A member of the Ministry of Defense of Montenegro and a U.S. Cyber Command Airman, pose for a photo during Defensive Cooperation at Podgorica, Montenegro, Sept. 28, 2018. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Craig Jensen)
The Montenegrin government just made another step on a long way of turning the country into the Balkans’ Ukraine.
Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said in a statement that the July 21 round of talks between Montenegro’s government and the Serbian Orthodox Church have ended without progress after the two parties failed to agree to a ‘compromise’. He claimed that the government made numerous concessions and even proposed new articles of the Freedom of Religion Law, in particular, regarding the use of “church and monastic buildings, property and other real estate that are state property or are recognized as state, religious or cultural value during court proceedings” by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
“The government’s only request was to register all churches and religious communities, including the Serbian Orthodox Church and its dioceses, in accordance with the law. <…> Unfortunately, the Church refused. <…> The Serbian Orthodox Church has retained an established practice of functioning outside the legal system, outside the rules and procedures,” Markovic said.
The Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro said that the past negotiations were used to “blackmail the Church and conduct an actual political marketing”. According to the council, all the new articles proposed by government experts to the controversial law “are meaningless if the government insists on maintaining the article, which conditionally declares church property as state property. ” In other words, the Montenegrin government did not drop an idea of seizing all the properties of the Serbian Orthodox Church, but tries to hide this intention behind speculations about some ‘registrations’ and articles allowing the church (for some time) to use its own properties seized by the government.
In these conditions, it’s surprising to expect that the Serbian Orthodox Church (the canonic one and the most popular one in Montenegro) would support the controversial law. Moreover, this law is an apparent attempt to limit the religious freedom in Montenegro for political purposes because, if it’s accepted in the current version, it will allow the government to meddle in the church matters by threatening it with the de-facto seizure of the properties (after the de-jure seizure under the accepted law). So, the concept separation of church and state will be violated. By enforcing this controversial law, the government seeks to turn the church into a tool of influencing the conservative majority of Montenegro, which does not like the recent social, political and economic trends. By undermining the church as an integral part of the traditional society, supporters of the neo-liberal agenda seek to strengthen their positions in the Balkans.
While the government is still able to accept the aforementioned law and even use force to supress the protests (especially speculating on the COVID-19 threat issues), this does not mean that it will achieve success in creating own puppet church. The Ukrainian colleagues of Prime Minister Dusko Markovic and his supporters already tried to do so and even got own ‘independent church’ with support from the United States Department of State and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Nonetheless, this project appeared to be dead on arrival. Since the creation of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in 2019, it has already splitted several times and is existing mostly on paper. Despite this, attempts to impose this new pseudo-church entity as the dominating religious force in Ukraine led to the increase of tensions within the religious community and contributed to the antagonism of the population to the government. It’s hard to expect that this is the result that any constructive government wants to achieve. However, if the real goal is the destabilization of the society and the administrative attempts to supress the people’s point of view, this still can be useful scenario for some puppet, Western-controlled government.
So thats basically balkanization after being already balkanized…
They are going for the World Record…
Interestingly tusko almost sounds like dusko in Hungarian and means retard, how fitting for him…
Those are totally unnatural processes in Ukraine and Montenegro financed by U.S…..It is like one trying to keep one’s beer belly in, while watching group of sexy young girls passing buy.
It can last short period of time after which the same beer belly will take its ordinary, natural volume and shape.
Ukraine and Montenegro are predominately Orthodox Christians and pro-Russian and nothing (no USA, NATO, Vatican) can permanently change those facts.
The sooner USA as world power (in decay) understands those facts the better for everybody.
Montenegro never existed before Tzarist Russia did all that what it did. It was Zeta and Dukla, as well as part of Bosnia. Only place called Montenegro was a part of mountain Durmitor.
They used to grab land (now part of Kosovo became Mn), and Siutorina. Ulcin was Albanian city rented to mn to 100 years, and they have no intention to give it back.
“Montenegro never existed before”
And Albania, Kosovo did?!
I have said that they are in majority Orthodox therefore, it is not natural Western (NATO) efforts to antagonize them against Russian Orthodox.
Since you can’t deny that fact you have chosen to attack Montenegro (for whatever personal reason)
You are just talking about parts of history the way it suits you. We could also talk about “Bosnia” to whom they have belonged to. Also “Albania”.
As for “Kosovo”, that is only USA – NATO mafia protectorate and not state.
History can get very complicated so people always choose chunks they prefer to distort picture. That approach is usually very far from putting things in the right historic perspective.
I’m not historian yet I know enough about history of the Balkans that, you can’t sell to me your interpretation of history.
No, you didn’t get me right. I just didn’t mention that those parts were actually Serbia. You are pretty much right on all of these stuff.
Cheers. :)
Hoping to finally get its hands on a piece of real estate in the Mediterranean Russia in cooperation with Serbian enemies UK, US and Germany financed separation of Montenegro from Serbia in 2006. This is what Metropolitan Amfilohije of Serbian Orthodox Church had to say:
“Montenegro would never exist without Russia. From the time of Bishop Danilo, the battle of Carevo Laz, and even later… all the way to Nikola (prince, then king of Montenegro – note P. T.). Even to these communists of ours. If it were not for Stalin, the communists would not have ruled this country either. What they use is the worst of what communism has had. If it weren’t for Rusa, Djukanovic wouldn’t be the president, if it weren’t for (Russian) money, he wouldn’t have won the referendum in Montenegro. He knows that well. ” (https://stanjestvari.com/2020/03/06/ruski-mediji-uplaseni-politickom-nekorektnoscu-vladike-amfilohija/comment-page-1/?unapproved=85209&moderation-hash=1f7d8645162e38d35b35249d666a309c#comment-85209 https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&u=https%3A%2F%2Fvidovdan.org%2Finfo%2Frusi-finansirali-referendum-odvajanja-crne-gore-od-srbije%2F)
Where is the Patriarchate of Constantinopla when Erdogan has wipe off the ortodox Christendom of Saint Sofia?…