The Montenegrin Microcosm

There were reports that numerous websites associated Montenegrin politics were hacked today and the suggestion was that Russia was probably behind it. Montenegro is yet another Balkan country caught in the middle of Cold War II. It's a battlefield in miniature. Historically and culturally the Eastern Orthodox Slavic peoples of the region have looked toward Russia but post-1991 NATO and the EU have been determined to 'scoop up' every last nation of the former Warsaw Pact into their orbit.

Though the Yugoslavian Wars ended with the 1990s, the tensions have not gone away and in fact in recent years with the onset of Cold War II, things have become very tense. And once again schemes, criminality and paramilitaries are at work. The Serbs have not forgotten the 1990s and neither have the Albanians. There are elements among both peoples that are effectively serving as Great Power proxies.

The Montenegro election is but a small part of the larger Balkan equation... itself but one fault-line in a series of escalating confrontations.

And yet if it was Moscow behind this 'hack' they didn't do a very good job because it would seem the pro-Western party has come out victorious. The Democratic Party of Socialists website was reportedly hit by the attack but by the end of the day, they came out the winners.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/10/16/world/europe/ap-eu-montenegro-election.html?_r=0