Čović continues his storm for a third entity, while Nikšić views reality through rose-tinted glasses with UZP media

By: Rasim Belko

While the Sarajevo public, as usual, is entertained by petty squabbles and moral outrage over Dodik's antics as a consequence of British engineering of justice, a far more serious game is unfolding in the background.

One that, unlike Dodik's political performances, has continuity, strategy, and a clear executor in the person of Dragan Čović.

In the past few days, we have witnessed the intensification of Čović's diplomatic and political activities, which, surprisingly, are not taking place within the institutions of BiH, but in parallel structures of lobbies and informal channels. With the assistance of Kabir, a man whose business and diplomatic footprint is more than controversial, Čović has clearly used his meeting with the Israeli ambassador to BiH to promote the HDZ's old ambition of creating constitutional prerequisites for a third entity and introducing a consociational model of state organization.

Why Israel specifically? Because Čović knows very well that in international relations, the symbolism of support from Tel Aviv, however limited, carries a certain weight in the West. Sarajevo has no answer to this. Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs functions on the model that if someone hasn't taken a picture on Instagram or posted on Facebook, then nothing has happened.

At the same time, Čović skillfully and cleverly leads his Sarajevo partners, Nermin Nikšić and Elmedin Konaković, in the wrong direction. In meetings, he serves them the mantra of the European path and reforms, while actually, the ground beneath the feet of the state, which is barely staying afloat, is crumbling. They nod, take pictures, and face journalists with smiles as if they have just concluded negotiations on joining the EU. In reality, Sarajevo is spinning in circles, while Čović's train is moving forward, towards a clear goal.

To make the paradox complete, Čović, through his party's television, which bears the mark of the joint criminal enterprise convicted in The Hague, opens space for the anti-democratically imposed Prime Minister of the FBiH to talk about the constitutionality of the RS government. And no one asks Nikšić, and previously Konaković - why do you agree to be guests on that media extension of the UZP? Is it possible that the leaders of the Trojka do not understand that by doing so, they are legitimizing the continuation of the joint criminal project through political activities and media narrative. Or are they so lost that every camera and every shot is more important to them than the substance?

And while Čović is carrying out his storm for a third entity, Nikšić, from the UZP media, tells us that everything is functioning, that the coalition expanded with NES is stable, and that there are no problems.

Meanwhile, as political performances unfold, the Federation of BiH is sinking. One company in the defense industry has suspended operations due to a lack of raw materials, and no one in the FBiH Government is concerned about it. Parliament is silent, it's on vacation. Borrowings are piling up, no one even knows how much anymore. The economy is stagnating, living standards are falling, institutions are in a coma. But the Sarajevo partners from the Trojka continue to chant about the European path and development, as if repeating phrases is enough to create reality.

And so, while citizens are being sold the fairy tale of the European path, the real threat of state division is quietly being established. Dodik is not the one making strategic moves at this moment; he is just noise and smoke. The main contractor is located west of the Neretva River, and we have known his name for a long time.

And in Sarajevo, they are dealing with Dodik's government, election lists, and combinations. Because Sarajevo has long had neither a plan nor the will to deal with the fate of the country!