WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — On Friday, during the first day of the gathering, the summit approved an unprecedented Western deployment of troops and weapon systems in Eastern European countries unparalleled since the end of World War II.
"The decisions reached at the summit [were]… an exercise in justifying increased military expenditure that will in no way substantively improve European security," University of Rhode Island Political Science Professor Nikolai Petro told Sputnik on Friday.
Petro criticized the summit’s decisions as mistaken and said they would certainly not improve prospects for peace and security in Europe.
"Although the decisions taken are wrongheaded, in my judgment, they do not change the actual military balance and were expected. As a result, I do not expect any perceptible change in the current rather dismal situation."
Petro said these moves would upset Russia, but would have been anticipated by Russian policymakers, who would have already planned a response to them.
They were "thoroughly expected. Russia therefore can respond at its leisure," he explained.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel sought to strike a more constructive note in Warsaw, saying coordinated actions between Russia and NATO presented mutual interest to both sides.
However, Petro pointed out that NATO had not backed her up with any concrete proposals.
"Thoughtful analysts on all sides will no doubt at some point ask what concrete steps NATO will undertake in this arena, to correspond to the steps it has taken in the military arena."
Veteran US European affairs analyst and historian Joe Lauria said the claims of a Russian threat to NATO would boost the profits of major US defense contractors.
"The hype about Russian ‘aggression’ is… a fear campaign that feeds the American and European military industries and most importantly, it puts pressure on the Russian government, which the US wants overthrown," Lauria explained.
"Angela Merkel should listen to her Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and stop the dangerous charade. She needs to finally attend to German interests and not what is dictated by Washington."
Lauria said the other national leaders at the summit either swallowed the US propaganda or knew better, but cynically pretended to believe it anyway.
"All the other leaders of NATO countries… are either self-deluded or are cynically playing with fire for their own short-term political ends."
The second day of the summit kicks off on Saturday with a major focus on Afghanistan’s and Ukraine’s security situation.
