Posted on 06/16/2014 2:45:57 AM PDT by WhiskeyX
P ODGORICA -- Apparently Moscow's red line against NATO membership extends well beyond Moscow's old empire.
Concern about further expansion of the trans-Atlantic alliance has driven Moscow's harsh policies in its immediate neighborhood -- with Ukraine, Moldova, and Georgia in particular feeling Russia's wrath. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calls the prospect of such expansion "the last straw."
And now Moscow is seeking to extend the no-NATO zone farther west, beyond the former Soviet space -- and even beyond the old Warsaw Pact. The next country in Moscow's sights seems to be the tiny Balkan state of Montenegro.
(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...
Montenegrins are Serbs and Russia is reminding them of the historical ties that have long united Russians and the South Slav peoples.
More accurate is the story of how the oppressions by the Russians have divided the Slavs in all regions of Eurasia. Montenegro wants nothing to do with Russia, and they will join NATO to defend their decision.
Milovan Djilas, later famous as a dissident, was a Montenegrin. One of Stalin's grudges against Tito, leading to the Tito/Stalin break of 1948, was that Tito had not taken action against Djilas when he complained about the rapes and murders committed by the Red Army in Belgrade in 1944.
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