties to the U.S.

New Atlanticist

Apr 20, 2010

Afghan Hearts and Minds

By Don Snow

Ultimately, the United States can succeed in Afghanistan (whatever that means) if, and only if, we are able to convince the Afghan people that the outcome we favor is one that they support as well.

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