Post-Soviet Balts face problems with corruption as deep as those of any Mediterranean country.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

But, of all the northerners, Denmark has been keenest to bring the Balts into the alliance.

ECONOMIST: Nordic security: Getting better | The

Balts, they can rely on the Europeans to not even glance up from their stock market tapes.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: A bleeding infant unattended

But Germany, much keener to placate Russia, would rather keep the Balts out of the alliance altogether.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

That said, a history of occupation and hardship may have made the Balts more willing to put up with austerity.

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The Balts' main trading partners are northern countries that are doing well.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

EU-hopeful Balts have had to be more tolerant of their ethnic Russians.

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But Russians are coming to terms with living among newly dominant Balts.

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Up north, Latvia is the Balts' weak strand, its capital, Riga, more tightly tied to Russia than those of the other two Baltic countries.

ECONOMIST: Ten years since the wall fell

Its military establishment is the best among the Balts.

ECONOMIST: The Baltic countries

That would be sad for the Balts.

ECONOMIST: Eastern Europe's economies

Indeed, many Russians who live in the Baltic countries, seeing that the Balts' slide into the Nordic economic sphere is making all who live in the area better off, now look forward to being part of the European Union.

ECONOMIST: Nordic security: Getting better | The