Content Type: Report

Iraq’s 2024 budget: Not what it appears when it first meets the eye

By Ahmed Tabaqchali

Iraq’s budget update seems straightforward but holds hidden complexities. A closer look uncovers discrepancies between appearances and realities, offering insights into Iraq’s fiscal strategy and the structural challenges shaping its economic future.

NATO needs a ‘hellscape’ defense at ‘Replicator’ speed

By Franklin D. Kramer, Kristen Taylor

To enhance deterrence, the NATO Alliance should adopt a 'hellscape' approach designed to acquire and field low-cost, highly effective massed armaments, prepositioned on the forward lines of conflict, within a two-to-three year timeframe.

The economic and social costs of the war in Gaza

By Perrihan Al-Riffai

After a year of war, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and neighboring countries need a permanent ceasefire. But with development gains erased, billions of dollars in infrastructure damaged, and skyrocketing unemployment, the Middle East also urgently needs a solid reconstruction plan.

Capture the (red) flag: An inside look into China’s hacking contest ecosystem

By Dakota Cary and Eugenio Benincasa

China has built the world’s most comprehensive ecosystem for capture-the-flag (CTF) competitions—the predominant form of hacking competitions, which range from team-versus-team play to Jeopardy-style knowledge challenges.

End of the line: The cost of faltering reforms

By Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center and Rhodium Group

The China Pathfinder project examines whether China’s economy is converging or diverging with the world's leading open market economies.

A bipartisan Iran strategy for the next US administration—and the next two decades

As tensions spike in the Middle East, how should the next US president approach Iran and its network of proxies including Hezbollah and Hamas? With a strategy that can be maintained for decades, by administrations of either party. A bipartisan, expert working group lays out the details.

Navigating between data war and peace

By Kenneth Propp

A true settlement on transatlantic data flows should be the focus of the next administrations in the United States and the European Union, or the conflict could flare again.

Unleashing US-EU defense cooperation

By Rachel Rizzo

Instead of pushing back against European defense efforts as it has done in the past, Washington must fully embrace the steps the European Union is now taking.

Looking ahead to the next chapter of US-EU digital collaboration

By Frances Burwell

There are opportunities for further transatlantic collaboration, especially in addressing emerging technologies and the risks both sides face from bad actors in the digital sphere.

Reenergizing transatlantic trade dynamics over the coming years

By Erik Brattberg

Instead of bickering over tariffs or pursuing protectionist regulations, policymakers should take practical steps to upgrade the US-EU economic relationship for a more geopolitically challenging era.