Told Them Straight, Boss

2026-03-05 - 07:17

Good morning! The way the Democrats are running the security sector carries serious autocratic risks. While writing this text, I caught myself thinking that, because of what I am about to say in it, the police might react and that, due to my criticism of the police director and the minister of the interior, I could be pulled aside and detained at the airport when entering Montenegro. And the worst part is — that is not a crazy thought, considering the childish behaviour and obvious professional shortcomings of Lazar Scepanovic. Click here to join our Viber group, where we keep you updated with live news and answer your questions directly. Told Them Straight, Boss With these or similar words, the police director addressed Minister Saranovic after his appearance before the parliamentary Security Committee, following yet another egomaniacal tirade of the kind he increasingly tends to deliver in public. Scepanovic is underqualified, uneducated, and vindictive. That combination, joined with a desire for unlimited power — both institutional and extra-institutional — can be disastrous for democratic processes in Montenegro. This is not about the arrest of former or current power brokers. Let them make arrests if they have grounds. The problem is how much, in chasing political points for himself and for his political patrons, Scepanovic actually respects the law and the rule of law. Because the rule of law is not the rule of locks. That is why we should look at the harassment of journalist Petar Komnenic and the intimidation of Dusko Kovacevic — simply for doing their jobs. Pressure on the media of this kind is unacceptable in a country that wants to become the next member of the European Union. Scepanovic and Saranovic cannot be sabotaged by the DPS, which continues, in a self-destructive way, to protect its close associates. They cannot be sabotaged by Mandic and Milan Knezevic, who criticize the police and prosecution only when they themselves or people close to them are under investigation. Nor can they be sabotaged by the compromised and corrupt judiciary. What can sabotage them most is themselves — through messianic complexes, authoritarianism, and the performance of strictness where it has no place. With clumsy, aggressive, and threatening communication toward journalists, the police are losing allies in the public — allies they desperately need if they truly intend to confront organized crime, which, like an octopus, has wrapped its grip around Montenegro. And not only Montenegro. By agreeing to build a party-controlled police force for a party that has 8% support, Scepanovic risks turning the remaining 92% of Montenegro’s citizens against him. Institutions exist to limit all of us in our natural urge to grab as many limited resources as possible for ourselves and those close to us. We cannot rely on our own assessment of our capacities and moral superiority. Just because someone is honest does not mean they are not also reckless and dangerous — to themselves and to others. There is another aspect here. A political one. PES must be aware that at some point they themselves will become a target of the Democrats. They are simply waiting for an opportunity to use, in the confrontation that will come sooner or later, the information and institutional advantage they have gained by controlling the police. Just as they had no scruples in their conflict with their former allies from URA and with Abazovic, they will do the same to PES and Spajic — as soon as the conditions allow it. And not because the Democrats are worse people than other politicians. Rather, because the party itself is fundamentally designed on undemocratic pillars: rigidity, uniformity, and ideological emptiness. When that is combined with the repressive apparatus of the state, the result is a recipe for disaster. That is all for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day. Kind regards, Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist (Columnists’ opinions and views are not necessarily those of the CdM editorial staff)