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.

Europe’s Welfare System Model for USA and China?

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.

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

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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Dive deep into developing stories, guided by continually updated expert analysis that leaves you better informed about the most pressing global issues behind the headlines.

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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.

New Atlanticist

Jan 28, 2009

Europe’s Welfare System Model for USA and China?

By James Joyner

In an International Herald Tribune column asking "Is Europe’s welfare system a model for the 21st century?" Katrin Bennhold contends that, as the world’s economic elite gather in Davos for the annual World Economic Forum, there is decidedly less Europe-bashing than in years past.

New Atlanticist

Jan 28, 2009

Obama’s New Afghanistan Strategy

By James Joyner

The Obama administration will be stepping up the pressure on the Karzai government and NATO to do more in Afghanistan while simultaneously sharply cutting back the goals of the mission there.

New Atlanticist

Jan 27, 2009

First Openly Gay Prime Minister

By James Joyner

I noted earlier this morning the news that Iceland’s government has collapsed and that Social Affairs Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir will likely be the new prime minister until elections can be held in May. Via Andrew Sullivan, though, I see that Iceland Review has a bit of trivia that justifies mention as a standalone post rather […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 27, 2009

Obama’s First Interview Goes to Al Arabiya

By James Joyner

The young Obama administration has sent yet another signal that it intends to improve the public diplomacy ties strained by the Bush administration: His very first major television interview was granted, not to an American network or even one of our European allies but rather to Al-Arabiya, the controversial Middle Eastern network founded six years […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 27, 2009

The End of Piracy: Can NATO Contribute?

By James Easaw

Now that the piracy crisis centered off the Somali Coast/Gulf of Aden, the Horn of Africa and, to a lesser degree, the West African Coast in the Gulf of Guinea has become big news, the international community, most recently the United Nations, has sprung into action. The end of piracy draws nigh. In fact, those […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jan 27, 2009

Iceland Scrambles to Replace Government Felled by Financial Crisis

By James Joyner

Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has asked center-left Social Democratic Alliance Party leader Ingibjorg Gisladottir to create a new coalition with the Left-Green movement to replace the government of Geir Haarde that collapsed Monday, AP reports. Social Affairs Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir is expected to serve as the interim prime minister until new elections are held […]

New Atlanticist

Jan 27, 2009

EU Agrees to Take Non-Dangerous Gitmo Prisoners. Maybe. Some Day.

By James Joyner

The foreign ministers of several EU members say that will consider taking prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay, provided that the United States can prove to a degree of absolute certainty that they are not dangerous.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Jan 27, 2009

Russian Naval Base to be Built in Abkhazia

By Peter Cassata

The ITAR-TASS news agency reported that a Russian naval base will be constructed this year in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. An Abkhaz official said that the base will not succeed Sevastopol (the Crimean port whose lease Kyiv does not intend to renew in 2017) as the new Black Sea Fleet headquarters.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Jan 26, 2009

Security Implications of the Financial Crisis

By James Joyner

As the global financial crisis deepens, the strongest reactions thus far are coming from the emerging democracies in Don Rumsfeld’s New Europe. Phillip Pan writes on the front page of today’s WaPo of a protest in Latvia’s capital that turned into a riot

New Atlanticist

Jan 26, 2009

Will Europe’s Obama Love Last?

By James Joyner

Mark Mardell, BBC’s Europe editor, noticed an American flag flying in his Brussels neighborhood recently and believes it may be a sign that anti-Americanism is waning on the Continent now that Bush is out and Obama is in. But he wonders — as do I — “Will sentimental approval be accompanied by hard political deeds?”

European Union International Organizations

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