it was clumsy attempt to show that nato was going to act as deterrence in europe. the goal being to prevent war in europe from spreading (as balkans have seen unending war for centuries now, and are enjoying peace for the first time in a very very long time - all balkan people will tell you there is complete peace and zero war in balkans). it was clumsy as i wrote, but it did in the end create complete peace in balkans today which is why serbia and croatia are even getting along for the first time in history. plus turkey could do nothing (e.g., turks want to invade greece but cant because of nato).
Poland