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
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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New Atlanticist

Sep 8, 2008

Focusing on the Wrong Georgia?

By James Joyner

Thomas Friedman, who it’s safe to say is no isolationist, argues in his Sunday column that the United States is devoting too many resources to the outside world.

The Caucasus

New Atlanticist

Sep 8, 2008

Would NATO Defend Narva?

By Alexander Motyl

Russia’s war against Georgia has forced Europeans to ask where their true interests lie and which country they’d be willing to defend if and when a Russian push ever comes to shove.

NATO Northern Europe

New Atlanticist

Sep 8, 2008

NATO and the Near Abroad: Beyond Bucharest

By Nikolas Gvosdev

Those predicting that the Russian incursion into Georgia will rejuvenate transatlantic solidarity might be overly optimistic.

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 8, 2008

Welcome to New Atlanticist

By James Joyner

Welcome to New Atlanticist, the public policy blog of the Atlantic Council. In these pixels, we’ll provide expert analysis on the most pressing issues facing the transatlantic community from the Council’s staff, board, affiliated scholars, and friends.We hope to be serious without being stuffy and nuanced while remaining accessible to an educated reader. It should […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 29, 2008

Obama’s Trip Might Yield the Help He Will Need

By Frederick Kempe

John F. Kennedy, the last presidential candidate with outsized imbalance of political sex appeal and experience, sought some advice from one of America’s great thinkers after his 1960 election and before he took office. As Dean Acheson, who served as President Harry Truman’s Secretary of State, recalled the encounter: “He said that one of his […]

New Atlanticist

Jul 1, 2008

Obama Win Offers Brand America a Global Lift

By Frederick Kempe

The U.S. would profit globally from a failed Obama presidency more than it would from a successful McCain presidency. That’s the sort of provocative, but plausible, statement that lies at the heart of the famous Oxford Union debates. Disagree?

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Jun 10, 2008

Obama, Global Favorite, Now Must Offer Details

By Frederick Kempe

The world made its preference clear for U.S. president long before the Democratic Party weeded out Hillary Clinton last week. Global Obamamania has spread in South Asia, where Obama lived as a child — in Indonesia. It has reached Africa, where his Kenyan father, a goat herder turned economist, was born. For their part, Europeans […]

New Atlanticist

May 20, 2008

China Teaches Something in Quake

By Frederick Kempe

Natural disasters have political consequences. If George W. Bush had handled the Hurricane Katrina aftermath in 2005 as well as China’s leadership thus far has reacted to its far more deadly earthquake, he would be more popular and could have finished his second term with greater achievements on other fronts. Tempting as it is to […]

China

New Atlanticist

Apr 15, 2008

Bush Can Score With Diplomacy When He Tries

By Frederick Kempe

Praising President George W. Bush’s foreign policy skill is a sure way to lose dinner invitations in Washington. So hold the dessert: Bush and his team deserve credit for playing the bad hand of his waning presidency skillfully and tenaciously at this month’s NATO summit in Bucharest.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Apr 1, 2008

German Chill Toward NATO’s Growth Ignores Past

By Frederick Kempe

There are still times when Germans must be reminded of history’s lessons. One of those came after the Sept. 11 attacks, when a courageous Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder risked a no-confidence vote to take German combat troops to Afghanistan. His argument: History’s obligation wasn’t pacifism, as many argued, but a willingness to shed blood against new […]

Germany NATO

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