Imamović and Avdić participants of the Cetinje Forum: Why are BiH, Montenegro, and Kosovo paying the price for peace in the Balkans!

(Patria) - The Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature and the Montenegrin PEN Centre organized the Cetinje Forum on December 15 and 16 in Cetinje, titled "Montenegro: Open Europe or Closed Balkans". This is a regional socio-cultural conference that will be attended by eminent university professors, writers, representatives of the civil sector, and journalists.
Haris Imamović was one of the participants from BiH, as was journalist Avdo Avdić.

Imamović believes that it is time to assess the reality as it is and face it, and that Bosnia and Herzegovina has paid dearly for the mere hope that everything will be fine on its own.
There is no doubt that the Euro-Atlantic community, led by the United States and the European Union, wants peace and stability in the region. It is quite clear that our Western friends want to strengthen peace and build long-term stability in the Western Balkans through its further Euro-Atlantic integration.

The problem with the current Western policy in the Western Balkans is not in its goals, but in its current means. The problem seems to arise in the implementation of these strategic goals.
If we consider the current processes in BiH, CG, and Kosovo, one constant can be observed: the Euro-Atlantic community, led by the United States, has chosen a tactic of appeasement towards pro-Russian actors, who have also been, and largely remain, proponents of Greater-state projects," said Imamović.

 He pointed out that this is a big change, because since the 1990s, the key tool of the Euro-Atlantic community in protecting peace in the Western Balkans has been DETERRENCE.

"For almost three decades, the Euro-Atlantic community has opposed Greater-state projects. The symbol of this was NATO interventions, the deployment of peacekeeping troops, and support for the independence of BiH, CG, and Kosovo.

Now, that decisive approach is undoubtedly changing, and the main reason seems to be the aggression against Ukraine, as a consequence of the Russian Greater-state project.
 
While the United States and the European Union oppose Putin's aggression, supplying weapons to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia, they are very mild towards Putin's allies in the Western Balkans, such as Vučić, Dodik, Mandić, or Dragan Čović, and very harsh towards their political opponents, such as Milo Đukanović, Bakir Izetbegović, Željko Komšić, or Albin Kurti," added Imamović.

The impression is, Imamović points out, that the West is almost convinced that pro-Russian actors in the Western Balkans will not have the courage to take any action, especially after seeing the strength of NATO and the problems Russia itself has encountered in Ukraine. 

I say "The West is almost convinced." For that "almost" to be closer to "completely," the West is trying to do everything to prevent conflicts in the Balkans, which would relieve Russia and burden the Euro-Atlantic community, which is currently focused on defending Ukraine. 

It seems that strategists in Western capitals have come to a simple conclusion: the most effective way to prevent Putin from undermining peace in the Balkans is for the West to support traditional pro-Russian actors and feed their appetites," he noted.

The price of maintaining peace, according to this idea, must be paid by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo, by ceding part of their sovereignty to Belgrade, and in the case of BiH, also to Zagreb.

Avdo Avdić stated at the beginning that he had dedicated five years to researching Russian influence and explained that today we have a situation where Western powers united around NATO support pro-Russian organizations and pro-Russian political parties, and that it is time to face the truth and admit it.

He spoke about the absurd political situation because political parties from Sarajevo, backed by Escobar, agree to completely exclude NATO. It is absurd because in 2018, political parties from Sarajevo, with the help of Western partners, forced Dodik to agree to NATO integration, and today these same political parties, backed by the most important NATO member – the USA, agree to exclude NATO. Similarly, in Montenegro, you have the DF, a party that openly supported a coup d'état that was supposed to be carried out because Montenegro was joining NATO, and today they are partners of NATO members.

He concluded that both BiH and Montenegro have been exploited because our security is guaranteed, and we don't know if we will have it; our territorial integrity is guaranteed, and it is questionable whether Montenegro will have it. It is undeniable that Montenegro will remain an independent state, but all that is in vain if institutions are managed from BG, and the fact is that they are. Avdić concluded that independence in that case means nothing. He also cited numerous examples from BiH where the influences of Belgrade, Zagreb, Moscow, Turkey, etc., intertwine, and concluded that the situation is extremely difficult. Critics of the current situation in BiH are now linked to SDA, accused of working for them and their interests, and he compared that situation to Montenegro, where critics are linked to DPS, and that this is just part of propaganda strategies.