(Montenegro) Starting World War III? – Aileen Zimmerman – Medium

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Starting World War III? – Aileen Zimmerman – Medium
Aileen Zimmerman
Montenegro’s Relationship with The United States

The claim made by President Trump earlier this week is all everyone is talking about, when he declared, or rather, insinuated, that he would not defend Montenegro if they were attacked, and that it could very well start World War III. Well, hold on just a minute; let’s not get hasty. Naturally, I needed to look into this immediately to understand what was said, and how on earth the United States defending Montenegro, a country with a population of less than 1 million people, could possibly start World War III. And, because of the natural turn of events unfolding in a twisting fashion these days, the Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders then tells us that the President did not mean what he said and that he meant to say that he would defend Montenegro. Let’s take a step back and look at the facts; let’s break all this down into the finite details and first, learn where Montenegro is located in the world, and go from there.

Montenegro

The country of Montenegro may be small, but its citizens are mighty and fierce. Montenegro means “Black Mountain” as it is a land made of mountains and forests. For those with a geography mindset, it is located in Southeastern Europe across from Italy, with the Adriatic Sea to it’s south, Croatia to its west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to its northwest, Serbia to its northeast, Kosovo to its east, and Albania to its southeast. Montenegro and it’s people have persevered for thousands of years and risen out of the ashes of many wars, beginning with separating themselves from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, becoming part of Yugoslavia after World War I, joining Serbia in 2003 as a result of Yugoslavia’s demise, to finally becoming an independent state in 2006. Montenegro’s population was last recorded as 642,550 in 2017, and has a 2018 GDP of $11.381 billion. Folks, this is a small country. But, you know what I noticed? Many of Montenegro’s countries are either former members of the Soviet Union, or were formerly controlled by the USSR. More on that in a minute. Remember the 2017 NATO summit in Brussels where President Trump was walking with a group of other NATO leaders and forcibly pushed one of those leaders aside so that he would be front-and-center in the photo? Coincidentally, that was Montenegro’s Prime Minister Dusko Markovic. Now, back to the Soviet Union. Montenegro is the grandchild country of former Soviet Union control, by way of Yugoslavia. While Yugoslavia wasn’t an official member of the Soviet Union, the country was controlled by the USSR. Once Yugoslavia broke down in the 1990’s, Montenegro eventually became an independent state, along with other countries in the region. In 2017, Montenegro joined NATO as a member and ally. During that time, Russia strongly opposed this partnership, and tried (but failed) to have Montenegro’s Prime Minister assassinated. So, why does Russia care about Montenegro becoming a member of NATO? Serbia. Montenegro separated from Serbia to declare themselves as an independent state. Russia and Serbia have close ties, and because Serbia is now Montenegro’s next-door neighbor, Russia seemingly fears they will lose their influence in the region. Montenegro has since accused Russia of organizing a coup to prevent them from joining NATO.

Read more at: https://medium.com/@aileenzimmerman/montenegros-relationship-with-the-united-states-8420b334f3e