DIPLOMATIC THEATER Did Konaković, with tears and a lump in his throat, control himself to avoid exposing Schmidt!?

By: Rasim Belko

In the theater of justifications and apologies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the head of Bosnian-Herzegovinian diplomacy, Elmedin Konaković, on the verge of tears and with a lump in his throat, justified and apologized for the failure to hold a conference of European rabbis.

Although he claimed that BiH institutions, including the Ministry he leads, were informed late about everything, Konaković still felt the need to apologize and offer justifications for the fiasco with the conference and the accompanying propaganda fireworks that attempted to portray Sarajevo as a closed, anti-Semitic city.

Konaković said many things, some correctly, like Sarajevo being an open city from which the suffering in the world is better seen. However, our head of diplomacy did not even attempt to hint at who was directly responsible for the embarrassment that caused serious damage to Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Thus, Konaković failed to address the responsibility of the Intelligence-Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which remained silent and inactive regarding the story of the letter from an unknown author and the spread of disinformation about the rabbinical conference. Such (in)action pushes OSA into the position of a proxy system that, by inaction, failed to protect the national interest and reputation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Because, by admitting that everything was quite chaotic and unknown, Konaković indirectly admitted that Almir Džuvo, a Trojka cadre, is not leading OSA properly.

However, Konaković, while on the verge of tears, failed to explain how it is that the supreme civilian supervisor of Dayton, who resides in Sarajevo, Christian Schmidt, knew everything about the rabbinical conference and was arranging the organization of the conference behind the backs of BiH institutions. Specifically, as reported by the portal Istraga.ba, Schmidt was making plans with the mayor of Novi Sarajevo, Benjamin Karić.

It is interesting that Konaković did not even manage to mention this Schmidt's political aggression, let alone analyze it and warn the High Representative that he has long exceeded the scope of his mandate and unauthorizedly taken on the role of BiH's shadow head of diplomacy and foreign relations.

Of course, as is usually the case in this country of improvisation and selective memory, the rest of the political elite also saw no need to say anything about the fiasco that shook not only diplomatic salons but also heated social networks full of theories and patriotic performances. While stories about the "invisible hand of anti-Semitism" and a "dangerous threat" were being spun in Sarajevo, which, lo and behold, was discovered in an anonymous letter circulating like an urban legend, no one thought to ask - who actually launched that letter? Who had a motive for the conference of European rabbis to turn into a security case and a media spectacle?

And the answer to that question would illuminate the background of this anti-Bosnian spy story much better than all the press conferences.

As usual, everything ended with cheap political folklore and hollow statements. Media close to the ruling structures churned out texts of attacks and justifications, while at the same time, institutions remained locked and deaf to questions of how it was allowed for the High Representative to make agreements arbitrarily, and for domestic security services to stare at the floor. It is clear, however, that no one wanted to rock the boat too much in this play. Because, touching Schmidt means risking sleepless nights in embassies, and calling out OSA leads directly into the zone of silence, where stories end before they even begin.

Thus, another episode of BiH's political theater ended as the audience has long known - without an epilogue, without those responsible, and with the deeply ingrained rule that every affair is cushioned by talk of "more important topics" and "priorities." And Sarajevo? And Sarajevo? The eternal theater of the absurd, where every fiasco turns into a show for the naive, and the main roles are always played by the same characters with different masks.