Why the hell was drumpf talking about Montenegro after meeting Putin?

[Takket]

Last edited Sat Jul 28, 2018, 10:56 PM - Edit history (1)

Oh.... that's why.............

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/27/a-russian-attack-on-montenegro-could-mean-the-end-of-nato-putin-trump-helsinki/

Indeed, Trump appears to be playing along with a Russian ploy that could shatter the NATO alliance by going after its newest member. “Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people,” the president told the Fox News host and Trump admirer Tucker Carlson, the day after meeting with Putin. “They have very aggressive people. And they may get aggressive, and congratulations, you are in World War III,” he added. An armed Russian incursion in Montenegro—involving hybrid or traditional warfare—would give Trump an opportunity to make good on his word to Fox News and tell NATO allies that Washington will not honor Article 5 of the NATO treaty and join its allies in coming to Montenegro’s aid.

[onecaliberal]

1. Putin wants the Baltic's.

[Glorfindel]

3. Of course he does, but Montenegro is not one of the Baltic republics.

Distance from Vilnius, Lithuania to Podgorica, Montenegro, is 889 miles. The other "Baltics" are even further away.
Maybe tRump's casual dismissal of Montenegro is setting the stage for not coming to the aid of Estonia, Latvia, and/or Lithuania.

[Retrograde]

4. Panslavism as Russian policy goes way back

and IMO Putin would be just as happy to see the southern Slavic countries aligned with Russia as he would be to get the Baltic countries back. A Pan-Slavic alliance (with Russia in charge, natch) has been advocated since at least the 19th century.

[Wounded Bear]

9. "Pan-slavism" was a big contributor to the runup to WWI...

As the Ottoman Turks withdrew from the area, three rival forces popped up.

One was ethnic nationalism as the various ethnic groups in the Balkans wanted their own countries. The Serbs were the most successful in forming an actual nation. Bosnia-Herzegovina was absorbed by the Austrians. But, of course the ethnic groups were hugely intermingled in ways that made borders kind of difficult to sort out. There were two horrific wars in 1912 and 1913 about these issues.

Another was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which felt it was their natural right to expand into that area. They were fading, but wanted to expand, perhaps to "invigorate" their empire.

Third was Russian Pan-slavism, which was a part of their long wished for access to the open ocean. They also wished to expand their sphere of influence into the Balkans.

In the end, none of those three empires would survive WWI. Serbia would not re-emerge as a country until the Balkan Wars of the 19990's.

[onecaliberal]

5. Very good point. I think Latvia is a couple thousand miles from Russia. Lithuania is closer, right?

How much is their military capable of?

[smirkymonkey]

8. They both border Russia.

Latvia borders Russia directly and Lithuania borders Kaliningrad. Estonia also borders Russia.

[2naSalit]

2. He wants those Republics to return to the motherland...

if he has to force them, he will. He just needs to have NATO dismantled or weakened to do that and removing the US is check if not checkmate.

[peggysue2]

6. Why?

Because Putin has a bug up his ass over Mentenegro and the Trumpster is his boy-toy.

Another, Not-Rocket-Science moment.

[Cicada]

7. Trump thought The Mouse that Roared was a documentary

About Montenegro, number in Military is 950.