'Stupid statements' - Trump jibe stuns Montenegro
"He's the strangest president in the history of the United States," Ranko Krivokapic told the BBC. Mr Krivokapic knows a thing or two about being a president. He served as President of the Parliament of Montenegro from its independence in 2006 until 2016 - and remains president of the opposition Social Democratic Party. "With this kind of president, with his knowledge of foreign policy, who knows what is going on? Foreign policy is not his big thing."
Boris Raonic, programme director at the Civic Alliance human rights organisation, was among those who could barely believe what they were hearing. "We are used to having [a US president] who unites and promotes Western values; now, instead of a leader, we have a showman." Mr Raonic says even this would not matter so much if Mr Trump had bothered to study the countries and issues about which he was making snap pronouncements. "He is obviously not reading what the state department prepares for him, so we get these stupid statements, which clearly show a lack of knowledge and respect for role that the US had until now."
Boris Raonic is equally unimpressed by Mr Trump's characterisation of modern-day Montenegrins (which) doesn't necessarily guarantee respect. Montenegro's Prime Minister Dusko Markovic discovered that at a Nato summit last year, when Mr Trump shoved him out of the way as heads of government assembled for a "family photograph".
Russia has made it clear that it still sees the region as part of its sphere of influence. Prior to Montenegro's Nato accession, Russia's then-deputy PM Dmitry Rogozin, said the former Yugoslav republic would "regret" joining the alliance. Montenegrin prosecutors allege that Moscow was behind a subsequent apparent coup attempt in 2016; Russia has denied responsibility. Ranko Krivokapic says he is concerned that his country may have been a bargaining chip at the Trump-Putin summit.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44877718
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