NYET TO A NEW NATO

TWO RECUPERATING PRESIDENTS AGREE TO DISAGREE AND INSIST THEY ARE MAKING PROGRESS. WE'LL SEE

Bill Clinton didn't expect to convince Boris Yeltsin that expanding NATO eastward, toward Russia, is a great idea. The newly chipper Russian President arrived at last week's Helsinki summit trailing a string of sound-bite warnings that he would not budge. Clinton did hope, though, that a friendly reunion, with both Presidents dropping jovial one-liners about ailments and recuperation, could establish a mood for compromise. On the night before the meeting, Clinton, recovering from knee surgery, had trouble sleeping--he heard a loud banging above the ceiling of his room. The next day he joked with Yeltsin that the Russians had hired a...

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