NATO’s Neocolonial Discourse and its Resisters: The Case of Montenegro

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Notes

1 A version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the Pacific Association for the Continental Tradition held at the University of Hawaii, Hilo in September 2016.

2 In another similar instance, Bruce P. Jackson, one of the founders of the US Committee to Expand NATO (as well as chairman of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq [sic]), who has been the most aggressive NATO lobbyist in East-Central Europe, was also vice-president at Lockheed Martin Corporation, the producer of high-tech military hardware. Not surprisingly, Jackson was a military intelligence officer while serving in the US Army. For other examples, see Seelye (1998).

3 Ranko Krivokapić was removed as the Parliament's speaker in May 2016 for reasons that have nothing to do with the NATO agenda. He had held this position since June 2003.

4 For this point, I am indebted to Petrović (2015, 104). See also Mussolff (2004).

5 Curiously, the warm friendliness of Tusk's address was not reciprocated by Djukanović, as if he was the more politically powerful of the two and hence in need of being flattered. Though this may seem paradoxical, it helps show the extent to which Djukanović has been important for NATO's long-term geopolitical agenda in the Balkans.

6 The author of this article was one of its founders and is currently the chair of the board.

7 In consonance with its vision of the 'irelandization' of Montenegro, the MNMNE proposes that security guarantees be given to Montenegro by the European Union as is the case with Ireland. Some observers may be critical of the MNMNE's reliance on the EU, but, in contrast to NATO membership, EU membership is widely supported by Montenegrin citizens. This is not to say that MNMNE members are unaware of the limitations of the existing EU institutional set-up, especially regarding its top-down neoliberal economic (austerity) agenda.

8 The performance was sharply criticised by the NATO lobby in Montenegro, especially by the Atlantic Council of Montenegro ("Treba se zapitati", 2016).

9 In addition, former US Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio praised the MNMNE's vision of international peace and global solidarity in direct email communication with the founders ("Bivši kongresmen", 2014).

10 Milačić was stopped by the police and arrested near the Atlantic Council public event (in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica) which was organized on the occasion of NATO's birthday [sic]. Milačić is well-known in Montenegro as an anti-NATO activist and the police arrested him arbitrarily in order to show its subservience to the NATO lobby.