Are Vučić and Konaković Offshoots of the Same School for Manipulators and Dictators: Too Many Coincidences to Be Accidental!

Written by: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

Over the past ten days, I had the misfortune of diving into the all-day live program of the Serbian tabloid Informer – a media circus that daily poisons a serious number of people across the border. Their frenzy is not just a coincidence, but a consequence of a media landfill with which demonic figures in the service of the government bury everything before them.

From dawn, an offensive begins that tirelessly builds on the previous day. The names of targets change like on a conveyor belt – foreign mercenaries, traitors, enemies, destroyers of Serbian unity, subversives of the state. And at the center of every sentence, like a refrain, he – Aleksandar Vučić. The president here, Vučić there… When Vučić tires of the spotlight and goes to try raspberry jam somewhere in the interior, there are replacements – Brnabić, Dačić, Vulin, analysts and members of various committees, ready to continue the mantra.

Given the poisonous tone of accusations and the smearing of all who dare to oppose Vučić's regime, it will be no surprise if Serbia slides into a dark hole deeper than Milošević's days. And then I cast a glance across the Drina and realize what was hinted at, but is now crystal clear: this is not mere momentary nervousness, but a systemic destruction of society – precisely designed to make it easier to manipulate.

In the Bosnian public, the head of our diplomacy, Elmedin Konaković, has been adorned with various epithets, but rarely has it been publicly stated what is increasingly striking: Elmedin Konaković is the Bosniak Aleksandar Vučić. In what way? In everything – except for the scale of power, where Vučić still dominates.

Their behavior, speech – verbal and non-verbal – and the moves of their followers mirror the same pattern of political appearance. Fortunately, Konaković has not yet managed to create media phantoms like Informer, Kurir, or Tanjug, with which Vučić builds a bulwark for shaping public opinion. But, if we put them side by side, we see the same theatricality: Vučić adjusts his glasses, Konaković his tie – each with his own tic, but a proportional number of "corrections." Both love dramatic pauses, twist facts and the words of opponents, feigning dedication to truth, nation, justice.

Aggression is a common trait. Vučić targets investigative journalists like N1 and Nova S, mocking their questions only to then crush them, while Konaković has no filter – he blurts out everything he thinks, often crossing the boundaries of decency. Both turn assumptions about their own success into megalomaniacal dreams: Vučić dreams of Serbia as an economic giant, Konaković chants about the European path. Results? Meager for both.

They also have their favorite "culprits" – for Vučić it's Đilas, for Konaković the Izetbegović family. Every failure or tremor is redirected to these convenient targets. Vučić has media thugs like Dragan J. Vučićević, while Konaković does not yet have such machinery, but relies on positioned allies – Adnan Delić, Mia Karamehić-Abazović and the like. The idea for this text was born precisely from a screenshot a colleague sent me: federal minister Delić defends his boss on Facebook as if he were a paid PR.

Both have support networks prone to dictatorial methods. The difference is that Konaković, fortunately, does not lead the state, so the destructive echo of his actions is still quieter. But the question is – for how long? Media like the portal "Klix.ba" have already noticed Konaković's tendency towards populism and theatrical performances, while the Serbian "Blic" regularly records Vučić's obsession with controlling the narrative.

Similarities have also been observed in their intolerance of critical voices – Vučić's attack on N1 resembles Konaković's outbursts against Bosnian journalists who ask him "uncomfortable" questions. "Dnevni avaz" recently wrote about Konaković's conflicts with the media, which sounds like an echo of Vučić's clashes with independent journalism.

Both use positional power to invoke alleged sources from which they obtained information that precisely their dissenters work for enemy forces. Vučić, through Vulin, tried to push through a law on foreign agents, which would give him peace to arrest whomever he wants and prosecute whomever he wants. The Americans said – it won't work.

Konaković, on the other hand, almost constantly sees in the media-political community of dissenters agents of precisely Vučić's BIA, working against the state.

Both, prone to dictatorship, have a wider circle of friends prone to crime. Vučić's are in all murky waters, from drugs and weapons to construction crime…. Konaković's circle is mainly in the chain of the narcotics and construction mafia.

It seems that both share the same allergy to criticism and transparency, and the difference is only that Vučić has a larger megaphone. While Vučić's Informer daily bombards citizens, Konaković's strategy still relies on social networks and loyal cadres – but the direction is the same: manipulation of the masses, towards the final dictatorship from Sloba's handbook!