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Featured Reading

Carpenter in the Hill: The United States Cannot Allow Russia to Take the Lead in Syria

Dispatches
Dec 22, 2025

US strategy is leading to a Europe squeezed from the east and the west

By
Anna Wieslander

The European Union is caught between a revisionist Russia and a United States that seems ready to divide the world into spheres of influence.

European Union
NATO

Carpenter in the Hill: The United States Cannot Allow Russia to Take the Lead in Syria

Report
Dec 19, 2025

Enhancing land military mobility in Europe: Advocating a pragmatic approach

By
Clément Gaubert, Freddy Geay, François Catala, and Léonie Allard

Solving the challenges of military mobility in Europe requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society perspective. Given the geopolitical climate, Europe should move quickly on this most pressing issues for the North Atlantic Alliance.

Europe & Eurasia
Politics & Diplomacy

Carpenter in the Hill: The United States Cannot Allow Russia to Take the Lead in Syria

The Big Story
Dec 11, 2025

Bosnia’s forgotten war is still with us

By
Thom Shanker

Fewer than fifty years after the end of World War II, genocide returned to Europe in Bosnia. The carnage ended on December 14, 1995, with the signing of the US-brokered Dayton Accords. Thirty years on, have the war’s lessons—for Europe; for diplomacy, humanitarian intervention, and more—been heeded?

Conflict
NATO

featured events

Online Event
Fri, December 19, 2025 • 10:00 am ET

Can Europe meet the geopolitical moment?

An expert panel discussion assessing Europe’s geopolitical ambitions in 2025 and opportunities for 2026.

Economy & Business
Europe & Eurasia
European Union
Politics & Diplomacy


Public Event
Wed, November 19, 2025 • 9:00 am ET

Intent to destroy: Confronting Russia’s campaign to erase Ukraine and its people

In this conference hosted by the Strategic Litigation Project and the Eurasia Center, experts will identify strategies to halt Russia’s campaign of atrocities against the Ukrainian people.

Civil Society
Conflict
Crisis Management
Security & Defense


The Russia Tomorrow series

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 challenged much of the common Western understanding of Russia. How can the world better understand Russia? What are the steps forward for Western policy? The Eurasia Center’s new “Russia Tomorrow” series seeks to reevaluate conceptions of Russia today and better prepare for its future tomorrow.

Read More

Russia Tomorrow

The CRINK: Inside the new bloc supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine

by Angela Stent

The latest report in the Atlantic Council’s Russia Tomorrow series details how Russia’s war against Ukraine has brought together a new set of partners–united not by shared values, but by shared grievances–on the international stage: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

In-depth Research & reports

Carpenter in the Hill: The United States Cannot Allow Russia to Take the Lead in Syria

Russia Tomorrow
Dec 12, 2025

The Russian economy in 2025: Between stagnation and militarization 

By
Elina Ribakova, Lucas Risinger

The latest report in the Atlantic Council’s Russia Tomorrow series examines the Russian wartime economy.

Economy & Business
Europe & Eurasia

Carpenter in the Hill: The United States Cannot Allow Russia to Take the Lead in Syria

Report
Nov 10, 2025

Is Europe waking up to the China challenge? How geopolitics are reshaping EU and transatlantic strategy

By
Zoltán Fehér, Valbona Zeneli

China’s rising global ambitions challenge both US and European interests. By examining the EU’s gradual shift toward “de-risking” and gaps in transatlantic policy, this report offers insights for developing a more coherent and coordinated strategy to address Beijing’s economic and security challenges.

China
Europe & Eurasia

programs

The Europe Center promotes the transatlantic leadership and strategies required to ensure a strong Europe.

EXPLORE THE PROGRAM

The Eurasia Center’s mission is to enhance transatlantic cooperation in promoting stability, democratic values and prosperity in Eurasia, from Eastern Europe and Turkey in the West to the Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia in the East.

EXPLORE THE PROGRAM

The Atlantic Council Turkey Program aims to promote and strengthen transatlantic engagement with the region by providing a high-level forum and pursuing programming to address the most important issues on energy, economics, security, and defense.

Learn more

Explore the Power Vertical podcast

The Power Vertical

The Power Vertical is a blog and podcast for Russia wonks and Kremlin watchers by Brian Whitmore. It covers emerging and developing trends in Russian politics, shining a spotlight on the high-stakes power struggles, machinations, and clashing interests that shape Kremlin policy today.

Explore the Debrief series

#AtlanticDebrief

#AtlanticDebrief hosts interviews with leading experts, policymakers, and newsmakers from both sides of the Atlantic to unpack the challenges and opportunities of the transatlantic relationship.

