An Anti-Fascist Who Beats Women, Loves Criminals and Denies Genocide: Košarac's Foolishness Comes at the Expense of Trojka's Ladies!

Written by: Rasim Belko

It is not an unknown phenomenon, on the contrary, that holders of state functions in Bosnia and Herzegovina can surprise even psychologists with severe forms of foolishness. In fact, from Dayton to the present day, there are plenty of examples of inappropriate and position-unworthy behavior by our officials.

I vividly remember when the then member of the BiH Presidency from the RS, Borislav Paravac, "cut bread with a saber." However, one piece of foolishness last week surpassed many stupid and unacceptable things we have seen from our politicians.

Staša Košarac, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, sent High Representative Christian Schmidt a helmet of the Nazi army with the message that "the helmet is the legacy of Schmidt's Nazi ancestors."

A serious analysis could be written about the undiplomatic and idiotic aspect of such behavior. At the same time, Schmidt least deserves to be defended by me from these pages; however, what should be defended, which is why the lack of more serious reactions from domestic politics is surprising, is the reputation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

One must ask where Košarac gets the courage to take it upon himself to play the anti-fascist and fight against Schmidt in this unacceptable way. Because, if we look at who Košarac is and how he operates, his anti-fascism is a brazen illusion and false representation.

Sanja Stanković, testifying before the Commission of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, best defined who and what Staša Košarac is through her own example. She then claimed that she had suffered domestic violence for a long period.

"My ex-husband looked me in the eyes and said he would very easily find a doctor to write that I was crazy, that the darkness would swallow me, and unfortunately my child heard all of this. Is the presence of a child at such events a threat to his peace? Is it appropriate and legal to psychologically abuse and mistreat your family members while simultaneously conducting an extramarital relationship," Stanković testified, stating that she was physically abused multiple times.

Besides beating women, Košarac also loves dark criminal minds, convicted of the most severe forms of war crimes in BiH, including UZP and genocide.

"Mektić was not satisfied with making jokes and telling jokes about our heroes and creators of the Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić and General Ratko Mladić," Košarac proclaimed in 2018, and in 2024, amid debates on the Srebrenica Genocide Resolution, he said it was "a forgery by the international community and Bosniaks."

At the same time, he wanted his heroes transferred to the RS, advocating for them to be moved closest to their place of residence for treatment.

So, Košarac is an anti-fascist who beats women and glorifies war criminals. An unusual combination, but not unseen in our political milieu. The problem is that such profiles are no longer considered an exception but are becoming a political standard.

Because the greatest tragedy is not that Košarac sent a Nazi helmet to Schmidt. That is one of those foolish acts that in a normal country would last 24 hours and end with dismissal, apology, and public isolation of the perpetrator. The real tragedy is that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, such moves are used as daily political fuel, as proof of loyalty to the leader, the people, or the "fight against the foreign factor."

It is even more tragic that almost no one from the top state leadership felt the need to react. As if it is completely normal for a state minister to send equipment of the Nazi army to the High Representative and for no one to see it as undermining the credibility of that very state.

But where does Košarac get the moral right to play the anti-fascist?

That right, of course, does not exist. It cannot be held by a man whose wife has accused him of years of domestic violence. It cannot be held by a politician who calls Karadžić and Mladić "heroes and creators," and the verdicts of international courts a "forgery."

And that is why his helmet to Schmidt is not proof of "resistance to foreigners," but merely the latest episode of political acting and aggressive populism, with a simple goal: to show loyalty to Dodik and his narrative in the domestic public, while insulting international actors because in that circle it has become currency, almost an obligation.

But perhaps the biggest problem lies in one quiet fact. Košarac behaves this way because he knows he can. That there will be no sanctions. That there will be no political accountability. That this scandal will last as long as a trending topic on social media, and then politics will continue where it left off, as if nothing happened.

In this sense, this is not a story about one minister, but about a state whose value system is dangerously eroding. When institutions do not punish the lowest forms of political savagery, they become their accomplices. When society remains silent about it, silence becomes part of the political landscape.

Then it is no longer a question of how low Staša Košarac can fall.

The question becomes how low Bosnia and Herzegovina can fall before it wakes up.

And everything could have been different, if only the political project Trojka had dedicated trust to the victim of domestic violence, instead of the ladies of that project in the BiH Parliament, led by Sabina Ćudić, saving a violent man who loves criminals and denies genocide.