Belgrade and Zagreb's Ping-Pong: Dačić Knows RS Will Secede, Kolinda Seeks Dayton Changes

Franjo Tuđman and Slobodan Milošević did not jump for joy in 1995 when they had to sign the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Richard Holbrooke twisted their arms, brought them to the military base in Dayton, and they could not move an inch, writes the Patria News Agency.

The fact that Serbia never voluntarily accepted the Agreement, nor the fact that it was stopped in its creation of a Greater Serbia, and that it regrets it, is best reflected in the stance of Dobrica Ćosić in his book "Bosnian War".

- In some sort of Dayton, in an airbase, in the American state of Ohio, our "Congress of Berlin" is being held. A rerun of the trials of the Serbian people; a rerun of the verdict on their aspiration for unity and their own state; a rerun of the redrawing of borders for the Serbian people; a rerun of rewarding Serbian enemies... Our situation is now devastating and regrettable. We have lost Mostar and Sarajevo, two cultural centers of the Serbian people across the Drina, wrote Dobrica Ćosić, the "father of the nation" and author of two infamous documents, SANU I and SANU II.

The first one, a bloody campaign in the Balkans aimed at creating a Greater Serbia, was realized; the second one is currently unfolding.

Within Bosnia and Herzegovina, an independent, internationally recognized, sovereign, and indivisible state, ethnic fears and tensions are stoked every now and then, with Belgrade and Zagreb responsible for them.

Sometimes they do it alternately, and sometimes simultaneously, as has been the case for the past month.

The head of Serbian diplomacy, Ivica Dačić, said during his guest appearance on FACE TV: "Belgrade did not support the holding of the referendum on the Day of RS." Visibly angered by the journalists' questions, he said at one point, as if it were a done deal: "When RS secedes, then ask if it is the same as Kosovo or not?"

Therefore, Dačić knows that there will be a referendum on secession. He just hasn't said yet that when Serbia publicly renounces Kosovo, RS will gain independence (a favor for a favor - a deal with the international community?).

With such toned statements, for which he will of course now say they are hypothetical (but too much blood has been shed for BiH because of hypotheticals), he confirms that, as before, Belgrade will work to undermine the foundations of BiH's statehood secretly, while publicly declaring opposition.

This is a direct interference in the internal affairs of BiH, just as he confirmed in the same interview that Serbia was a direct participant in the aggression against BiH and that it controlled Bosnian Serbs.

- Look, even during Karadžić's time, Belgrade did not always support what Banja Luka or Pale wanted. We had different views at times, said Dačić.

Serbia presented itself as a guarantor of peace 24 years ago, and Slobodan Milošević, just like Dačić a quarter of a century later, claimed to respect BiH.

Both from the east and from the west, they interfere in the internal affairs of BiH. Continuously.

First, Božo Petrov and Miro Kovač arrived in Stolac, as scouts for Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, to seal Croatian territory and support Dragan Čović in his secessionist ideas.

And then, a few days later, Kolinda went to Brussels and spoke about the need to change the Dayton Peace Agreement. Between the lines, the change is needed to resolve the "Croatian issue".

She announced that Croatia would initiate talks and an initiative with the USA.

There is no Serbian or Croatian president, prime minister, or minister, whether left or right-oriented, who has not used the mantra of Serbia and Croatia as guarantors of the Dayton Agreement.

They skillfully use the reference to signatures placed in the military base in Dayton to justify their every interference in the political scene in BiH.

It would be good if Belgrade, and especially Zagreb as the capital of an EU member state, dealt with their own political and economic problems, and mentioned BiH only as much as they do when it comes to other countries in the region, Europe, or the world.

Both Serbia and Croatia, if they are to invoke the Dayton signatures, should take care to help BiH, not to toy with its existence every now and then.

Every time they declare that they respect BiH and its territorial integrity and sovereignty, the year 1992 flashes before our eyes like a ghost from the past.

Just like a few days ago when, in Banja Luka, the President of RS, Milorad Dodik, received the leaders of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts - SANU.

Allegedly, it was about cooperation with the sister Academy from Banja Luka. If it is cultural and scientific cooperation, why did the leaders of SANU not confront their past responsibility for the bloody wars in the Balkans aimed at creating a Greater Serbia, and then proceed from Banja Luka to Sarajevo to the Academy of Sciences and Arts of BiH, instead of ending up with Dodik where they again discussed "removing the Dayton shirt and putting on a Greater Serbian one, instead of a Brussels one for BiH"?