Commentary
Me, the “Greatest Montenegrin Separatist”
By: Miodrag Vlahović
I didn’t forget to add quotation marks to yesterday’s accusation leveled by Serbian pro-regime media.
Had I forgotten, the Morača River wouldn’t have been enough to wash away the stain in the eyes of the editors and directors of the “most Montenegrin” Montenegrin media outlets. I would have “stood out” again! And that is the ultimate sin—unacceptable behavior in the petty-bourgeois Montenegrin political culture, which prizes nothing more than someone employing a new version of the “Don’t pick me, comrades!” attitude. That’s the kind of figure deemed acceptable.
(Nota bene: I am not the greatest, of course—nor am I a separatist. I cannot be one today, nor could I have been—even theoretically—during the years when we fought for the restoration of Montenegrin independence. There is nothing for us to separate from—neither then, nor now. Serbia was, and remains, a different country.)
So—I cannot allow myself such a “compliment,” or rather, such useful “self-praise”—not even if, in some corner of my mind, I were tempted to accept that “honor” and “title” bestowed by Serbian regime propagandists.
I repeat—not even for a split second. Montenegrins would never forgive me for that—even though they know full well that what the Serbian media writes has nothing to do with the facts. Nor ever will.
The reaction of the regime-aligned outlets in Belgrade reminded me of an incident from twenty years ago—because there is a “tiny” similarity to yesterday’s “greatest title” conferred by Belgrade.
It was September 2006 (the day I, on behalf of the Government of Montenegro, sent a letter to the Allies expressing our country’s readiness to join the Partnership for Peace—PfP—that antechamber to NATO), and we were hosting the late Budimir Leko Lončar. I was waiting for him in the antechamber of Prime Minister Đukanović’s office to take him to lunch, accompanied by young staff members from the then-Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Two high-ranking state officials were there as well; the late Dragica Ćeranić—that wonderful, capable woman and the Prime Minister’s closest long-time associate—and I were joking with her that all we had left to do was finish the job and… join NATO. Just as those two very well-known figures jumped in—all at once—to explain to Ms. Dragica and me why we absolutely shouldn’t join NATO (“PfP is enough—just like the Russians!”), the office doors opened, and out stepped Lončar and Đukanović.
After the greetings and pleasantries, Leko—Minister Lončar—said, unprompted: “I just told Milo—you have the best foreign minister in the region; he shouldn’t be replaced for at least ten years!”
Dead silence!
For the officials present, that compliment from the last foreign minister of the SFRY came as a greater shock than the very idea of Montenegro joining the Alliance.
Later, at lunch, I said to the Minister: “You’ve sealed my fate today. Montenegrins will never forgive me for this—Leko Lončar has praised me!” We laughed—the damage was done!
They didn’t forgive me, of course, nor will they. So be it.
Montenegro
The most staunchly Montenegrin media outlets didn’t publish a single word about the all-out attack launched by Kurir and Politika—and even TV Pink (with its “Minute-or-Two” segments on movie channels!)—against the “greatest Montenegrin separatist.”
For I am banned from those “media outlets”—from CdM, Antena M, TVE, and Analitika to the rest—not to mention the decades-long ostracism by Vijesti (I was the one who gave them their name, in vain!) and the RTCG—a service that is anything but public—where the flagrantly unlawful Raonić still hasn’t explained who “fired at the police” at Belvedere… Pobjeda won’t turn my way either; my criticisms of PES and the Bosniak Party were deemed excessive…
To all of them, it simply doesn’t matter, and it isn’t news.
It is hardly worth mentioning—the fact that the media of a neighboring state is waging a targeted smear campaign against that presumptuous, self-absorbed, unpleasant, and conceited Vlahović. That insufferably self-confident man who thinks he knows everything… and so on.
Nothing happened!
On top of that, some hapless propagandist from Serbia let slip the “ultimate” epithet for me. How embarrassing!
