Word: yugoslavias
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...blue-ribbon United Nations panel assessing the condition of a still unified Yugoslavia back in 1991 called it a state in the "process of dissolution." Well, it took 10 years of bloodshed, but the job is almost done. The original six Yugoslav republics have been whittled down to two. First Slovenia and Croatia went their own ways, then Bosnia withdrew, triggering the long siege of Sarajevo, then Macedonia managed to get out miraculously without violence. Now, with a seemingly minor election later this week in the small mountain republic of Montenegro, Serbia's remaining partner in the incredible shrinking federation...
...that providers of aid are supportive of independence. Secretary of State Colin Powell refused to meet with Djukanovic when he visited Washington in January, and E.U. external relations Commissioner Chris Patten said this month: "We want to see a democratic Montenegro in a democratic and reformed Yugoslavia. We don't agree with Djukanovic...
...Independence would probably not make much difference in daily life in Montenegro. It no longer pays taxes into the federal coffers. It has its own police force. And in 1999 it introduced Germany's deutsche mark as its official currency. Ties with Serbia are so distant that Yugoslavia recently opened a "representative's" office in Podgorica, like some foreign diplomatic mission. In Serbia, on the other hand, the fallout from secession will be considerable. "If Montenegro goes, Serbia would effectively become a new country," Kostunica says. Elections might precipitate the breakup of the ruling coalition and, as President...
...Economic aid has become the West's main weapon for influencing events in post-Milosevic Yugoslavia. Presumably that would create major obstacles to independence plans if the West chose to make it difficult for Djukanovic to break away...
...Forging a coalition with the liberals certainly gives him a parliamentary majority, and the legal right to call a referendum on independence - which the liberals, who are even more strongly pro-independence than Djukanovic, urge him to do. But the pro-Yugoslavia parties have vowed to boycott a referendum, and judging by the latest election results, the turnout at such a referendum may not enough to achieve legitimacy for independence...