Aleksandar Vučić's Double Role: Both Hero and Victim, Everything Suits Him

By Haris Ljevo

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić will pay an official visit to BiH on September 7 and 8, it was confirmed today by the BiH Presidency, reports Patria agency.

This will be his first visit to BiH as President of Serbia, having previously visited as Prime Minister.

Vučić is coming to BiH at a time when the rhetoric between Sarajevo and Belgrade has once again become quite strained after a period of relatively conciliatory tones.

The Serbian President is coming to Sarajevo after several very inflammatory messages, primarily sent from Novi Sad during the commemoration of the anniversary of the expulsion of Serbs from Croatia, where it was stated that in the future all Serbs will live in one state.

Such messages were sent by the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, while Vučić stood by him, silent, and silence in the world of politics is always considered a sign of approval. His visit to Sarajevo is an ideal opportunity for Vučić to explain how the common life of Serbs in one state is envisioned and how the achievement of that goal is planned.

Lately, Aleksandar Vučić, whether he admits it or not, is increasingly losing the role of a regional leader assigned to him by the international community, which also results in a sharpening of rhetoric. In a very short time, Vučić has gone from being a man of dialogue and cooperation to a politician who is once again resorting to war rhetoric.

However, one thing cannot be denied: he knows how to manipulate the situation and always knows how to put himself in the spotlight. If the situation unfolds according to his plans, he will always present himself as the main hero, while in the opposite case, he puts himself in the role of a victim who is allegedly attacked by others due to his kindness and sincere intentions.

Let's recall the situation in Srebrenica two years ago when he shifted all the attention of the world public from the victims of genocide to himself, making himself a kind of victim. The event was presented in the Serbian public as an attempted assassination of the Prime Minister.

Vučić had been announcing his visit to BiH for a long time, and in the end, he played it in such a way that it seemed as if he was being begged to come to Sarajevo, as if he were the President of America.

By accepting the invitation, he seemed to want to say, "Here, you see, they begged me, and I simply have to go." There is no doubt that Vučić will give moral lessons to his interlocutors in Sarajevo.

Another option, which would also work in his favor, is to provoke a situation that would lead him to potentially cancel the announced visit or to act offended after the visit. N

In this way, he would create an atmosphere where he could say, "Here, you see, I did everything to promote peace and cooperation, but I don't have interlocutors on the other side. Nobody understands me."

In any case, the Serbian president is pursuing an extremely duplicitous policy from which he is extracting as much as possible at this moment.