I fear for the fate of Bosnia and Herzegovina!

By: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

First, like children, they rushed to write and inform the public that they “support High Representative Christian Schmidt and his imposition of amendments to the Election Law concerning electoral integrity”. Only then did they read what Schmidt imposed and I don't know if they understood the amount of stupidity that hasty posts and praise carry. I also don't know if they understood what Schmidt imposed.

But, what I know is clear as day - the pro-Bosnian/Bosniak political leadership jumps first, and only then says hop. And that disastrous approach of policies that carry the epithet of pro-Bosnian in one time or another is not caused by anti-state and hostile influence coordinated from Belgrade and Zagreb, and implemented from Banja Luka and Mostar. It is simply a reflection of political immaturity whose price is very high.

The complete immaturity, confusion, and bewilderment of this pro-Bosnian government, whatever it means today and yesterday, is a product of decades of absence of a national and state strategy. Those red lines that many authors like Professor Duraković, expert Cero, Doctor Išerić, and others warned about from the pages of Patria, as well as other media.

And all the intellect that has warned about this country for the past few decades was not enough as a timely warning for the time that would come. And that time has come. Because, Serbian hegemonism combined with the Serbian Orthodox faith and nationalism has had a clear strategy and red lines for almost half a century, only its strategy is combined in the given circumstances. Although less pronounced, which is a dangerous illusion, Croatian hegemonism and nationalism have also long defined their goals in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

And in Sarajevo, where state defense strategies and red lines should be defined, there is not even one percent of political consensus on these issues today. Although most political leaders have themselves witnessed the difficulty of surviving in the cleft between these two hegemonisms, arrogance, an unsustainable amount of ego, and the inability to see beyond the window of their living space have prevented them from seriously uniting around issues of interest to the state.

Therefore, when asked today which way to go, because the war for the defense of this country has just flared up, they cry and wail. Out of helplessness to act and greed to let others act, everyone has one answer - “The West must protect BiH, the West is obliged to protect BiH, the West should deploy forces in Brčko, Americans, British, and Europeans are obliged to protect BiH”.

And precisely from that answer arises the need to kneel and support Schmidt, aware that what Schmidt imposes, whether good or bad for Bosnia, Bosniaks, and Bosnians, comes from the West. In ancient Egypt, the West was where embalmed bodies of rulers and palace guards were sent, along with the burial of living servants, because it was believed that they would come to life at some point so that the servants could serve them. Although I don't believe that is possible, those ancient Egyptians from the “West” will wake up sooner than the political leaders in Sarajevo will realize that no Moses-like policy of salvation will come from the West.

One of the key factors of the political immaturity of pro-Bosnian policy is the fragmentation of the political spectrum. Different political parties and leaders often prioritize the short-term interests of their parties over the general well-being of the community. This leads to constant conflicts, lack of cooperation, and the inability to reach consensus on key issues.

This political fragmentation has caused complete interest polarization, which ultimately ends in the same vein of needing to seek help from foreigners in every crisis. Responsibility is a concept that cannot be applied to pro-Bosnian policy, and it is a product of the fact that they count on the West always defending the interests of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Because our political leaders are not products of serious schools and academies, they obviously do not understand that in geopolitical upheavals, interests change, and that in such frameworks, allies end up in different positions. The story about negotiations with the EU is an unambiguous proof. When about 10 years ago there was an opportunity to push BiH forward on the European track with visible progress, they invented reasons from Brussels and sabotaged such development. Today, when there is no progress, but there is fear of Putin, they serve us invisible progress as sufficient for opening negotiations.

It is increasingly difficult to write something that would be advice, because today's ringleaders of Bosnian politics see themselves in the mirror of their ignorance as demigods to whom few are worthy of being told that something is wrong. And nothing is right.

And nothing will be right, unless the policy that is declaratively called pro-Bosnian defines red lines and adaptable strategies for implementing those lines. Because those before whom they kneel, whom they support and invoke for 15 years, refuse to solve the source of the problem. The source has now become a vortex known as Milorad Dodik. That vortex threatens to drag us all, along with the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, into conflicts of unimaginable proportions.

If they find it difficult to read, and it is obvious that they do, then they could watch videos about the West's attitude towards Zelensky and Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian aggression and in recent months. Perhaps then it will become clear to them that neither the White House, nor the King of the UK of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, nor any EU country will send their soldiers to defend the Bosnian and Herzegovinian highlands.

I fear that even that will not be enough for them to understand that only with organized policy, defined interests, and strategies for their implementation can they defend the state. That is why I fear for Bosnia and Herzegovina and its fate!