A roundup of Yugoslavia-related news for the month of August 2020.
Elections in Montenegro
News
“Montenegro Holds Elections in Shadow of National Identity Crisis,” Balkan Insight, 8/28/2020
“Montenegrins will go to the polls on Sunday in a vote that has been overshadowed by bitter arguments about national identity and religious values as well as the coronavirus pandemic.”
“Montenegro election: Opposition parties eye tiny majority,” BBC News, 8/31/2020
“Opposition parties in Montenegro have between them won a wafer-thin majority in the ex-Yugoslav country’s election, official results suggest. The pro-Western party of long-serving president Milo Djukanovic won most of the vote on Sunday but fell one seat short of a majority.”
“Montenegro Opposition Calls for Reconciliation After Claiming Election Win,” Balkan Insight, 8/31/2020
“After three opposition lists took just over half the seats in parliament in Sunday’s election, their leaders have appealed to ethnic minority parties to join a new government.”
“Montenegro president accepts his party lost election,” Reuters, 9/3/2020
“Montenegro’s president, Milo Djukanovic, says his pro-Western party is ready to go into opposition after three decades in power if three political alliances can form a coalition following their success in a parliamentary election.”
Analyses
“The Winds of Political Change in Montenegro,” Center for Strategic and International Studies Blog, 9/3/2020
“First and foremost, this election was about the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church, endemic corruption, and political stagnation under DPS’s 30-year rule.”
“How the use of ethnonationalism backfired in Montenegro,” Ermin Sinanović, Al Jazeera, 9/4/2020
“There are now increasing fears that the election results will bring a pro-Russian, anti-Western coalition to power which will threaten the country’s stability, ethnic peace, European integration and independence.”
“In the end, the choice is between a coalition led by a corrupt leader with a strong commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration, and a coalition that currently affirms Montenegro’s treaties but whose major component has a strong history of pro-Serbian, pro-Russian and anti-minorities tendencies. Looking at recent violence against the Muslim minorities in Montenegro, the second option would destabilise Montenegro.”
“Sarajevo Calling Episode 30: Montenegro’s Election Fallout,” Sarajevo Calling, 9/7/2020
War Commemorations
“Croatia Hails 25th Anniversary of Operation Storm Victory; Serbs Mourn,” Balkan Insight, 8/5/2020
“Croatian leaders staged a ceremony to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the country’s forces victory over rebel Serbs in Operation Storm, while politicians in Serbia commemorated the casualties and refugees.”
“Bosnian Ex-Prisoners Commemorate Wartime Omarska Jail Camp,” Balkan Insight, 8/6/2020
“Former detainees of the Bosnian Serb-run Omarska detention camp near Prijedor, where inmates were tortured and killed in 1992, gathered to mark the 28th anniversary of its closure.”
“25 Years On, Sarajevo Mourns Victims of Market Massacre,” Balkan Insight, 8/28/2020
“Relatives and friends of 43 people including three children who were killed in the shelling of Sarajevo’s Markale marketplace by Bosnian Serb forces in August 1995 gathered to commemorate the anniversary.”
R.I.P. Miodrag Živković (1928-2020)
“Master of Yugoslav War Memorials Leaves a Rich Legacy,” Balkan Insight, 8/6/2020
“Serbian sculptor Miodrag Zivkovic, who died last week at the age of 93, created some of the most important and visually impressive World War II monuments all over the former Yugoslavia.”
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