Bećirović and Konaković in Facebook trenches, Dodik and Čović at world power addresses

(Patria) - The two biggest destroyers of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović, have launched a fierce diplomatic offensive with the intention of lobbying for the realization of their dreams - the secession of Republika Srpska and the creation of a third entity.

SNSD President Milorad Dodik is a regular guest of the Kremlin, Andrićev venac 1, Budapest, and recently Jerusalem. However, what is certainly new and what he was prevented from doing due to sanctions are the United States and the prayer breakfast with US congressmen.

On the other hand, Dragan Čović is very regular in Banski dvori and on Pantovčak. And soon, he announced yesterday, a high-level delegation of his HDZ BiH will visit European leaders in Brussels and the administration of US President Donald Trump in Washington.

Exploiting the vacuum

Dodik and Čović are actually trying to take full advantage of the vacuum left by the inaction of Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomacy, specifically the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH Elmedin Konaković, believes Professor of International Relations and Geopolitics at the International University of Sarajevo, Jahja Muhasilović.

- We see that Trojka's fairy tales about Milorad Dodik being finished are nothing more than a lie they are trying to present as truth to the public. Dodik is not only not finished, but he has lost none of his strength. The same applies to Čović.

Dodik and Čović are conducting a more active foreign policy than our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They are currently much more present on the international stage than Minister Konaković and our entire Ministry.

Dodik sits with Putin, Netanyahu, Orbán, while Konaković, most often when he does sit down, which is very rare, it is usually with some third-rate diplomat and air conditioning technicians - says Muhasilović in an interview with the Patria News Agency (NAP).

According to him, the diplomatic offensive of the "political dead man" Dodik is only an indication that he is not politically buried at all, as Trojka claims, but that precisely because of their poor policy, he is doing better and better in the eyes of American diplomacy.

Muhasilović asks how it is possible that precisely in this period, when Dodik is "pushed aside", he goes and socializes with congressmen in the United States. This is a defeat, according to our interlocutor, primarily for Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomacy and for the person most responsible for it - Minister Konaković.

He reiterates that Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomacy has left an empty space that both Milorad Dodik and Dragan Čović are now trying to exploit to the fullest.

- Instead of us lobbying for Bosnia and Herzegovina and against the harmful Election Law of BiH, we are witnessing the inaction of our institutions and have a minister who is arguing and fighting with Hayat through social networks like some bot - Muhasilović told us.

He assessed as devastating that a huge open space has been left for Čović, HDZ BiH, and Croatia - which is very important in this, because he could not achieve anything without Zagreb's help.

- Instead of attacking Hayat and arguing with bots on social networks, I think it would be wiser for our minister to go and lobby around the world among eminent politicians and centers of power for our cause.

And our cause is definitely to prevent the harmful Election Law of BiH, for which HDZ is lobbying, from passing. However, Konaković has clearly gotten too carried away with the role of a nice boy from Zagreb, so it is evident that he doesn't even mind that HDZ and Čović are lobbying against our country - notes Muhasilović.

In addition to Minister Konaković, the interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Bosniak people, should be represented on the international stage by the member of the Presidency of BiH, Denis Bećirović. However, he, like Konaković, is currently not leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina and is engaged in a "Facebook war" with dissidents and political opponents.

Fight for the next mandate

- Bećirović and Konaković do not represent Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor Bosniaks, unfortunately. They exclusively represent themselves and their positions, i.e., the fight for the next mandate, and are exclusively focused on that. The goal of everything they do is to secure another mandate in their positions.

We have not seen any concrete results from their supposed work yet. The only result of their (in)action is that Čović and Dodik are present at all destinations where major decisions are made, unfortunately, most often to the detriment of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bećirović and Konaković are directly responsible for our country being brought into this situation - states Muhasilović.

At yesterday's meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Dodik stated that the Dayton Peace Agreement has been destroyed. On the other hand, Čović says it is time to re-examine Dayton. And Vučić recently claimed in a TV show that he respects Dayton and has never questioned it.

Muhasilović believes that, essentially and conceptually, both Dodik and Čović are advocating for the same thing.

- The part that suits Vučić regarding Dayton is that he has made Bosnia and Herzegovina a fragmented state. He is for the territorial integrity of BiH, but he will never mention the sovereignty of BiH institutions over the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He skillfully avoids the word sovereignty there and pushes Bosnia and Herzegovina under integrity, in which the Serbian political factor, through Republika Srpska, has full autonomy from state institutions.

On the other hand, Čović is also for a fragmented Bosnia and Herzegovina because he often refers to the alleged fight against a unitary Bosnia and Herzegovina. They tell us all this, it's just a question of whether we manage to read it correctly - says Muhasilović.

He emphasizes that Čović's revision of the Dayton Peace Agreement would go in the direction of securing a third electoral unit for Croats. Dayton has given HDZ huge opportunities, Muhasilović points out, and the only problem that essentially remains for Čović is that Croats do not have their own entity.

- That is, they do not have their own electoral unit through which they can constantly project an HDZ Croat into the Presidency of BiH and then constantly control Bosnia and Herzegovina through the Presidency, given that power in our country is formed vertically.

Without the green light from the Presidency, there is no prime minister-designate in the Council of Ministers, without a prime minister-designate, there is no Council of Ministers, and then you *de facto* do not have a Council of Ministers of BiH. When Čović talks about revising the Dayton Peace Agreement, he is actually alluding to the creation of a separate electoral unit that his HDZ will control - warns Muhasilović.

Finally, we asked him why none of the pro-Bosnian politicians or intellectuals are adequately responding to Dodik and Čović? What would be an adequate response and who should respond to them?

- An adequate response is certainly not arguments, because arguments are a short burst of bullets without any long-term effect. The best response to this policy would be a vision and strategy that everyone would adhere to.

The strength of Serbian and Croatian politics compared to pro-Bosnian politics is that they have a clear strategy and a clear vision, and that they adhere to it disciplinedly, with minor deviations.

And the problem with Bosnian-Herzegovinian, pro-Bosnian, or Bosniak politics is that it is decentralized and that no one disciplinedly adheres to any strategy or vision, and that strategy and vision are never clearly defined, they are very meager and very often summarized in one slogan or maxim - Euro-Atlantic integration.

That maxim cannot be a strategy, it cannot be a vision, it is insufficient, so the lack of vision and strategy and discipline among Bosniak politicians, but if you want, also discipline among Bosniak voters, opens up a huge space for Serb-Croat politics to implement their strategy and vision.

And when you don't have your own, you constantly have to respond to others' strategies and visions - concludes Muhasilović in an interview with NAP.

(D.K.)