Komšić on the Munich Conference: We must wake up from dreams in which someone else defends us, let us seek strength within ourselves

(Patria) - Member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Željko Komšić commented on the 61st Munich Conference.

"This year's Munich Conference was, to put it mildly, something completely different compared to previous ones. And certainly shocking, but hopefully sobering for a large number of European leaders. If I am wrong and it turns out that there has been no political sobering of the European political, business, and any other establishment, the entire European continent will find itself in big trouble during Trump's second term.

The central event of this year's Munich Conference was certainly the speech by U.S. Vice President JD Vance. It was somewhat sad, not to use another term, to listen to some European leaders who spoke before Vance, with the exception of the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Steinmeier, who was critical of the new U.S. administration and did not even stay to hear Vance's speech. All speakers before Vance, except for the aforementioned Steinmeier, appeared pleadingly, almost panickingly begging for the continuation of U.S. policy towards the EU, the policy they knew before Trump's re-entry into the Oval Office.

However, JD Vance was merciless towards Europe. Complete silence and shock, with occasional shouts of dissatisfaction, prevailed in the hall. Applause did not accompany Vance's speech, only silence. When you consider Vance's speech and the atmosphere in the hall full of European leaders, only then do you realize how much misunderstanding and how great a gap has arisen between the European political establishment and the new administration in Washington. It seems to me that this gap is insurmountable. Hard times are certainly coming for Europe. Since World War II, the U.S. has certainly never been as strong as it is now with Trump as president. But Washington's policy has never been so brutally exposed. Now everything is seen and known, unlike in some previous times. Everything the current U.S. president says, he actually means and will do everything to implement it.

And of course, we must ask ourselves where we are in all of this and how to position ourselves in the future. Dodik and his followers openly rejoice and expect all benefits from the new administration, Čović as well, and the 'Sarajevo' political scene, conditionally speaking, is quarrelsome, divided, and hardly paying attention to all of this.

I think the first thing we need to do is actually wake up from sweet dreams in which someone else defends us and takes care of us. In this world that is still being born, no one will do that. It is high time we turn to ourselves and seek strength within ourselves. There is no more Murphy, no more O'Brien, 'experts' for the Balkans and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Schmidt has hidden in the deepest hole, not appearing, and all he thinks about are the results of the new elections in Germany and hopes that, by some miracle, he could politically survive, Europe is trying to pull itself together and all we can wish for is that it succeeds.

I don't like to talk about war. After all, few people want to hear about it anymore. But, besides many terrible things in the war, I also learned one useful thing, very applicable in today's world – when you are strong, you are a partner in conversation, you are a subject, and when you are weak, no one needs you, you are an object!

Let us do something for ourselves," Komšić concludes.