By World BEYOND War, July 26, 2022
We recently reported on progress in our campaign to save the Sinjajevina mountain from becoming a military training ground.
Another piece of progress can now be reported. It may be a little confusing to people familiar with governments like the one in Washington, D.C., in which every agency and department lines up and takes orders from the President. But the Montenegran government has some independence in its various departments, and the Ministry of Ecology has announced that Sinjajevina should become a protected area, and that the decision to create a military training ground should be repealed.
Clearly the recent actions by Save Sinjajevina, low-budget and small though they may have been, have had a major impact. Support is growing among other members of the government.
However, the Ministry of so-called “Defense” (which is in the hands of a minority political party), still insists on the need for the military training ground. The government has not yet cancelled the military ground. And the current makeup of the government could change at any time.
While there is no public demand in Montenegro for the destruction of Sinjajevina or the creation of a military training ground far larger than the Montenegran military could ever use, there is undoubtedly continued pressure from NATO (meaning Brussels and Washington) just as surely as there is fire where one sees a cloud of smoke.
