The Economist: NATO is holding the most important summit in decades that establishes a shift in its course

The Economist said that the NATO summit, which will start tomorrow, Tuesday in the Spanish capital, Madrid, will be the most important summit held by the alliance in generations.

A report published by this British magazine indicated that NATO leaders will meet tomorrow to prepare the alliance for the bleak days ahead, and it quoted Jens Stoltenberg (NATO Secretary General) as saying in an interview that this meeting will be a "transformation summit."

The report indicated that the alliance is currently working to fortify its eastern borders, but it is divided over the extent of support and participation in the ongoing war in Ukraine.

He highlighted that NATO has developed a new strategic vision that will be approved at the Madrid summit, reflecting the change in the alliance's priorities, as it considers Russia "the most urgent threat to its security", contrary to the strategic vision approved by the alliance in 2010 and stipulates that NATO wants to establish a real strategic partnership with Moscow.

But that hope seems out of reach now, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth month.

The magazine said that despite the foregoing, there are differences between the members of the alliance about the extent of support and participation in the war in Ukraine, and there are still points in the new vision under negotiation, noting that the NATO countries that are in the camp of hawks - as the writer of the report put it - including Britain. Poland and other Eastern European countries are eager to keep Russia a pariah state.

This position contrasts with the position of Emmanuel Macron (French President), who repeated the warning during a visit to Kyiv on June 16 that Europe will eventually have to return to dealing with Russia: “We Europeans share one continent, and geography is stubborn as it will eventually become clear that Russia is still there.

"Deterrence through Prevention" strategy

The Economist report highlighted that the Madrid summit will also witness the signing of major changes by NATO leaders to the military position of the alliance, explaining that prior to 2014, the eastern members of NATO did not have foreign forces stationed in their territories.

But that changed after Russia's first invasion of Ukraine, in which it annexed Crimea, where NATO deployed multinational combat forces to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, countries that were then considered to be under a more serious threat.

The magazine said that although those forces, which number no more than 5,000 soldiers, are too small to stop any Russian invasion, the goal of their deployment is that their participation in a war would lead to a broader international response, including reinforcements from the United States to expel invaders.

The report indicated that the alliance is now deploying 4 other battle groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, which reflects the growing threat to the south around the borders of Ukraine and near the Black Sea.

"You don't have 60 days to bring your tanks to Estonia, because by that point there will be no Estonia given what the Russians have done in Ukraine," British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace was quoted as saying in a statement to the media earlier this month.

She also said that what NATO is now doing is part of a proactive defense strategy, sometimes known as "deterrence through prevention" of deploying enough combat forces eastward to prevent Russian tanks from penetrating the borders of European countries in the first place.

She noted that Jens Stoltenberg (NATO Secretary General) stated that the alliance would unveil at the Madrid summit a comprehensive aid package to help Ukraine "in the fundamental transition from Soviet-era equipment to dependence on NATO equipment."

Stoltenberg added that the alliance would help Ukraine adopt decentralized command structures instead of the leadership model it inherited from the Soviet Union, which hampered the Russian military during the invasion of Ukraine in recent months.

The magazine concluded its report by noting that the path that NATO is now following represents a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched his current war on Ukraine to stop and reverse its political and military integration with the West.