Word: montenegro
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...leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (formerly the Communist Party), used a surge of Serbian nationalism in late 1980s to come to power. Since then he has been the president of Serbia and then of the new Yugoslavia, which consists of Serbia and the much smaller republic of Montenegro. His popularity has been declining throughout the 1990s, hitting all-time lows last year after the defeat in the Kosovo conflict. He now has the support of only 20 to 25 percent of the population...
When Milosevic decided to call the elections in late July, he was counting on friction among his opponents to bring him a relatively easy victory. Two major political forces are in opposition to Milosevic: the pro-Western government of Montenegro and the Serbian opposition, which is notorious for its bitter fragmentation. The government of Montenegro decided to boycott the elections despite U.S. diplomatic pressure, and the Serbian opposition again failed to unite. The largest opposition party, the Serbian Renewal Movement, decided to nominate their own presidential candidate, while the other major opposition parties came together under the name...
Trouble began in July, when Milosevic downgraded Montenegro's status in the Yugoslav federation. It was a move of unmasked aggression, a kind of diplomatic dare that caused outrage. It was backed with muscle: over the summer the Yugoslav army reasserted its authority in border areas at the expense of the local police. A Western diplomat called Milosevic "a python, slowly tightening his grip." Later this month, sources tell TIME, the Yugoslav army has scheduled training exercises in Montenegro to coincide with the elections. "[Milosevic] is going to set the stage for action," says General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme...
...Serb politicians in Montenegro, meanwhile, deny that anything ominous is afoot. Predrag Bulatovic, vice president of the Belgrade-backed Socialist People's Party, calls rumors of a coup "propaganda" invented by Djukanovic to sow instability and draw NATO into the fight. "The Yugoslav army is not politically motivated," he says blandly during an interview at his mountain farm. "It is a guarantor of stability." The Yugoslav army's top commander, Colonel General Nebojsa Pavkovic, who recently commended Slobodan Milosevic for his "wise and decisive policies that have preserved the dignity of our people," says his troops have been acting...
Still, ethnic divisions in Montenegro do not run so deep as they do elsewhere in the former Yugoslavia. Montenegrins, unlike Croats and Kosovo Albanians, are ethnically similar to Serbs. Support for outright independence from Serbia among ordinary Montenegrins is mixed: about 35% are for it at any cost, while a much larger proportion--including members of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic's ruling party--say they would prefer continued ties with Serbia, but under a different regime. "Time is on the side of a democratic Montenegro," says a Djukanovic ally, Save Paraca, mayor of Cetinje, the traditional heartland of Montenegrin nationalism...