国际英语新闻:News Analysis: NATO summit ends with few tangible results, future still in doubt

Although NATO announced progress in its missile defense system as well as multinational defense programs, the bloc's capabilities could be weakened by massive fiscal austerity in European countries.

Moreover, unbalanced defense spending among NATO members may split the alliance from within.

NATO said it now has an interim ballistic missile defence capability, the first step toward its long-term goal of providing "full coverage and protection for all NATO European populations, territory and forces."

Besides, NATO leaders approved a package of more than 20 multinational projects, including the establishment of the 17-billion-dollar Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system, and the extension of Baltic Air Policing, in which allied fighter jets patrol the skies of Baltic countries.

To cope with heavy pressure on defense budgets, NATO highlighted the importance of "smart defense," calling for sharing defense resources with limited money.

"It is more important than ever to make the best use of our resources and to continue to adapt our forces and structures," said NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who proposed the concept last February.

European members have been cutting their defense budgets for years as they believe the security of the continent is no longer a source of major concern.

Their willingness to pour resources into defense on the whole will probably continue to weaken given all the hazards posed by the European debt crisis.

NATO observers pointed out that the concept is brought out as an excuse for EU members to cut their defense budgets, which would further crimp the bloc's capabilities in the future.

As a result of the sovereign debt crisis, military expenditures in central and western Europe declined 1.9 percent in 2011, with Greece, Spain, Italy and Ireland seeing the largest cuts, according to the latest data from the Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute (SIPRI).

The United State, NATO's biggest military provider, also cut its military expenditure by 1.2 percent to 711 billion U.S. dollars. With fiscal reduction continuing, a further cut in military spending in Europe and the United States is expected, noted SIPRI.

Meanwhile, sharing defense resources means some NATO nations have to sacrifice a degree of sovereign control in return for a less lopsided military bloc, which may face resistance from opposition politicians and the public.

An uneven share of defence expenditures is also a big concern for NATO members, for the issue could be amplified amid EU austerity.

Former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has recently drawn a contrast between those members "willing and able to pay the price and bear the burdens of alliance commitments, and those who enjoy the benefits of NATO membership ... but don't want to share the risks and the costs."

Besides, under some circumstances, the sharing of "smart defence" could be obstructed by some members that could not benefit from the system, confessed Rasmussen, the NATO chief.

PROSPECTS IN DOUBT

As NATO leaders discussed issues at the conference center, overwhelming criticism and massive protests, which received even more media coverage than summit itself, have put a question mark on the fate of this military bloc.

NATO spends 900 million dollars annually to spread death and destruction around the world, but the money should be used for education and medical treatment, said Occupy Chicago protesters.

In the past two decades, NATO has actively been involved in wars or military conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and most recently Libya. These wars inflicted a heavy toll on both the economies and human lives.

A New York-based organization recently reported that the eighth round of NATO bombing in Libya last year claimed the lives of 72 civilians, including 20 women and 24 children.

Without urgent changes, Gates warned, NATO would face "a dim if not dismal future."