It was the end of November 2011 when the all-powerful and untouchable Đukanović, the master of Montenegro, was visited by Toma Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić, two political outsiders at that moment, "sinners" of Vojislav Šešelj. But the boys were promising. And Milo always had a flair for talent. Together, they announced what we will see in the coming years: we will build the best relations between the two countries. Tom ran the bank, and young Alexander acted more from the background. He was happy to see Tito, and the smile did not slip from his face even when our Don was asked if he was afraid of sanaderization. "That's what the political mice are saying, who need extermination first, instead of sanitation." There, Vučić learned new lessons on dealing with dissenters.
Less than a year later, Thomas defeated the weak Boris, and Alexander the Great came to power.
Sometime at the end of 2017, a business partner from Belgrade, when we touched on politics, told me that he was in high school with Ac and that he knows him well, even though they haven't seen each other since then. "After the election and his victory, I told my friends - now you will see how the government defends itself"!
And we've been watching that movie for years. Although after October 5, 2000 and the fall of Milošević, Serbia hoped that it would never see something similar again.
Among those who feared the new "radical government" were DJ Vučićević, editor of the then Press, and his correspondent from Podgorica, Marko Milačić. Today and all these years, the first is the hammer fist of court propaganda, and the second is Vučić's political ally and devotee from Montenegro. Which is fate. Marko called me to make a statement and was taken aback when I welcomed the victory of Toma and SNS because, I said, Serbia shows that the government can be changed in elections. And that is the main indicator of democratic maturity. Who could have known or assumed then that a man who unmistakably knows how to defend the government will come to the head of the largest country in the region!
Already in 2015, at the big conference of Newsweek in Belgrade, at the time when Aca Rodić was on the verge of shouting "Serbia, I'm sorry", I was honest with my Serbian friends: This man, AV, knows his business, he could learn from Milo, prepare for a long ride.
The words of consolation were that it cannot last for three decades, as it is here, because the Serbs are not as submissive and tolerant as the Montenegrins.
Somewhere towards the end of 2019, I was sitting in Šumatovac with one of the opposition champions of Serbia. He poured fire on Vučić, threatened that the opposition would not participate in the elections, and when he mentioned the uprising and the bloodshed, I asked if it was possible, with the help of major powers, to make some agreement with Vučić. Nevertheless, I said, in these 6-7 years, he lifted Serbia economically from its knees, strengthened its international position, directed it towards the EU, regardless of all flirtations with Beijing and Moscow, how about you offer him a dignified farewell, immunity and a little place in history. The interlocutor replied. "You know what kind of person he is - if we offered him to choose between a peaceful departure, a positive place in history or hanging on Terazije - he would choose the latter".
I was upset, half of my relatives live in Serbia, Belgrade is the greatest love of my youth, Serbia is the most important neighbor. Even mercenaries like Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević, who would transfer from Vučić to Tači tomorrow, could not be happy about that. The gaping jaws of the local tabloids stared at me from the newsstands. Informer, Alo, Serbian telegraph, Kurir... Threats to "Shiptars", "Ustasha", Soros, Masons. I will listen to all this later from our Honey. How pernicious is that propaganda! When I entered the store, taxi, troll, post office, bank, hospital, in those days, in all those places, I looked at the tired faces of the citizens of Belgrade, who obviously had not yet felt that their average salaries were almost twice as high as in 2012, when Aleksandar Vučić came to power.
And then, in the last year, a lot has changed at cinematic speed. In Montenegro, not in Serbia. What will work for Vučić and what he, who sleeps little, works a lot, has a focus that is rarely born, will be ready to welcome. Without Đukanović, he would never have come to power, but as alliances do not last forever in politics, he did a lot to push Milo's departure from power. If we are talking about money, it is not the 20 and a half million invested in Serbian institutions and places of worship in Montenegro, but the recent confession of Vulin's Sable Mandić that the campaign of the ZBCG coalition cost one and a half million. "Someone had to pay for that," admits the DF leader. Krivokapić and the Church did not give a cent, he says, so the suspicion fell on Vučić himself.
That was my first remark when he came to cannabis. Then I told him about the importance of free media, about how Đukanović's war with Vijesti cost him a lot, and in the end the defeat in the elections. In these 15 years, we tired him out and threw him on the ropes, Amfilochius only knocked him out. I also asked him how the United Group in Serbia has critical media that, in my opinion, slander Vučić, while in Montenegro they keep propaganda glorifying Milo. I mentioned tycoons and the mafia to him at the end, and then Vučić entered the studio. What he said is not for me to convey. It was a game of chess, and the Serbian leader enjoys that ancient game. Pawns are his favorite pieces. This is shown by Mandić, Knežević and Medojević. And cannons are shock weapons. He loves it when he overthrows the king and takes the throne. Amfilochius died, Milo is finished, but he did not manage to make a point and deliver a speech that would symbolically subjugate Montenegro. Joanikija will not forget that, which we will probably see when the Synod of Bishops votes for the new Montenegrin metropolitan. Aleksandar Vučić never forgets and never gives up.
And now, after we talked on the phone, I can guarantee you - he will not let Serbia go easily. But neither Montenegro.
Bonus video:
