“The belief is that the pecking order for the nine nations hoping to be invited to join Nato at its summit in Prague in November is: pole position, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; next, Slovenia and Slovakia; after them, Romania and Bulgaria; and finally, with little hope of finishing the race, Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, “ Britain’s daily commented in an article published on February 25. “Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are suspected of being given preferential treatment because President Bush wants to send a strong signal to Moscow that Russia has no lingering imperial rights over the Baltic states,” the author reiterates.

FULL Text of article – Read TODAY in the For the Record section