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
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 8, 2009

Calling President Blair

By Nicholas Siegel

We may soon have an answer to Henry Kissinger’s infamous question: “Who do I call when I want to call Europe?” And, depending on how things go, it could become a very familiar phone number.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Oct 8, 2009

The Lisbon Treaty and EU Foreign Policy: The View from Europe

By Benjamin Preisler

After the resounding Irish approval of the Lisbon Treaty, its ratification is almost assured … pending signatures of the euroskeptic Polish and Czech Presidents that is.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Oct 8, 2009

Will Biden’s Reassurance Trip Succeed?

By Nikolas Gvosdev

Politico’s Laura Rozen is reporting that Vice President Joe Biden will travel later this month to Romania, the Czech Republic and Poland. The vice president is emerging as the administration’s “perestrakhovshchik” – the “reinsurer.”

Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Oct 8, 2009

Afghanistan: The Options Debate

By Don Snow

During the past week, General Stanley McChrystal’s leaked redacted report on his needs for prosecuting the war in Afghanistan has sparked an increasingly public debate about where US policy should be heading. One fascinating aspect of this debate surrounds the leaking of the McChrystal recommendations to Washington Post analyst Bob Woodward: who did it? and […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 7, 2009

Stakes are Higher in Pakistan than Afghanistan

By Harlan Ullman

In Afghanistan, the Obama administration faces an array of agonizing choices, none of which is good. Making matters worse, the most important strategic issue is not Afghanistan. The strategic fulcrum in containing and defeating the insurgency that is spilling over and across the Hindu Kush is Pakistan.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Oct 7, 2009

Nabucco Edging Ahead of South Stream?

By Alexandros Petersen

At the opening of the Atlantic Council’s Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum in Bucharest on September 30, you couldn’t ask for a better mix of commercial and geopolitical interests when it comes to energy development in Eurasia. But not because the speakers represented a government and the private sector.

Energy & Environment

Steven Everts, Personal Representative, Secretary-General, High Representative for Energy and Foreign Policy, Council of the EU

New Atlanticist

Oct 7, 2009

The Caspian Comes to Europe

By Alexandros Petersen

If EU policymakers and companies won’t go to Caspian energy producers with serious offers for their hydrocarbons, Caspian producers will just have to go to the EU. This seems to be the message sent by Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as their state energy companies partner to build an oil pipeline heading to the West.

Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

Oct 7, 2009

The Russia-Georgia Conflict: An Invasion by Any Other Name

By David Smith

The long awaited European Union-commissioned report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia was published last week. Unsurprisingly, it largely corroborates Georgian accounts of Russia’s August 2008 invasion while blaming Georgia for sparking the conflict.

Russia The Caucasus

New Atlanticist

Oct 6, 2009

Jim Jones and Bob Gates: Service in a Polarized Age

By James Joyner

Michael Goldfarb, formerly chief blogger for the McCain campaign, wrote a piece for the Weekly Standard blog with the provocative title “Rent-a-General Jim Jones,” arguing that the man who spent four decades serving his country as an officer in the Marine Corps, rising to Commandant and then Supreme Allied Commander, is a partisan stooge for […]

New Atlanticist

Oct 6, 2009

Capitalizing on the Recession

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

“The American dream fell apart at the seams,” Willie Nelson sang on CNN as he described the plight of small farmers going bust. Almost everything and everyone is fighting for survival in an economy that continues to defy wallops of government stimulus.

Economy & Business

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