Editor's note: Hamzah Rifaat Hussain, a former visiting fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and former assistant researcher at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, is a TV anchor at Indus News in Pakistan. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

At the NATO Summit in Madrid, the alliance endorsed a new strategic framework which threatens deterrence, heightens the risk of miscalculation and seeks to ramp up forces on its eastern flank while making references to threats from China. The framework and strategic concepts adopted clearly indicate that NATO is a threat to sustainable peace in the absence of constructive approaches in 2022.

The NATO 2022 Summit in Madrid once again exposed the narrow, parochial outlook of the alliance on global issues. Hyping up threats while pushing for expanded roles for the military does not instill much confidence for purported champions of peace. 

The alliance failed to come up with anything constructive in Madrid beyond seeking greater expansion, pushing for military build-ups and adopting controversial doctrines. The warnings issued about a more dangerous world actually contradict the policies adopted while contributing to greater polarization, which is a threat to global peace.  

In the absence of proposals seeking to initiate dialogue to diffuse tensions, NATO issued a joint declaration focusing on a new strategic framework while also launching the largest revamp of its deterrence and defense capabilities since the end of the Cold War. 

The declaration focused on expanding the alliance's eastern flank which brings it in direct confrontation with Russia. Additionally, Turkey's decision to agree on Sweden and Finland's membership based on an extradition agreement on PKK terrorists gives NATO the license to adopt a hegemonic and offensive orientation. 

Note that seeking extradition for thirty-three Kurdish fighters from Sweden and Finland has enabled NATO to benefit from military alignment with more troops scheduled to become combat ready as the focus was also on countering the growing economic and military might of China. It is clear that NATO lacks strategic wisdom, which is not a recipe for peace.

The truth is that NATO's expansion and offensive posturing should be a cause of concern for peaceniks. Note how Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg's claims of the summit ushering in a historic and transformative phase for the alliance came amid security pledges from the Biden administration, which involves establishing a permanent American base in Poland, providing two F-35 squadrons to the United Kingdom and seeking to homeport two naval destroyers in Spain earlier. 

In essence, NATO has militarized Europe with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urging member states to spend two percent of their GDP's on bolstering defense and deterrence. There should be little doubt that the alliance is seeking to pursue Cold War mentality by targeting regions beyond its scope, which dents it credibility.

Take the approval of the new controversial security concept at the summit. The note enlarges the scope of NATO's operations and directly targets other sovereign states such as China. By repeatedly mentioning China's Taiwan region, NATO is seeking a justification to expand its operations into the Asia-Pacific. 

Hence, by targeting specific regions and compromising collective prosperity, the concept note becomes nothing but a hollow, provocative and parochial initiative which seeks to inflame tensions and undermine peace. Note that ironically, the 2010 concept note unveiled in Lisbon never mentioned China and spoke about strategic partnerships with Russia instead. 

According to Stacie Goddard, professor of political science at the Wellesley College, the new concept note stresses on a sense of urgency on great power rivalry. Additionally, despite championing nonproliferation and demonizing countries possessing nuclear weapons, the concept note also exposes the alliance as a promoter of nuclearization. 

The document claims that NATO would remain a nuclear alliance while seeking to eradicate the world of nuclear weapons. That itself is contradictory and does not bolster peace.

What such affirmations, concept notes and declarations do affirm however is that NATO is promoting a more hostile world order with a high risk of miscalculation. Additionally, talk of the Asia Pacific and the need to tackle China as strategic concepts demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge of security dynamics in the region, where all countries in the region have expressed an unwavering commitment to cordial relations and espouse a policy of neutrality. 

If NATO believes that by employing coercive tactics and bellicose rhetoric, the alliance would be able to divide the world, then this policy would have little traction both within the organization and beyond.  

Hence, it is evident that the NATO 2022 Summit in Madrid seeks to militarize, provoke and weaponize regions across the world. In the post-Cold War era, such strategic orientations are impediments to world peace.

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