Bosnian intellectuals in America call on Blinken and the US: Don't let Europe sleepwalk into a new war

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Management Board of the Bosnian-American Academy of Sciences and Arts (BHAAAS) sent a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on November 12. They are asking for urgent action from the United States in the Western Balkans before, as they stated, "Europe sleepwalks into a new war." They demand sanctions from both the US and the EU for those who deny genocide and revise history, and increased NATO presence on the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

"We are addressing you on behalf of the Bosnian-American Academy of Sciences and Arts, an organization that brings together over 250 university professors, scientists and researchers, doctors, artists, and writers, who have found refuge and achieved great academic success and are publicly recognized in the United States and North America during and after the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. We are writing to you as concerned citizens of the US, but also as scholars who are still committed to our homeland, Bosnia and Herzegovina. We are writing because, once again, just as during the 1990s, threats to the sovereignty of BiH and the political rejection of its multi-ethnic fabric represent a potentially violent challenge to the lives and existence of citizens in the Western Balkans, but also to the future of Europe and transatlantic relations," the organization's open letter states.

"We are writing to you, Secretary Blinken, to urge you to act before Europe 'sleepwalks' into another war. Despite obvious political provocations and actions that undermine the complex institutional structure built on the Dayton Peace Agreement, Serbian and Croatian ethno-nationalist leaders in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still accepted as negotiating partners, and their secessionist and expansionist dreams are being encouraged," the intellectuals warn.

They stated that the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik, is creating a separatist Republika Srpska army, and that Serbia is using the 'Open Balkan' initiative as a "cover for transferring weapons to Dodik."

"Dragan Čović openly advocates for a 'third entity' in Bosnia and Herzegovina. And politicians in Zagreb are now united behind a revisionist history of World War II and the transparent treatment of 'Croatian Herzegovina' as part of their own country. Bosniak leadership is weak and, once again, unarmed and dependent on external support," the letter adds.

They warn that this is the same political dynamic that led to the war in 1992, and add that it is being strengthened through a combination of neglect by the EU and geopolitical interference from Russia and China.

In the end, they stated that they understand the "sensitive position" that the United States currently holds both domestically and internationally at this political moment, but that it is time to prevent these dreams from turning into a nightmare.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina can be reorganized according to the democratic principles of multi-ethnic citizenship instead of the segregational principles of ethno-territorial division. By stopping the segregation of BiH, you would send a strong signal that racism and white supremacy will be stopped anywhere else," they conclude.

They called on the American official to consider the following measures: imposing sanctions on corrupt leaders who question BiH's sovereignty and constitutional order, and calling on the European Union to do the same; isolating and sanctioning political leaders who engage in genocide denial and historical revisionism; supporting civil society leaders who have been actively fighting against ethno-nationalist tendencies for decades; sending the best US diplomatic team to the region; strengthening the US commitment to NATO missions in the Western Balkans and protecting the porous borders between Serbia and BiH with additional NATO troops; prioritizing the peace and security of BiH in public statements and requesting President Biden to do the same.

N1/Patria