Political Latinism in Institutional Secession: Čović as Mancev, Balije as Balije!

By: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

Older sports commentators often called football virtuosos "masters of the five-penny" due to their supreme dribbling skills in a small space. Five-penny is a confined space where only top masters can dribble or get things done. In a figurative sense, Dragan Čović, as one of the most serious five-penny dribblers, has been successfully messing with the minds of all political subjects whose ambitions far exceed their reach and capabilities for months.

And we are no longer just talking about the Trojka project, unfortunate for Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also about the renewed expanded bloc which now includes NES, Šemsudin Mehmedović (Naprijed), and Fuad Kasumović (BHI).

Insufficient electoral legitimacy and chronic political impotence have gathered these lovers of armchairs and budgets, but between their armchair desires and their realization stands the political Mancev with a long-standing plan to achieve the national interests of HDZ and HNS.

The political Latinist is aware of his success in finally gathering around him an overly ambitious political weakling who slides in the opposite direction at his every twitch. The politically weak and immature cannot recognize Čović's Latin cunning even if it said SECESSION on his forehead. And political Latinism in secession is exponentially more dangerous than Dodik's bullying attempts.

Because Čović has not carried out any attempt at further division of Bosnia and Herzegovina on an internal level, as the first phase for final division, outside the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the political will of elected representatives. For a long time, more than ten years, Čović and his political environment have not tired of advocating, lobbying, and blackmailing in order to achieve primary national interest.

And all these years, from Štefan File to Angelina Eichhorst and Matthew Palmer, Čović has not faltered for a single moment, waiting for the right opportunity. Unfortunately for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it has never been closer than today to scoring a goal that we can freely call deadly for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For the first time since he has been fighting for the votes of one Croat from, say, three or five cantons to be worth more than all the votes of the rest of the FBiH entity, Dragan Čović has the entire Serbian political corps on his side. He tied Milorad Dodik to himself long ago, went to Banja Luka and told him to protect Republika Srpska, aware of how hard HDZ is fighting to get such an internal unit. Even today, when Dodik has launched his strongest attack on the constitutional order, Čović does not abandon him, he quietly criticizes him, and at the same time gathers political weaklings from Republika Srpska around him, who, aware that they will hardly get armchairs through the electoral process, agree to Čović's conditions from Kupres.

The Latinist is a master of the five-penny. Because after gathering the entire Serbian political representation, through accomplices in the Trojka, he has come to the position, for the first time in post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina, to control more votes from "Sarajevo parties" than are in opposition to his aspirations. Because, after yesterday's meeting, Čović counts on 14 Bosniaks versus 11 deputies from SDA and DF.

This is a serious success, and the wise political Latinist that Čović is does not want to delay for a moment, aware that he will probably never be in a similar situation again in the future.

That is why he "pushed" a modified version of the earlier election law proposal into the House of Peoples of the State Parliament, which suits only his political intentions for the division of the Federation into two parts.

And again, he is in a win-win position, because he knows that if the opposition, embodied by SDA, DF, and the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina, comes to the House of Peoples, he has enough strength to pass the law, and he is now by far the strongest political factor in the House of Representatives.

If the opposition Bosniaks do not attend the session of the House of Peoples, Čović has a new card in his hand, which he will gladly share with Milorad Dodik and present to the international community with the story that even the "unitary" Bosniaks are not ready for an agreement, and again, together with his partner from Laktaši, they will offer secession.

However, no matter how much of a political wolf he is in the Bosniak fold, Čović would not be close to such success if at least one-third of Bosniak political intelligence resembled their ancestors. And the ancestors did not hesitate nor wait for help, but however weak and few they were, they drew swords against the strongest world empires. They lost, but honorably!

Therefore, it is questionable how much we have the right to call today's inhabitants under the flag of Bosniak identity Bosniaks, Bosnians and Herzegovinians. Because, that name was deservedly borne by those who were ready to pay with their lives for the defense of their homeland on every occasion.

Those today who undeservedly represent themselves with the identity of their ancestors are actually balije and in the near future will be Balkan Kurds. Because, for three decades they enjoyed a free Bosnia and Herzegovina thanks to the last Bosniaks, Bosnians and Herzegovinians who died, were maimed, or became exhausted to defend Bosnia.

In those three decades, balije have immeasurably undermined the foundations of Bosnia and Herzegovina through their gatherings and tender mevluds, and blinded by freedom and opportunities for plunder, they thought that this comfort would last forever, and if it wavered, the international community would be there, and the balije counted on being saved because they are victims of genocide and crimes.

The balije are not far-sighted enough to see that genocide and crimes are precisely the result of the permission of that international community in order to resolve the Serbian and Croatian question in the Balkans through Bosniak bodies.

And here we are today, wondering about balije like Konaković, Forto, Nikšić, and others, why they are unable to defend the state from Dodik and Čović. And we don't ask ourselves how the state can be defended by those who agreed to the collapse of the order in the state so that they could come to power.

However, their baliluk is no excuse for the conformist lethargy of all of us others. Because, let's ask ourselves how many of us are truly ready to lay down our lives for the country today. The answer is devastating, because we do not have the strength to line up in a single formation and push the best among us into a decisive battle.

And the battle is nearing its end. Milorad Dodik's bullying secessionism can still be controlled if serious people get the opportunity to do so. The secessionism of political Latinism, if it passes tomorrow in the House of Peoples, is a permanent seal on the fate of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We will burn slowly and painfully, like that wartime candle "ćuća" that we made from oil and wick.

And when it burns out, we balije will finally have the opportunity to be Kurds in the Balkans!