Explore the Series


#BalkansDebrief

The Atlantic Council Europe Center’s #BalkansDebrief series features timely conversations on key issues impacting the Western Balkans. Nonresident senior fellow Ilva Tare hosts newsmakers, experts, and officials for discussions on rule of law, energy security, cultural heritage, Russian and Chinese influence in the region, and more.

Explore the Series

Content

In the News

Nov 28, 2017

Carpenter in the Hill: The United States Cannot Allow Russia to Take the Lead in Syria

By Michael Carpenter

Read the full article here.

Russia
Syria

New Atlanticist

Nov 27, 2017

Why Does Vladimir Putin Care About Sudan?

By Theodore Karasik and Giorgio Cafiero

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed an interest in deepening ties between their two countries when they met in Sochi, Russia, on November 23.    Besides stating his intention to deepen Sudan’s economic and military ties with Russia, Bashir hailed Russia’s military intervention in Syria and expressed gratitude for the Kremlin’s […]

Russia

UkraineAlert

Nov 27, 2017

Ukraine’s Challenges Are Very Real, but Now Is Not the Time for the West to Let Up

By Timothy Ash, Janet Gunn, John Lough, Orysia Lutsevych, James Nixey, James Sherr and Kataryna Wolczuk

Four years since its Euromaidan revolution, Ukraine is fighting for its survival as an independent and viable state. The country is struggling to hold together and resist Russia’s interference and pressure—in the military, diplomatic, economic, and media spheres. But simultaneously, an internal contest is occurring that will determine the political, institutional, and civic future of […]

Ukraine

UkraineAlert

Nov 27, 2017

Does the EU Even Care about Eastern Europe Anymore?

By Anders Åslund

If you missed the European Union’s Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels on November 24, you are not alone. It was a forgettable event, but it tells us quite a bit about the EU’s state of affairs in Eastern Europe. The proud start of the EU Eastern Partnership was the Prague summit in May 2009, instigated […]

Moldova
The Caucasus

Issue Brief

Nov 27, 2017

Western options in a multipolar world

By Mathew J. Burrows

This paper examines both the possible scenarios for how the emerging multipolar world order could evolve and transatlantic options. It makes the case that, depending on how the West plays its cards, traditional Western values could end up enduring even if an exclusively Western-led order does not.

China
Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Nov 24, 2017

Will President Trump Finally Arm Ukraine?

By Stephen Blank

There’s a real possibility that the United States will finally send lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine. The country has been fighting a defensive war in its east for nearly four years, after Russia seized Crimea and Russian-backed separatists invaded eastern Ukraine in 2014. Many experts have argued that better weapons would change the tactical imbalance […]

Russia
Ukraine

In the News

Nov 23, 2017

Bechev in the Moscow Times: The Balkans – Between Russia and the West

By Dimitar Bechev

Read the full article here.

The Balkans

In the News

Nov 23, 2017

Cohen in the National Interest: Russia Is Roaring Back to the Middle East While America Is Asleep

By Ariel Cohen

Read the full article here.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Nov 22, 2017

Debt Default Pushes Venezuela Further into Russian Orbit

By Rachel Ansley

Venezuela’s default on a massive international debt and Russia’s ongoing financial assistance to the South American country that is under both US and European Union (EU) sanctions, will push Caracas further into Moscow’s sphere of influence, according to an Atlantic Council analyst. “The Russians are throwing lifelines to the criminal Venezuelan regime with the intention […]

Russia
Venezuela

New Atlanticist

Nov 22, 2017

Dialogue Seen as Crucial to Defusing North Korea Nuclear Crisis

By Ashish Kumar Sen

As US President Donald J. Trump grapples with the North Korean nuclear crisis, two former US officials have some words of advice: attempt dialogue before pre-emptive military strikes, and broaden the scope of that discussion to include the security needs of the region, including North Korea’s. Ernest Moniz, who served as energy secretary in Barack […]

Iran
Nuclear Nonproliferation
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Experts

Fellow

Agon Maliqi

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Europe Center

Albanian Bosnian

European Leadership Accelerator Participant

Leon Leskovec

Policy Advisor, Legislative Coordination Unit, EPP Group in the European Parliament

Millennium Leadership Program

Central Europe Politics & Diplomacy

Fellow

Jeffrey Hovenier

Nonresident senior fellow

Europe Center

Croatian Europe & Eurasia

Fellow

Nathan Freier

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoStrategy Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Conflict Defense Policy

Fellow

Yerevan Saeed

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Iraq Initiative Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Arabic Energy & Environment

Executive Leadership Intensive participant

Shqipe Vela

Program Manager, Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

Millennium Leadership Program

Corruption Energy & Environment
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Events

Public Event Tue, January 6, 2026 • 1:00 pm ET

Belgium’s foreign minister on the next chapter of transatlantic affairs
Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia Politics & Diplomacy Security & Defense