A log in your own eye

Why do you see the thorn in the other's eye, but not the log in your own?.

This is what the former influential ambassador of Great Britain, Alison Kemp, said to the recent Minister of Foreign Affairs, Srđi Darmanović, in the presence of colleagues from the diplomatic corps during the discussion on the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion.

Diplomats know all kinds of things, and they know how to ask all kinds of things. With more or less sensitivity and openness.

Why they ask some seemingly unrelated questions sometimes becomes clear after a few days, weeks or even months.

If American Ambassador Judy Reising Rajnke raised the dilemma at an informal dinner before August 30, whether conflicts are possible in Montenegro if Đukanović loses power, then it may mean that she had more reliable information than Đukanović and the DPS.

I'm pretty sure she didn't mention tanks. Perhaps the "very reliable source" heard the sound of tank tracks from the mention of the loss of DPS in the elections.

During the meeting with the diplomats, I had the opportunity to hear various nuanced questions about possible conflicts in Montenegro - due to the outcome of the referendum, the decision on the recognition of Kosovo, the theft of the presidential elections in 2013, the DF protest in the context of admission to NATO...

The interest of the diplomatic representative of the USA or any other country in the scenarios in Montenegro after the elections is only part of their regular work. Nikčević is certainly not so green that she did not know what effect her statement that Rajnke "projected" that Đukanović would bring tanks to the streets after the August 30 election would cause.

Rather, it will be that she asked because she had to, as usual listening to the close circle of Đukanović.

DPS under the baton of Milan Roćen is a repeat offender in attempts to discredit ambassadors in order to discipline them. Starting with the first German ambassador, Thomas Schmidt, whose public appearances about godfather-relative networks required the top of the DPS to be sedated, then the Italian diplomat Gabriele Meucci, who mocked the arrogance and the Skorojevic mentality of the ruling caste with the "lada level" episode, through Peter Platea, who the regime media tried to present as a Bulgarian fan in the football match with Montenegro only because he received as a gift a ticket intended for away fans, until the recent attacks by the former regime's meddling children - Informer and Pink - on US ambassadors Sue Kay Brown, and EU Mitya Drobniča and Aiva Orava...

The DPS became so arrogant and convinced of its immortality that it remained deaf to the statements of the State Department criticizing the removal of independent members of the RTCG Council, or to the protests after the disclosure of the intention to return Veselin Veljović to the head of the Police Directorate, or Zoran Lazović and Duško Golubović to the security structures. ..

How would the former regime understand the thorn and the bush when he defended the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion in front of diplomats with the thesis that the SPC in Montenegro does not pay taxes, while at the same time the tycoons of the regime accumulated millions in tax debts.

What DPS overlooked in the episode with Ambassador Rajnka is - that she is in the opposition. And it will remain there, until the USA and part of the EU push China and Russia away from the Balkans in a wider action, because the influence of those countries on Montenegro was made possible by people from the top of the DPS. With such excursions and unsuccessful spins in Washington, President Đukanović's party can only further strengthen the image of a right-wing, clientelistic party.

Why was the issue of Nikčević ordered from the top of the DPS?

Either the top of that party is in a state of nervous breakdown because of what defeat in the elections brings, or it is an attempt to draw Washington's attention to the embassy in some small Montenegro, believing that the new administration of Joe Biden will change things. And it was exactly to Biden that Đukanović himself promised to withdraw from state functions after joining NATO, as some European media speculated at the time.

The fact is that the USA and the EU support the new authorities. Two female ambassadors, Rajnka and Oana Kristina Popa, have been on the verge of breaking new ground in the government for the past few days. Apart from the tanks, what marked the week behind us was, to use military terminology, the amphibious borrowing of 750 million euros by Montenegro under the command of Prime Minister Krivokapić.

The First Democratic Government, as they immodestly call themselves, should not overnight and without the knowledge of the citizens and the leaders of the coalition partners make each citizen an additional debt of about 1.200 euros. Even if it is true that Montenegro was threatened with bankruptcy.

The non-transparency of the performance is reminiscent of earlier decisions of various lower cabinets. More precisely, Krivokapić's Government could "borrow without limit" for financing needs in 2021, as defined by Duško Marković's Government during the budget rebalancing in March, but the public has not yet seen the conclusion or the information on the basis of which the new Government entered into the issuance of Eurobonds.

If Krivokapić had charged Montenegro in this way three months later, instead of three working days after the election, he would probably be a former prime minister.

It will take a long time to remove the log from the eye of the DPS, but we also need to remove some logs from the eye of the new government in time.