When Blinken writes: Dino, soften Čović, Croatia will take care of Bosnia!?

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo @aminacorbozeco

It will soon be seven years since the talk that Dragan Čović 'fulfilled' the conditions for being blacklisted by the United States of America, precisely seven years ago since I wrote on this very topic. It was shortly after Milorad Dodik was first blacklisted by the US in 2017 for undermining the Dayton Agreement and his threats to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Čović has been on a similar path all these years, but the US has never taken any concrete action, not until now, when they saw their personal interest in it.

It is now clear that the interest of the administration in Washington (in this case, gas and the Southern Interconnection) is the reason to threaten Čović with a blacklist, and thus we conclude that they do not really care about the structure of BiH, because the foreign factor profits the most from controlled chaos and imposed government.

It is unclear why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is calling on the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH, Elmedin Konaković, to pressure the President of HDZ, Dragan Čović, to urgently adopt the law on the southern gas interconnection, and not communicating directly with Čović. An even bigger problem with this misunderstanding lies in the second part of the letter!

"I am sending the same request to the Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gordan Grlić-Radman, and our embassies will monitor this. We look forward to our continued work on strengthening your energy security not only by diversifying energy routes but also by diversifying energy sources to advance the commitments made at COP28 for a threefold increase in renewable energy globally and the transition from fossil fuels. These joint efforts will ensure even greater energy security for your countries," wrote the US Secretary of State in a letter addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH.

With this, the US has indirectly acknowledged that Croatia has a significant influence on the internal relations in BiH, which is completely contrary to the relations between the two countries and good neighborly behavior, and is not characteristic of democratic standards. However, the US clearly knows that Dragan Čović and HDZ BiH do not make any move without getting the green light from Zagreb, and Blinken's letter addressed to Grlić-Radman legalizes such an inadmissible phenomenon.

It is clear, therefore, that the US is deeply aware of Dragan Čović's obstructions, but that did not prevent them from giving full support to Christian Schmidt to impose amendments to the BiH Election Law that have significantly entrenched HDZ BiH in power, meaning it is impossible to form a government without them, and they did this after years and years of blocking the Federation. They did not threaten with a blacklist then. Not even the threats of 'unrest in the south' led the US to react, except to express concern, and then to satisfy Čović's demands.

The amendments to the BiH Election Law, as demanded by Dragan Čović, would bring new ethnic divisions to BiH, and all the polemics revolved around that, but Čović was again rewarded with another four years in power, so that with the help of Croatia, he would continue to insist on the disastrous concept of legitimate representation!

It is devastating that the US is seeking help from the minister of a neighboring country, which, incidentally, was also an aggressor against BiH. And this is normal for them in the circumstances we live in.

And precisely because of such moves, more and more pro-Bosnian forces within BiH are realizing that the US, as a former proven friend of BiH, is changing its course of action or is lost in interpreting events within BiH (which is unlikely).

And while for years the US Embassy, OHR, OSCE, and other international organizations in BiH have only stated that any political blockade of government establishment in BiH is inadmissible, and Čović implemented it, they have not taken any concrete action. There were no letters from Washington then.

Now that the Southern Interconnection is in question, we are supposed to believe that the US is a friend of BiH and that Čović will be blacklisted for corruption (!?), when he should have been in the dock long ago, and even blacklisted, for violating the constitutional order and keeping the Federation of BiH blocked. But that did not happen, and it probably won't happen now either, because a compromise will be found in which the Southern Interconnection will be built, and with it, Čović will remain in political life.

It is only questionable whether the US administration will agree to let the political successor of the UZP (War Crime Perpetrators) control this interconnection, which would allow Čović to continue dividing this country, with the help of Croatia, but also other Western countries. Because these countries helped him to suspend the Constitution and impose solutions that exclusively suit him and his party!