By Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM observer
Good morning. You’re reading a daily contextual review of the news that marked the previous day.
URA and Democrats: Primitive playing hard-to-get
I may be wrong, but this throwing of mud between the Democrats and URA shouldn’t be perceived as a turning point and the end of the coalition. After the events in Budva, I know they’re ready to go further and then sit at the same table to agree on what they desire. The fact that the DF and the Democrats made an agreement and that the PM endorsed their deal means nothing.
If you ask me, this is just playing ‘hard-to-get’, that is, a negotiation technique. It’s how they think people should do trade in the future government. First they accused each other of thinking solely about the positions, and then the Democrats accused URA of being under control of Aleksandar Vucic. In the end, URA completely lost their way and joined Informer’s and Vucic’s homophobic campaign against sexuality of Aleksa Becic and the alleged footage.
Although they put a knife in URA’s back and betrayed tactic partnership, the DF, however, mildly criticizes URA and expects something from it as a friend. Nikola Bajcetic of the Movement for Changes, PzP, says he’s sure that “Dritan Abazovic will act in a patriotic manner”. Milan Knezevic sees them as “partners”, while the DF says in a statement that they expect URA would back them over matters they were discussing before – the DF and the Democrats to reach an agreement, and they’re going to approve it.
Djukanovic’s reconquista
While the government is falling, the DPS did everything to show the unity of the opposition and ensure the role of a commander and leader of the opposition block. They showed it by calling on the meeting of the parliamentary opposition at their premises. The demise of the government is their best ally so that they may show they’re still strong and relevant. President Djukanovic’s visit to Croatia helped him to show that even after a year since the defeat in the elections, he can still prove he’s a more relevant interlocutor when it comes to the regional policy. Vucic still treats the Montenegrin prime minister as garbage. The PM’s visits to Bosnia and Albania were fiascos. However, Brussels and Washington are the ones to decide on the main address in Montenegro.
While parts of power still air dirty laundry among themselves, Djukanovic demonstrated power while speaking in a TV show on the public broadcaster. If he ever returns to power in a full capacity, he should be thankful to the current government.
His visit to Croatia is not important just for the DPS and himself, but for Montenegro as well and it significantly changes plans of those believing that Porfirije managed to sedate Croats. It’s the reason why the Serbian media reported hysterically about it today, and even Vulin reacted as a spokesman of Vucic.
Effect of external factor
In an extensive and excellent study ‘The Role of Russia in the Balkans: The Case of Montenegro’ by the Digital Forensic Center, it’s proved that the narrative about the exclusively internal issue of Montenegro is naive. This narrative is being forced by Biepag, for example, and makes him dominant in the German media these days.
“The combination of disinformation campaigns, media narratives, cyber-attacks, the continued use of the Russian Orthodox Church (RPC) and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) as tools of the Kremlin’s soft power and support for ultra-right-wing pro-Russian conservative parties is a hallmark of Russia’s negative influence in Montenegro,” the study suggests.
US Ambassador, Judy Raising Reinke, who sent several important messages to the Montenegrin public – that topics such as the census, which divide Montenegrin society, should not be insisted on, that all actors should calm tensions, and that negotiations on the reconstruction of the government shouldn’t hinder the Euro-Atlantic course of Montenegro – attended the presentation.
Whose minister Vesna Bratic is
Now when we’re taking about the topics and people that divide MNE, Minister Bratic is sightseeing Russia with the Serbian flag and taking pics with Putin’s officials. In parallel, she appointed the founder of the ultra-nationalist movement Dveri, known for its irredentist views on Montenegro and pro-Kremlin politics, as head of the Film Center of Montenegro.
Porfirije expresses love for Croats publicly, but secretly baptize them
Apart from the fact that a part of the Croatian public woke up after seeing Porfirije’s behavior in Montenegro, the story about Severina’s child proves the extent of hypocrisy in the romance between the Serbian patriarch and the Croatian public.
“As a good friend of Milan, Porfirije allowed baptism of a child in an Orthodox church, without the consent of a mother, even though previously baptized in a Catholic church,” Severina told H-alter.org
That’s all for today. Until tomorrow.
