CLINTON . . . TOURING THE POST-SOVIET WORLD

Sober Poles gave Bill Clinton a subdued greeting on his arrival in Warsaw today, following the president's earlier warm embrace by a celebratory crowd in Latvia. The distinctly different reactions were symptomatic of the moods in the two countries. Poland is undergoing a period of political bickering and some disenchantment following its emergence from communism, while the Baltic Republics are still enjoying a boom following their more recent release from decades of central economic planning. In a tip of his hat to the Baltic success, Clinton announced a U.S. fund that would invest in the small but growing economies. He made another crowd-pleasing promise to put up much of the funds needed to move out the lingering Russian troops. In Poland, he promised that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would expand to include Warsaw -- and, of course, the other former Warsaw-pact countries. So what did Clinton get in return for all theAmerican largess? At least one gift, a saxophone from Poland's Lech Walesa.parpar