Dodik at the Pope's: And the Bosniaks? We'll push the Bosniaks into the Drina?!

When Željka Cvijanović posed for photos in the hallways of New York hotels two years ago with Trump's advisor Kellyanne Conway, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders, most media in Bosnia and Herzegovina presented that move as a facultative excursion by the then Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, the right hand of Milorad Dodik, who, despite all his irrelevance from SNSD and with the help of RTRS, is presenting it as equally important, or, well, as approximately important as the meeting held 11 days earlier in Helsinki between US President Donald Trump and the leader of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.

Of course, we still don't think that a few courteous sentences between Cvijanović and Conway are on par with a serious state meeting, but from other similar examples, we learn that unofficial or semi-official trips by the leaders of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian entity RS are not just for the sake of seeing the world. These trips are much more than that. We would say - a serious unofficial process that takes place beneath the surface of the gloomy Bosnian-Herzegovinian everyday life, which civic parties in BiH naively believe will pass on its own because someone will eventually get tired of being a fool.

Given that he is in a kind of isolation from Western countries due to the pro-Russian policy he advocates in BiH, and has recently been on the US Blacklist due to the criminal policy he pursues, Dodik is trying to achieve his political goals of dividing Bosnia and Herzegovina along the seams drawn in Belgrade by generously paying in the hallways of world hotels where those who shape various new world orders gather.

How else to explain the announcement that the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, the most noble of popes, could be visited by someone like Milorad Dodik, who denies the verdicts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, including the verdict for genocide in Srebrenica, while Dodik calls Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić, convicted of the murders of more than 8,000 Bosniaks in Srebrenica, heroes? Of course, a visit to the virtuous Pope would not only not be controversial, but would also be desirable, and very necessary for BiH, but on the condition that Dodik travels to the Vatican as a statesman of Bosnia and Herzegovina to lobby for suffering Bosnia and Herzegovina and its poor citizens in the smallest but most influential country in the world. Given that the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not even know about Dodik's visit, nor officially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and presumably the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina has also been bypassed, Dodik, in the event he is received in the Holy See, could use the goodwill of the cheerful Pope to lobby for his own interests and against Bosnia and Herzegovina. For example, by simply visiting the Pope, Dodik would send a message of his reach in international diplomacy, which until now has only extended to neighboring Belgrade and Moscow, which in itself would give Dodik a boost. Shaking hands and posing for a photo with the Pope would be a strong seal on Dodik's policy to date, which is entirely and continuously based on the completion of war aims and the final division of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

How, for God's sake, did it even come to this that Dodik is thinking about meeting the Pope? Is this a synchronized action by Dragan Čović and Dodik? Well, I don't know, Čović could have lobbied for Dodik's trip to the Holy See when he met with Archbishop Alessandro D'Errico, apostolic nuncio to Malta, in February and gave him a Croatian national football team jersey. Archbishop D'Errico served as apostolic nuncio in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2005 to 2010, and Čović visited him this year in Malta for no apparent reason.

Okay, let's see what Dodik could specifically ask the Pope for, in case the Pope allows him into his proximity: "Most Holy Father, deeply appreciating what you do for peace in the world, humbly descending so far as to kiss the feet of the leaders of South Sudan, begging them not to wage war anymore, I ask you to bless us to finish what we started in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is of utmost importance for us that you support the division of Bosnia and Herzegovina into three parts, so that we can continue to live in peace and prosperity, each in our own fold. Most Holy Father, we did not kill, imprison in camps, and expel 150,000 Catholics, we did not kill priest Tomislav Matanović and his parents for nothing and throw them into some well in the village of Rizvanovići near Prijedor, so that Catholics would continue to enjoy their rights in Republika Srpska, so that they would continue to develop businesses, exploit Serbian land, and on top of all that, some priest Franjo Komarica would walk around and 'bark' to the world about Republika Srpska."

"But..." the shocked Pope would begin, after which Dodik would interrupt him, "...Most Holy Father, we did not kill, imprison in camps, and expel 200,000 Bosniak Muslims for nothing, we did not kill Havi Tatarević near Prijedor, throw her six sons and husband into the largest mass grave Tomašica, for nothing, so that Bosniak Muslims would continue to have some rights in Republika Srpska, develop businesses, exploit Serbian land, and on top of all that, some imam would shout from the minaret and disturb the honest Serbian world while it sleeps." But..." the surprised Pope would begin, after which Dodik would interrupt him again, "...Most Holy Father, we did not force 100,000 Serbs to leave their homes in Sarajevo, so that Sarajevo would continue to be their capital...?"

The Pope would remain thoughtful for a few seconds and then repeat what he had said a few days earlier in South Sudan. Principles, after all, are the same for all warring fools: "From the three of you, who signed the peace agreement, as a brother I ask you, remain in peace. I ask you this from the heart. Let's move on. There will be many problems, but do not be afraid, go forward, solve the problems. You have started a process; let it end well. There will be fights among you...; let them stay in the office, and before the people, with united hands..."

"Most Holy Father, deeply appreciating what you do for peace in the world, humbly descending so far as to kiss the feet of the leaders of South Sudan, you see that I conduct my policy behind closed doors. That is why neither the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs knows about my visit to you, and presumably the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina has also been bypassed. Only you, Holy Father, Čović, Archbishop D'Errico, and I know about my visit to the Vatican. And before the people, as you say, we will be with united hands: Serbs with Serbs, Croats with Croats."

"And the Bosniaks, and the Others...?" the Pope would ask, confused.

"We'll push the Bosniaks into the Drina," Dodik would reply.

"Don't worry, we've done that before," Dodik would assure the Pope.