SHEVARDNADZE HAILS NATO’S ENLARGEMENT, URGES ITS CONTINUATION.

In a March 15 news conference, broadcast live in Georgia, President Eduard Shevardnadze described the accession of the ex-Warsaw Pact countries Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to NATO as “a landmark in the process of unification of Europe, overcoming the division that totalitarianism had imposed.” Shevardnadze expressed confident hope that “more countries will gain admission to NATO, so that the process becomes irreversible.” While recognizing the fact that Georgia is not eligible for admission “at this time,” the president implicitly reserved that option for his country in the future (Radio Tbilisi, March 15).

The three Central European countries’ admission to NATO seems to be the corollary of a process which Shevardnadze had helped launch ten years ago. As foreign minister of the Soviet Union, he had facilitated the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the collapse of Moscow’s position in Central Europe–a role for which post-Soviet Russia’s military and nationalist governing circles are still exacting their revenge in Abkhazia and other areas of Georgia. The Georgian government overtly considers NATO countries as Georgia’s optimal partners in terms of national and regional security and is developing cooperation with them.

TRIPARTITE FORCE PLANNED FOR PIPELINE PROTECTION.