Military Honor and the Pocket

"The Information Service of GSVY today energetically renounced the information that guns from the military ships anchored in the Bay of Kotor opened fire on Budva and Kotor. What is in question is another trick played by the supporters of the deposed Premier Djukanovic, who, with the burning of tires, are trying to provoke the intervention of their international supporters..."

If certain dramatic warnings coming from Montenegro in the past several days are to be believed, this is how the opening item on the 6 o’clock news might sound. The president of National Unity, Novak Kilibarda, strayed the most in that direction, announcing last week that "the second and third armies of the Yugoslav Military have been put on alert", and that "Slobodan Milosevic and Miomir Bulatovic are trying to frighten citizens", and are preparing to "force peace on Montenegro with the aid of the army and the police". At the same time, the Government of Montenegro had informally expressed its apprehensions to foreign embassies regarding indications that the military is backing the Bulatovic-Milosevic forces "against reform".

Miomir Bulatovic himself added to the rumors that Djukanovic’s opponents are brandishing swords, by making public attacks on the corruption inside MUP, where Djukanovic has strong connections, and by stating several times that the army is the only institution which could stand in the way of smuggling and of crime, adding ingratiatingly (or with misgivings, depending on how we choose to interpret) that he, Bulatovic, has better relations with the military intelligence service than with "his own" security services. And finally, at a session of the DPS leadership, Bulatovic’s namesake and Federal Defense Minister threatened in a roundabout way with "different methods" in the event that the conflict in the ruling party were to result in the paralysis of government activities. When, on top of all that, the Montenafaks Agency reported that in the territorial waters of the Adriatic the first armed conflict between military ships and a police speedboat in transit came to pass (the marines launched rockets at a speedboat, missing their target), the development of events began to uncomfortably resemble the happenings of the night before the falling apart of the former SFRY. Even though General Momcilo Perisic personally denied the news of such an armed conflict, Djukanovic, the head of GSVY, confirmed it two days later, admitting that a "misunderstanding with the Marines" came to pass.

All of this could be very dangerous if the chain of events were not indicative of bluffing, to which both sides are resorting. First of all, the forces of the Yugoslav Military in Montenegro have many good reasons for continuing to tolerate the government’s activities, which are euphemistically referred to as "transit", given that they themselves get a piece of that cake — some Marine sources claim that the Marines’ ships would have been stranded long ago but for the fuel that Djukanovic’s Government regularly delivers to them, fuel that has been illegally smuggled in from Albania. Without the government’s consent the military would be without many buildings and services, and would instead have to depend on the increasingly meager federal budget: the same harbor in which police speedboats "lie dormant" also conducts maintenance of military boats, free of charge; officers’ apartments on Pinjes have also been provided, free of charge, by the government, along with the land for a new military harbor in Valdanos... Finally, if the market at Tuzi were to close thanks to this military action, many officers in Montenegro would be forced to change cigarette brands from the inexpensive Marlboro they get there, to the domestic Classic which, it has been noticed, Gen. Perisic smokes.

Why then is the military "brandishing its sword", giving the impression of someone cutting the branch on which they are sitting? The answer is simple: because its command, namely its Head Committee on Defense, issued such an order, and because in that Committee’s last meeting, on June 12, Pavle Bulatovic, with Milosevic’s support, asked that the military close off territorial waters to all transit of speedboats. With a launching of a missile in the direction of a speedboat, the military managed to bluff a response to an order, which itself was a bluff. Thus everyone involved showed how much they take to heart the inscription engraved on the officers sword which was presented to Zoran Lilic on the Day of the Military, and which reads: "Do not draw me without good cause, do not put me back without honor". With empty pockets, the army can ill afford the expense of honor.