Cigarette smuggling involving the Montenegrin government and the Italian Mafia has been going on for years. Now, however, it has become front page news in Italy, and Belgrade is gloating.
After dangerously stoking up the campaign against Montenegro, Belgrade has suddenly offered to continue negotiations with the rebellious republic. It could be the last step before a referendum.
President Franjo Tudjman is wrapping up a Christmas present for the Croatian people - a parliamentary election on December 22 that his ruling HDZ party is widely expected to lose heavily. Unless they pull a few surprises first.
Once the Serbian media portrayed them as martyrs whose plight demanded war against Croats, Muslims and Albanians. Today, the forgotten victims of Belgrade's drive for a Greater Serbia, they live in squalor in collective centres in Serbia where mental illn
With the Croatian president near death and the ruling party facing electoral defeat, the Bosnian Croat sister party is also in disarray.
Paramilitaries forced out of Kosovo have moved into neighbouring Montenegro, some to find a hiding place and some to join the police.
Recent up-beat reports on the president's health have been greeted with scepticism within Croatia, where observers fear the ruling party will stop at nothing to retain their hold on political power.
Zagreb's latest and most blatant anti-American outburst adopted a tone and manner not seen since the Communist era and the height of the Cold War - and has elicited a swift response from the US State Department.
For some people in Bosnia, the death of Franjo Tudjman was a national tragedy, for others it raised hopes for better relations between the two countries. But the post-Tudjman era is bound to bring uncertainty to Bosnia.
Dragutin Hedl reflects on the legacy of Croatia's leader - Tudjman the Tito fan, the fanatical nationalist, the lover of luxury and hoarder of riches, his country's self-proclaimed hero - and its wrecker.