I joke with friends: it isn’t a case of a faded national flag on some village school; rather, the media from the land of malignant influences has set its sights on the very person whom the most “Montenegrin” and pro-regime media outlets fail to mention. Had it been the former, we would have read the same tedious “patriotic” piece for the thousandth time. Since it is the latter—we will read nothing at all.
It is a professional affliction. One known as “independent journalism.”
And for that—as things stand for our dear and only Montenegro—there is no cure. A hopeless case. Do not expect Montenegrin intellectuals—whether acting individually, in pairs, or in cells of three or four—to think to say anything about this provincial and Stalinist practice.
No, those cliques have other priorities. Besides, as a “consolation,” I am not the only one being boycotted. There are other journalists, analysts, and columnists who particularly get under their skin, demonstrating almost daily just how much better, more interesting, and more serious they are than the editors, directors, and journalists—or “journalists”—of the most “Montenegrin” and regime-aligned media outlets.
Oh Montenegro, mother of millions! [Petar II Petrovic Njegos verse]
Serbia
In “brotherly-sisterly” Serbia, things are much simpler.
There, any resistance to the regime is ruthlessly crushed, even if it comes from the Serbian nationalist camp.
Whoever opposes the regime’s boss opposes Serbia—it makes no difference whether they are a local or a foreigner.
That is why my ironic remark on X—regarding a certain Dr. Srdanović, who heads a student list—served as a perfect opportunity for the BIA’s on-duty operatives and other hatchet men to tear me to shreds in Serbia’s heavily polluted and toxic media landscape.
And what I wrote, with good intentions, was “A fine fellow, indeed!”—because the Srdanovićs are, without a doubt, a Montenegrin family. A good one, too.
I also added—something that clearly irritates AV—that it is only fitting for a Montenegrin to lead Serbia.
I admit I forgot to add—once again!
Milošević hailed from Lijeva Rijeka; we all know that. Koštunica (born Damjanović) traces his ancestry to Čevo, though some are unaware of this. Tadić Jr. is a native of Piva—a fact he is aware of, albeit to no avail.
These Montenegrins—if it even needs saying—pursued a Greater Serbian, nationalist agenda following four lost Serbian wars, a string of political defeats, and historically disastrous decisions. They serve more as proof of how Serbian nationalist ideology utilized outsiders for its dirtiest work—tasks they failed to execute properly. Alas.
That is why Dr. Srdanović’s “Montenegrin identity” is a detail we can joke about in an atmosphere of freedom and democracy. We shall not criticize this Montenegrin until he has earned it.
And after yesterday’s propaganda avalanche, I now hope he ousts the corrupt and out-of-sorts AV. It is time.
We ought to give new nationalists a chance—since there is no one else, that is, since Serbia is not (yet) ready to support a civic, pro-European agenda.
That is a sad fact for Serbia and for all sincere friends of a normal Serbia. And I have always been one of them. Whether I will live to see it free and normal is, unfortunately, another question.
And finally, a correction for the BIA propagandists and the Serbian regime’s lackeys: I do not hate the “SPC” [Serbian Orthodox Church]; rather, I deeply despise the Church of Serbia.
I also wrote this on X: The Church of Serbia is a usurping and occupying church in Montenegro. Its “heroes” and “saints” are the worst criminals and cutthroats, murderers and Quislings—from the priest Maca Vukojičić and the Hitler-sympathizers Nikolaj Velimirović and Pavle Đurišić, all the way to the notorious war criminal who croaked a few weeks ago, and another Sarajevo-based Montenegrin in their service who disgraced us for all time.
As for my alleged “celebration” of Kosovo’s independence—I won’t bother correcting that.
I didn’t celebrate it; I participated in it. As the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro.
If only Politika, Kurir, and Pink TV had remembered that I was born in Kosovo! Or would that have interfered with the narrative about that “enemy of Serbia”?
So, I’m afraid that’s just too bad for you—gentlemen from Serbia, and editors and directors from Montenegro.
And OPREM DOBRO, just so I don’t forget!
