Black Mountains

Montenegro, land named after its most poignant landscape declared independence last week. It was a bold move, but one that has been in the works for several years and considering the volatility of the region, a most important step in its history.
 
Montenegro offers outsiders, like myself, a glimpse of what the whole region could become, self sufficient.  It has come about in a peaceful manner, for the most part, but could also stand as an example to the rest of the "Balkans" because of its linguistic and cultural mix. Montenegro consists of Croats, Serbs, Bosnians and Albanians. It has a cultural and religious blend that gives it strength and a declaration of independence, says much about the consensus of the country, politically speaking.
 
But I can't help but think that the region once known as Yugoslavia, is still suffering from the Marshall Tito legacy. He led the country from 1945 to 1980. When he died, the regions who were once cooperative, suddenly saw themselves as enemies and the ensuing civil wars achieved nothing except a huge body count. But with that initial anger and loss of leadership out of the picture, the region has finally settled down. I don't think Montenegro would be celebrating independence today, if Tito was still around. He was the glue to the entire region, at least to outsiders, only because of his longevity and his "soft" Communist approach to leadership. Tito was popular because he did the one thing many could not do and that was stand up to Hitler during WW II. Most Yugoslavs had a higher standard of living than East Europeans in the aftermath.
 
Twenty six years after his death, the region had to come to terms with itself, rightly or wrongly. Montenegro's independence seems to put the region's history into its proper perspective, at least as it was before 1918.
 
That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.