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.

Peter Galbraith Afghanistan Elections Interview

New Atlanticist
Jul 29, 2025

The Russia pressure menu: Options to convince Putin to negotiate on Ukraine

As the US president cuts his deadline for Russia to ten days, there are several options for him to increase pressure on Moscow to pursue peace.

New Atlanticist
Jul 24, 2025

Dispatch from Manila: A lesson in calling out Chinese maritime aggression

By
Markus Garlauskas, Philip W. Yu

As the Philippines has focused more on Chinese threats to itself, Manila also seems increasingly inclined to see its own security as connected to that of the broader region.

China
Indo-Pacific

New Atlanticist
Jul 1, 2025

The US must enforce sanctions to prevent Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program

By
Kimberly Donovan

To ensure that Tehran cannot get its hands on the financial resources it would need to rebuild its nuclear program, Iran sanctions enforcement should start with China.

Economic Sanctions
Iran

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New Atlanticist

Oct 20, 2009

Peter Galbraith Afghanistan Elections Interview

By James Joyner

Sarwar Kashmeri, a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s International Security Program, has inaugurated the New Atlanticist Podcast series with an interview with Ambassador Peter Galbraith on the Afghanistan election crisis.

New Atlanticist

Oct 20, 2009

Pakistan’s Government, Not Military, Must Fight Taliban

By Shuja Nawaz

Rising violence, targeted and random, has become a fact of life in Pakistan today. It threatens the country’s political and economic future—and there still does not appear to be a strategy to stop it.

Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 20, 2009

Beyond Piracy: Maritime Security and Safety Challenges

By Derek Reveron

For the last year, piracy in East Africa has captured the world’s attention, as evidenced by the more than a dozen countries’ warships deployed to the Gulf of Aden and the Somali basin. This includes unprecedented out-of-area naval deployments for the European Union, NATO, China, India, Japan, and South Korea. In spite of this, naval […]

East Africa Somalia

New Atlanticist

Oct 19, 2009

Afghanistan Election: Now What?

By James Joyner

A United Nations panel has ordered a run-off in Afghanistan’s presidential election, ruling that Hamid Karzai got less than fifty percent of the legitimate ballots cast and that nearly a third of the votes previously counted were fraudulent. It remains to be seen how Karzai and the West will respond.\

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 19, 2009

Pakistan’s Nukes Threatened by Taliban Resurgence

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

A Talib is a male student who is attending or who has graduated from a madrassa and can recite the Koran in Arabic by heart. To learn Arabic and use the language of the prophet to recite in rhythmic tones the entire Koran’s 114 chapters and 6,236 verses takes about 10 years. By the time […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 16, 2009

Soft Power is Dead, Long Live Soft Power

By Derek Reveron

Just three weeks ago, the International Olympics Committee signaled that a new era in international affairs had finally begun. By eliminating Chicago a personal appeal by President Obama, the IOC subtly told the United States that its unipolar moment was over. Instead, future international affairs will be dominated by different regional power centers-the European Union, […]

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Oct 16, 2009

Weakened Atlanticists and Uncertainty in the Czech Republic

By Lukas Hoder

To the traditionally skeptic Czechs, the idea of the ballistic missile defense system was never an easy sell for the Bush administration. Even Alexander Vondra, a leading Czech Atlanticist under Vaclav Havel who pushed for Euro-Atlantic integration, could not convince the public of the merits of the radar base planned for the Czech Republic.

Missile Defense Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 16, 2009

American Strategy Migration: Focus Must Shift from Afghanistan to Pakistan

By Paul Bauman

Derek Reveron’s “In Search of Strategy” is an excellent piece on a subject that deserves more attention. It brought to mind the definition laid out Everett Dolman’s Pure Strategy: “strategy, in its simplest form, is a plan for attaining continuing advantage.”

New Atlanticist

Oct 15, 2009

Strategic Balance in AfPak

By James Joyner

Joe Biden is reportedly the Obama administration’s biggest opponent to escalation in Afghanistan, arguing internally that our current strategic priorities are seriously out of kilter.

Afghanistan Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 15, 2009

State Department Must Reform or Die

By Mark Safranski

It is generally a bad sign for a Secretary of State so early in an administration to have to come out and deny that they have been marginalized by the White House, as Hillary Clinton felt compelled to do the other day. The denial itself serves as confirmation of the fact.

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