NATO Summit opens in Madrid amid growing criticism of aggressive security policy

MADRID The 2022 Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization opened here on Wednesday amid mounting criticisms of the military alliance's aggressive security policy and lingering conflicts among its members.

At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the leaders had decided to strengthen the alliance at a pivotal time for our security. The NATO chief said that the decisions included strengthening NATO's forward defences, enhancing the bloc's battlegroups on its eastern flank and increasing the number of high readiness forces to over 300,000, as well as a comprehensive assistance package for Ukraine.

After Turkey lifted a veto on the two countries' membership applications on Wednesday, NATO invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance.

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In a joint declaration, the legitimate security concerns of allies should be addressed, according to NATO leaders.

Turkey had initially blocked the Nordic states' membership bids citing their ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party and Syria's Kurdish People's Protection Units, which Turkey labels as terrorist groups.

After a meeting of the leaders from the three countries and Stoltenberg, Turkey changed its position on Tuesday.

Despite Turkey's approval, the NATO chief acknowledged that there will still be conflicts within the defense alliance, despite the lingering discord. As the prices of energy and other essential commodities continue to soar, the strains between NATO allies have intensified as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues and the tougher western sanctions on Russia continue to be exacerbated, according to analysts.

The military bloc's new strategic concept, which outlines its priorities and core tasks in the next decade, was approved by the 30 NATO leaders on Wednesday. The document calls Russia the most significant and direct threat to NATO's security.

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Analysts say that NATO is portraying other countries as its imaginary adversaries, but it is NATO itself that has been expanding its influence at the expense of other countries' security and inciting a bloc confrontation with an outdated Cold War mentality.

On Tuesday, the permanent representative of China to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, noted that NATO's five eastward expansions after the Cold War have not only failed to make Europe securer, but have also sowed the seeds of conflict.

The Cold War ended a long time ago. He said that it is necessary for NATO to reconsider its positioning and its responsibilities, completely abandoning the Cold War mentality that is based on bloc confrontation and to build a balanced, effective, and sustainable European security framework in line with the principle of indivisible security.

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Before the NATO summit, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Madrid on Sunday to call for peace and protest against the alliance, which they see as a threat to peace.