This is not an excerpt from Kostunica’s speech made during his tour of Serbia, nor from Milosevic’s statement given in the Hague; this is not an excerpt from a statement given by one of the leaders of the largest Montenegrin political party that believes in rejuvenated Yugoslavia. The assertion that Montenegro can become independent only if autocracy and dictatorship win over democracy and liberty comes from a column by the chief of the Montenegrin mission in Washington David Dasic, published in Politika two days ago. True, Dasic resigned from his position two months ago, but had previously been for two years the main conduit for information between the Montenegrin government and the US administration. Starting with the summer of 1999, Dasic was supposed to present views of the government of Montenegro in contacts with the US officials, most importantly about independence of Montenegro and the Montenegrin initiative for the establishment of an alliance of two independent states, to organize visits of the top Montenegrin officials to Washington and attend the most confidential discussions (president Djukanovic, Prime Minister Vujanovic, and the minister of foreign affairs Lukovac have visited the US several times during David’s tenure)…
Did he recognize at that time in them autocrats and dictators advocating disintegration of FR Yugoslavia? Did he try to convince the Montenegrin officials to shelve the independence referendum because “the international community currently believes that democracy is more important than a referendum and independence”, as he now writes in Politika? There is no public trace of such Dasic’s views. He would prefer to erase his two years in Washington, paid by Montenegrin taxpayers (the state spent at least $250,000 on his mission). That’s probably why he signed his commentary in Politika as “the former ambassador of FR Yugoslavia in Brazil”, failing to mention his service to Montenegro since 1999 and until this summer, or even that he was Milosevic’s ambassador in Brazil.
All of that is, naturally, the matter of personal choice and there is nothing disputable in Dasic’s support for the survival of FR Yugoslavia. The problem is essentially of moral nature: how can he work for the Montenegrin government in the US if he believes that the independence of Montenegro can only be a product of a victory by autocracy and dictatorship over democracy and liberty…
After Dasic’s case, it is unclear how the Montenegrin diplomacy functions if at the most important post in the world its interests were defended by such a supporter of FR Yugoslavia’s survival. It seems that Montenegro generously financed propaganda that contradicts official views of its government. If that is true, then it is not surprising that so many doors all over the world, which used to be wide open at the time, are now hardly left ajar for Montenegrin officials. And those in Washington especially…