NATO kan angivelig bli halt inn i en ny krig, av "the genius of evil" i
Beograd. Djukanovic truar med å skru av strømmen til de militære, og USA og
Kroatia framfører "a show of unity" i det adriatiske hav.
Men det glipper litt for journalisten når han beskriver Montenegros forsøk
på å ta over den føderale flyplassen i podgorica:
Montenegrins and Serbians share the same religion and language, but these
days, tens of thousands of Montenegrin police and Yugoslav soldiers keep
watch on each other. Sometimes they wind up in hostile standoffs, such as
during the NATO bombing in the Kosovo crisis, or when the Montenegrins
tried to claim the federal airport as a training facility.
Stygg tabbe. Alle slags konfrontasjoner skal sjølsagt alltid beskrives som
overfall fra Milosevics side. Alle veit jo at alle kriger og konflikter på
Balkan er Milosevics kriger og ingen andres, og det vil selfølgelig også
gjelde den neste.
Asgeir Bjørkedal
Fra San Jose Mercury News:
http://www.sjmercury.com/premium/world/docs/yugo18.htm#backtotop
World watches as Montenegro votes
Republic may be next to seek freedom
from Yugoslav's Milosevic
BY DANIEL RUBIN
Knight Ridder
PODGORICA, Yugoslavia -- The rest of the world may worry that Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic is about to ignite another Balkan conflict,
but the indicted war criminal doesn't look so strong from Mileta
Pavicevic's living room in the capital of Montenegro, Serbia's sister
republic.(.....)
Western leaders are carefully watching the upcoming Yugoslav elections,
wary that Milosevic may try to divert attention from political problems
such as this by drawing Montenegro into troubles that could involve NATO in
another Balkan war.
Some 11,000 U.S. soldiers stand ready in the Balkans. They are part of
international peacekeeping forces in Kosovo, still a province of Serbia,
and in two former Yugoslav republics, Bosnia and Macedonia.
(...)
The period between the Montenegrin elections and the United State's Nov. 7
vote will be the most volatile in three years: The Clinton administration
could be distracted from Yugoslavia, said Milan Popovic, a comparative
politics professor at the University of Montenegro's law school. ``The
situation,'' he said, ``is very dangerous.''
The Yugoslav army is mustering forces on the Serbian side of the border,
according to a member of the Montenegrin security force. The officer said
that three weeks ago about 50 Serbian instructors arrived at five federal
army units in Montenegro under the leadership of Frenko Simatovic, a senior
official in the Serbian interior ministry.
``Frankie's Boys,'' Simatovic's paramilitary band, rampaged through
Bosnia-Herzegovina and, last year, through Kosovo. Their aim this time, the
Montenegrin security officer said, is to rehearse quick takeovers of
government facilities that allow no time for international intervention.
Montenegrins and Serbians share the same religion and language, but these
days, tens of thousands of Montenegrin police and Yugoslav soldiers keep
watch on each other. Sometimes they wind up in hostile standoffs, such as
during the NATO bombing in the Kosovo crisis, or when the Montenegrins
tried to claim the federal airport as a training facility.
Last month, Montenegrin police caught Yugoslav army soldiers smuggling
Chinese immigrants. Yugoslavia's army had just caught Montenegro's police
smuggling cigarettes.
The United States and Croatia are holding naval maneuvers in the Adriatic,
coinciding with the elections, a long-planned show of unity that at least
one international official described as ``not helpful'' in easing tensions.
(...)
Montenegrins have given up hope of regaining power in the Yugoslav union.
Now, observers say, Montenegro's leaders are seeking increased support for
secession from Yugoslavia. But the pro-independence forces have muffled
their voices for the moment. The signals from the West are clear: Don't
invite trouble.
The United States and other Western nations have offered increasingly
strong words in support of Montenegro's security, but have stopped short of
publicly promising military help.
This is wise, according to a study by the European Stability Initiative, a
Berlin-based think tank. The study warns that Milosevic could turn the
Serbian population against Montenegrins by painting them as the West's
partners in destroying what remains of Yugoslavia.
To guess Milosevic's next move is to try to understand ``the genius of
evil,'' said Vucovic, echoing a statement by Winston Churchill to those who
sought to predict Adolf Hitler's next moves. ``He's a genius of evil who is
master of the small and big, unfortunately. You can only guess what is
going to happen to you.''
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