For centuries too the Montenegrins have been adept at manoeuvring between the great powers.
If 650, 000 Montenegrins can have independence, then the Kosovars would say why can't 2m Kosovars too?
For the moment, the Montenegrins are waiting to see how their plan goes down in Serbia.
Montenegrins know full well they have sent a frisson down many spines with their latest declaration.
Still, it is by no means certain how Montenegrins would vote in a referendum on independence.
Serbian railways gave free tickets to mostly anti-independence Montenegrins living in Serbia to go home to vote.
Independent or not, Montenegrins have a lot of work to do and very few people qualified to do it.
The federation of Serbia and Montenegro seems likely to expire when Montenegrins vote on secession on May 21st.
Most former Yugoslavs Bosnians, Serbs, Montenegrins and Croats speak the same language with minor variations.
If opinion polls are right, barely half his fellow Montenegrins would go along.
Unionists say that the government somehow found a way of financing the return of thousands of Montenegrins from abroad who were in favour of independence.
Macedonians and maybe Montenegrins may get visa-free travel early next year.
The new arrangement is designed to mollify Montenegrins who want to declare full independence from Belgrade, while keeping the tiny republic within some sort of union.
Add off-shore banking, and many Montenegrins dream that their republic could be a mainland Cyprus, where the rich will come to bask in money and sun.
So too do the Macedonians, Montenegrins and other East Europeans who do a thriving trade in weapons, illegal immigrants, drugs, prostitutes, cigarettes, petrol and much else.
To the dismay of the Montenegrins playing host to them, the newcomers seemed unconvinced by the argument that Mr Milosevic's policies were responsible for their wretched plight.
But Montenegrins have also been told that lots of work remains before they join the EU. Passing laws is good, says the European Commission, but implementation matters more.
For their part, the Montenegrins believe they can separate amicably.
You would expect Montenegrins to think twice about breaking such links, but Mr Milosevic is making it more expensive for them to stay in Yugoslavia than to bunk out.
Already, Serbian opposition figures have condemned the Montenegrins' plan.
Though it has cushioned the effects of Serbia's blockade, this aid has not so far been effective enough to convince a clear majority of Montenegrins that their interests are served by pro-western policies.
Besides, in contrast to all his other secessionist wars, the ethnic issue might be harder to exploit: though many Montenegrins argue they are ethnically distinct from Serbs, others feel they are the same.
Although Serbia's president, Boris Tadic, congratulated the Montenegrins on independence (and said he would be in charge of Serbia's armed forces), Mr Kostunica and the nationalists around him appeared barely capable of taking in what had happened.
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Since the split between the federal Belgrade administration, run by allies of President Slobodan Milosevic, and the Montenegrin leadership headed by reformist President Milo Djukanovic, many Montenegrins are reportedly trying to avoid military service in the Belgrade-controlled Yugoslav army.
There was a realisation, too, that spending money wisely in the Balkans is not quite the same as spending it freely: if the aim is to keep Mr Djukanovic in power, it must go to pay the pensions of deserving Montenegrins (including the Serb-minded) and so on, not to finance cigarette-smuggling by corrupt members of the regime.
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