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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.

Afghanistan Victory: Translating Goals into Strategy

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.

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Afghanistan Victory: Translating Goals into Strategy

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

Afghanistan Victory: Translating Goals into Strategy

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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New Atlanticist

Sep 23, 2009

Afghanistan Victory: Translating Goals into Strategy

By Don Snow

Assuming the counterinsurgent partners (in this case, the Afghan and American governments) can agree on a desired outcome that consititutes its version of the better state of the peace (BSOP), the next question is how to achieve that condition? This means determining what political and military conditions must exist to be able to declare the […]

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 22, 2009

Missile Defense Rollout Rushed

By James Joyner

The rollout of President Obama’s new missile defense policy was “compressed” because news was leaking and leading to rampant speculation, Alexander “Sandy” Vershbow, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs told an Atlantic Council conference call this morning. As a result, there was “not as much consultation” with our allies in Poland and the […]

Missile Defense Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 22, 2009

Obama Missile Move: Smart Power Reset

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

For some armchair strategists, President Obama’s decision to scrap the Bush 43 plan to deploy ballistic missile defense hardware in Poland and the Czech Republic was rank appeasement that would merely sharpen the Russian bear’s appetite for more unilateral concessions that could only weaken America’s defense posture. That was sound Cold War thinking. And for […]

Missile Defense NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 22, 2009

Foreign Policy Community War-Mongers?

By James Joyner

Writing in today’s WSJ, Council on Foreign Relations president emeritus Leslie Gelb pronounces himself “lost on President Barack Obama’s Afghanistan policy” and offers up a middle ground solution for Afghanization of the conflict.

New Atlanticist

Sep 21, 2009

Debating Afghanistan: Beyond the McChrystal Leak

By James Joyner

An interesting sidebar to the debate sparked by the leak of General McChrystal’s Afghanistan strategy review is the question of how such debates should take place to begin with.

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 21, 2009

McChrystal: More Troops or Failure in Afghanistan

By James Joyner

As widely rumored, NATO’s Afghanistan commander has asked President Obama for another sizable increase in troops, otherwise suffer “likely failure.”

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Sep 21, 2009

Missile Defense: What Scowcroft Missed

By Adrian Karatnycky

Brent Scowcroft has issued a strong statement of support for President Obama’s decision to scrap George Bush’s planned missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of a sea-based system.  General Scowcroft, however, elides the main point. While there may be a strong case in favor of the Aegis alternative, the announcement should […]

Central Europe Eastern Europe

New Atlanticist

Sep 19, 2009

Brzezinski Endorses Obama Missile Decision, Slams Rollout

By James Joyner

Yesterday, I noted that Brent Scowcroft supports President Obama’s missile defense decision.  Another distinguished member of our International Advisory Board,  Zbigniew Brzezinski, has voiced his support as well — albeit in an extremely colorful manner that’s not particularly flattering to the president.

Europe & Eurasia Missile Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 18, 2009

Brent Scowcroft Supports Obama’s Missile Defense Decision

By James Joyner

While I remain highly critical of the optics of yesterday’s decision to change course on missile defense in Eastern Europe, timed as it was on the 70th anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Poland and coming after a year of bellicose actions from Moscow, it would be remiss not to point out that General Brent Scowcroft […]

Eastern Europe Missile Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 18, 2009

Nabucco and Trans-Caspian Relations

By Alexandros Petersen

This summer’s dispute over undersea Caspian energy resources between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, as well as Ashgabat’s recently stated intention to bolster its maritime military capabilities, have seemingly thrown Trans-Caspian relations into a tailspin, jeopardizing plans for energy cooperation to supply the strategic Nabucco natural gas pipeline.

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