Milorad Dodik in a panic over the mere announcement: How will he react to the results of the "Bosnia is Ours - Bosnian" Convention?

By: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

When Milorad Dodik says he is surprised, be sure it is not surprise, but pure fear. And fear in Milorad Dodik is caused by the information that the Convention "Bosnia is Ours - Bosnian" will be held in Sarajevo, as well as throughout BiH.

And not a convention as a one-time story, but a gathering at which, in a balance of the non-governmental, academic (intellectual), political, and civic spectrum, answers will finally be defined for the policies to which Dodik himself belongs. And that is where Dodik's greatest fear lies.

Because, if Milorad Dodik has shown anything in his 20 years of rule, he has shown that he fears neither foreign embassies, nor Schmidt, nor world powers, but that he fears most a unified, or rather a frontal, response from patriotic forces.

That is why, with the style of his reaction to this event, he tries to diminish its significance, thereby bringing to the surface his fear of an event whose consequences he clearly sees. Dodik has so far been accustomed to opponents or partners coming from Sarajevo with whom he can bargain, whom he can blackmail, or lead around due to their lostness.

For the first time, NGOs of proven patriotic orientation – Krug 99 and Čuvari Bosne – are coming more seriously before the policies that Dodik personifies. With them are intellectuals, i.e., the academic community, which will nullify the long-standing dormancy of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of BiH. Of course, there are also political entities, those entities that have clearly realized after 2022 where Bosnia and Herzegovina can go and that such a path would mean its end. And finally, and actually at the top of the pyramid, there are aware citizens, those who have removed the imposed veils that made them see the false goodness of options for negotiation and compromise with Dodik.

These citizens will actually be the key safeguard for all other Convention actors to maintain the defined trends. And that is the fear we see in Dodik's reaction, which is being unnecessarily pushed by the media in Sarajevo, especially those close to the Trojka.

Furthermore, Milorad Dodik's panic stems from the fact that the "Bosnia is Ours - Bosnian" Convention will not be tied to the Sarajevo district like most previous ones. True, the platform will be defined in Sarajevo, but it will be expanded and include views from Bihać, Tuzla, Mostar, Zenica, Travnik…

Therefore, the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina will slowly rise and finally straighten its spine to tell the hegemonic, secessionist, apartheid, and other retrograde policies to get lost! And given that it is clear that citizens, led by the non-governmental sector, intellectuals, and politics, will give their stamp to this story, it will transcend absolutely all political divisions within the political patriotic segment. This will significantly weaken the political fragmentation of patriotic forces, which was created from the outside to facilitate the policies of Dodik, Zagreb, and Belgrade.

And that is what Milorad Dodik fears. Because neither he, nor the false spreaders of democracy from the West, nor the even more false friends from the East, will be able to desecrate this story by attributing it to any individual or organization.

And it is not a break of any vow of silence, as Dodik says, but the awakening of forces that increasingly understand and feel that it is the last moment to rise above interests and daily politics and form a front on a patriotic platform and commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina, organized according to the modalities of European and civilizational values.

And such a Bosnia and Herzegovina means the policies represented by Milorad Dodik will go into the past, which is why he is frantically trying to be charming, thereby hiding his fear of the imminent end of his and his masterminds' policies.

And yes, Dodik criticizes the convention's name, aware that it will offer a concept of a modern state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with an organized system, as a basis for overcoming the stagnation in the Dayton quagmire of ethnic divisions.

And that Dayton quagmire is the only swamp in which Dodik can still swim with his head above water. And that's why he's afraid. He knows very well that Bosnia and Herzegovina belongs to all its citizens, regardless of identity. But he also knows that he is superfluous in such a state, which he has been undermining and plundering for decades. To be clear, Serbs, Croats, and anyone else have never been superfluous to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Superfluous and a burden have always been those who, by abusing national feelings, have dragged both the state and its citizens to the very bottom.

Milorad Dodik is therefore aware that if he is prevented from staying in power by abusing ethnic emotions, he will remain in the past, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and all its citizens will move towards the future. And yes, as long as Bosnia and Herzegovina exists, Serbs in it will be Bosnian Serbs for us, whether Dodik likes it or not!

That is why he fears the "Bosnia is Ours - Bosnian" Convention, otherwise he wouldn't even notice it!