AWAITING NATO’S ENLARGEMENT.

Latvian president Guntis Ulmanis yesterday argued the case for NATO enlargement at a meeting with the ambassadors from NATO and European Union member countries in Riga. Ulmanis remarked that Latvia cannot afford to be a neutral state, considering its geopolitical situation and the lessons of the past. Ulmanis and the Latvian defense and finance ministers inspected a Home Guard unit and exercised at its firing range. The Home Guard is currently considered Latvia’s main defense force. In Tallinn, Finland’s defense minister Anneli Taina announced yesterday that she had agreed to provide Finnish military advisors for Estonia’s nascent army and to increase the hitherto small number of Estonian cadets in Finnish military schools. Estonian officials for their part pointed out that the closeness of the two languages and the Finnish military’s experience in facing Russia recommend Finland for providing training assistance to Estonia.(13)

Ukraine Has Upper Hand in Oil Transit Dispute with Russia.