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.

Energy Insecurity as a Destabilizing Factor: The Case of the Hermit Kingdom

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

May 26, 2009

Energy Insecurity as a Destabilizing Factor: The Case of the Hermit Kingdom

By Boyko Nitzov

On a popular image showing the Earth at night, there is an expanse appearing to be an open sea or icy desert. This is North Korea: a dark spot between the bright city lights of Japan, China, and the Republic of Korea. It is in this darkness that a second test of a nuclear weapon […]

Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

May 26, 2009

American Policy for Russia: Democracy

By David Smith

US President Barack Obama heads to Moscow July 6-8. With his trip just six weeks off, and the new American administration still crafting a foreign policy, newspaper pundits, including the author of this column, are scribbling. Opinions abound, but almost all agree that it is time for Obama to step “Beyond the “Reset Button.'”

Russia United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

May 24, 2009

Turkey-Armenia Reconciliation: The Right Side of History

By David Phillips

The recent announcement normalizing Turkish-Armenian relations is a potentially historic breakthrough. However, the lack of progress in implementing the “framework agreement” raises questions about Turkey’s intentions and resolve. Turkey’s prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, is buckling to domestic opposition and objections from Azerbaijan. Moreover, the announcement of the normalization “road map” on the eve of Armenian […]

Turkey

New Atlanticist

May 23, 2009

Obama Foreign Policy: Bush 2.0?

By James Joyner

Charles Krauthammer notes, as many have lately, the remarkable similarity between the Obama foreign policy and the Bush foreign policy he campaigned against so vociferously. He cleverly dubs it the “Obama three-step: (a) excoriate the Bush policy, (b) ostentatiously unveil cosmetic changes, (c) adopt the Bush policy. “

New Atlanticist

May 22, 2009

Fairytale: We Don’t Wanna Put-In

By David Smith

Fairytale is the sprightly little ditty that won the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest for Norwegian Alexander Rybak last Saturday in Moscow. We Don’t Wanna Put-In is a song by Stefane and 3G of Georgia.

The Caucasus

New Atlanticist

May 22, 2009

India’s Election Surprise: What it Means for India and South Asia

By Basharat Peer

On a late April afternoon in Lucknow, the capital of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, I met a rickshaw puller, a man who made $3 a day pedaling passengers through aggressive traffic and temperatures as high as 120 F. He was among the hundreds of millions of Indian poor and also on the lowest […]

New Atlanticist

May 21, 2009

Will the Dollar be the Only Casualty of the Economic Crisis?

By Robert Manning

When the world’s largest creditor (China) sends a message of frustration to the world’s largest debtor (the U.S.), it is probably a good idea to pay attention. Indeed, there may be a larger message there than that of the role of the dollar.

New Atlanticist

May 21, 2009

The Menace of Piracy: India, the International Community and a UN Response

By Arun Prakash

Although any government can claim jurisdiction to a crime committed on the high seas, regardless of the nationality of culprit, the international response to piracy has been largely confused and ineffective.

International Organizations Politics & Diplomacy

New Atlanticist

May 21, 2009

Pop Goes the Pipeline

By Alexandros Petersen

On April 9, a major pipeline that carries Turkmenistan’s vast natural gas resources to Russia exploded in a massive fireball. According to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, the blast was caused by a “reckless and irresponsible” decrease in the amount of gas drawn from the pipeline by Russia’s state-owned energy company, Gazprom.

Energy & Environment

New Atlanticist

May 20, 2009

Global Economic Crisis: We Are Our Own Enemy

By Harlan Ullman

Of all the emerging threats we may face, the wolf closest to or already in the sled is here at home. It is, to repeat that childishly effective phrase of the 1992 presidential election, the economy stupid! Despite a rebound in the stock markets and expectations of “green shoots” of recovery, the economy is still […]

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