New Atlanticist

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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.

The Next Stage in U.S.-China Relations

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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The Next Stage in U.S.-China Relations

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

The Next Stage in U.S.-China Relations

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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Our experts decipher and annotate major speeches and policy documents to break down big ideas and lay them out in plain language.

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Content

New Atlanticist

Aug 4, 2009

The Next Stage in U.S.-China Relations

By Banning Garrett

The China-U.S. relationship for the 21st Century is being forged in a new, strategically interdependent world—a globalized world no longer characterized by the zero-sum strategic competition among the major powers that dominated the Cold War and preceding eras. The United States and China are not strategic competitors but rather face common strategic challenges that can […]

China

New Atlanticist

Aug 4, 2009

Rasmussen: Afghanistan NATO’s Top Priority

By James Joyner

New NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has wasted no time in signaling that the war in Afghanistan is the Alliance’s top priority, holding a teleconference on the conflict, reorganizing the mission’s command structure and calling for more EU help in his first days on the job.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Aug 4, 2009

Biden Was Right: Russia No Longer a Great Power

By David Smith

As U.S. Vice President Joe Biden returned to Washington from his foray to Ukraine and Georgia, the first copies of a Wall Street Journal article that would plunge him into political controversy rolled off the presses.

The Caucasus Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Aug 3, 2009

Kashmir Self-Determination Revisited

By Luv Puri

On 5 May 1946, People’s Age, a communist newspaper, noted in a commentary that granting the right to complete self-determination to all the nationalities living in India would eliminate the possibility of a constitutional solution along communal lines. The right, it continued, could be conceded after a territorial re-division of provinces, done on a scientific […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 3, 2009

Faulty Reset on START

By David Smith

When U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a Joint Understanding on July 6 on a treaty to follow the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), this first press of Obama’s reset button launched U.S. negotiators into a time warp to circa 1969 Cold War-style negotiations against an artificial deadline. The result […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Aug 2, 2009

Guantanamo Detainees: The View from Europe

By Andrew Kessinger

Thanks to renewed transatlantic cooperation, President Barack Obama is one small step closer to keeping his campaign promise to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention center.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jul 31, 2009

Anders Fogh Rasmussen: NATO’s Last Secretary General?

By James Joyner

Denmark’s Anders Fogh Rasmussen officially takes over as head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization tomorrow.   A Guardian editorial muses that he may be “The last NATO secretary general.”

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 31, 2009

Russia’s Energy Weapon Could Take Aim at USA

By Alexandros Petersen

Recently the European Commission urgently recommended that all European Union member-state governments begin filling natural-gas storage facilities in preparation for energy cutoffs from Russia. If Russia’s Kremlin-controlled energy monopoly Gazprom gets its way, such emergency measures may also become a reality in the United States.

Energy & Environment Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 30, 2009

World Reaction to Obama and the Gates Arrest: Yawn

By Adam Clayton Powell III

The reaction in much of the world was muted, or less. But in some countries that have racial tensions similar to the U.S., the coverage was less muted — and looked familiar.

New Atlanticist

Jul 30, 2009

Euro Catching Up to Dollar in Counterfeiting Game

By James Joyner

In a few short years, the euro has become the second-most-traded currency in the world.  Now, counterfeit euros are spreading faster than the real thing.

Economy & Business
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