Čović complains in Croatia about being endangered, while in BiH he endangers and blackmails

By Sead OMERAGIĆ  

'Čović is the most capable politician in BiH'. 'Čović always gets what he wants in the end'. 'Čović has political breadth in his actions'. These are the most common media headlines talking about Dragan Čović. Is that really the case?

After talks with Bakir Izetbegović on the Sejdić-Finci verdict, Dragan Čović addressed reporters and said they had reached an agreement and that a solution would be found in two months.

Izetbegović denied this, expressing doubt that what has not been resolved in eight years can be resolved in a few months. The SDP also joined this issue, asking Čović and Izetbegović about their 2014 agreements regarding the election of the BiH Presidency member.

Coalition partners Izetbegović and Radončić denied today that they had agreed to anything with Čović. Everything is still open and far from a solution, they said.

This confirms that Čović manipulates the public more than he conducts politics. If a lie is added to a lie, then the creator of such a chain of deception could seal the trust of both the public and his partners in government.      

Čović has been manipulating for a long time and extensively, both domestically and in the neighboring Croatian arena. In Croatia, he complains about the endangerment of Croats, while in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he endangers and blackmails. The FBiH Parliament has been endangered and not functioning for four months because Čović has demands that will threaten the financial stability of the Federation.

When Čović says, 'our president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović,' it sounds as if Čović holds a subordinate presidential position. One might believe that his moves have some political sense and goal, that he respects himself and his dignity, but Čović always finds a way to deny it.   

So, if politics is a combination of promises and manipulation, what can be its strategy and ultimate goal? Promises solve nothing. Manipulations are a temporary gain and a long-term defeat. They are merely delaying the inevitable. If Čović wants to buy time, he gains nothing, except that he is stealing that time from the future of this country. It appears that the main strategy is to achieve a third entity by persistently tormenting citizens and the state.

In that case, Čović is not only building his own pen but also pushing another one onto Bosniaks, who, as the most numerous nation, have suffered the greatest exodus in their own country.

Čović's third entity would mean the end of people returning to their homes and the solidification of wartime conquest campaigns. It would mean raising definitive national fences. It would mean denying genocide and mass crimes of ethnic cleansing, thus denying the final verdict of the Hague Tribunal and erasing the joint criminal enterprise of Serbs and Croats.

Whatever reasons or motives lie behind it, Čović's story is, unfortunately, insincere and manipulative: seeking a third entity while falsely presenting himself as the leader of this country on its path to Europe.

The entry of a divided BiH into Europe would confirm the definitive end of this thousand-year-old European state, as Europe would accept it as Serbian and Croatian wartime territorial spoils. But, whether in Europe or outside Europe, in Čović's strategies, Croats would be reduced to western Herzegovina. And only then could they truly manipulate to their heart's content and talk about their 'neighboring' homeland and our dear president on the other side of the border.

If the third entity is achieved, it will then be noticeable how much real estate and very broad territory Čović has acquired and fenced off for himself and his family. Only then could troubles arise for him. And no manipulation would help. On a very limited entity territory, all of Čović's breadth would be revealed.