A finger in Schmidt's eye, a slap in America's face: Republika Srpska is a new state in the making, Bosnia and Herzegovina in decline!

By: Rasim Belko @rasimbelko

And while many saw the arrival of the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, James O'Brien, in Sarajevo as confirmation of the United States' commitment to the survival of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it seems that only one leader truly understood his words and took action.

In the political orbit of Sarajevo, which is increasingly limited in space and action, politicians have traditionally easily accepted the pipe of peace and promises, unaware that behind the smoke left by O’Brien lies a new, even more dangerous agenda of policies that intend to dismantle Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Republika Srpska is not a state, O’Brien said, and Bosniak, Bosnian, and who knows what other Sarajevo politicians shouted “that’s right,” and went to their neighborhoods to quarrel comfortably over bazaar machinations and gossip.

The one who, it seems, listened most attentively, understood even better, was Milorad Dodik, and given that, unlike the bazaar politicians, he surrounded himself with smart and educated people, it was clear to him what to do. Because Dodik and his associates also heard the continuation of O’Brien's message – “Republika Srpska is not a state because it lacks the attributes of statehood,” O’Brien would say, and Dodik would jump up and say – here you go, friends, we are missing the attributes.

Republika Srpska has a government, parliament, judiciary, police; it only lacks territory to complete the last attribute of statehood. “The territory belongs to RS, just let Schmidt try something, and he will see,” Dodik warned, while at the same time mobilizing all his associates and subordinates to secure territory for the first Serbian state east of the Drina.

And slowly, but surely, Dodik is marching towards achieving his goal. He sold 56 dunams of land to a party official in Jahorina, and the decision on the final transaction should soon be published in the Official Gazette of RS, thus completing the deal. The deal is also done in Čelinac, where the Government of RS is allocating 16 dunams for the construction of the residential complex “Borik”.

And so, square by square, dunam by dunam, Milorad Dodik is building a palace of immortality for himself among the Serbian people, and for that people, Republika Srpska on the usurped territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Of course, there is also plenty for Dodik's godfathers, tycoons, and family, but when you get a state, and all peacefully, who cares then.

Christian Schmidt should care. He is the High Representative and must react, because RS is violating the Law on the Prohibition of Disposal of State Property and is directly converting that property into entity property.

But Schmidt is silent, he does not respond to media inquiries, perhaps in the belief that he has the right to not care about Bosnia and Herzegovina as long as he is well paid and occasionally bribed to hand over that same property to foreigners who came here to get rich.

And they are currently getting rich in Vareš, where they are digging up our ores, destroying our forests, rivers, and ultimately people. This has been made possible by Schmidt himself, as well as the Prime Minister of FBiH Nermin Nikšić, whom Schmidt imposed on us.

I recently said that with the talk, project, or whatever it is about lithium in Majevica, Milorad Dodik will buy the independence, or rather the statehood, of RS. And Schmidt’s inaction can be directly linked to the excavation of lithium above Lopare. Just as he was inactive regarding Vareš. In this game, it's a win-win situation for Dodik, for Schmidt, and for Vučić, who will achieve his dream of being like Tsar Lazar, ruling from Belgrade, through Podgorica, to Banja Luka, without getting his hands dirty.

And as painful as it is to write, even more painful to admit, THERE IS A BORDER AFTER ALL! It is the border between a new Balkan state in the making and a thousand-year-old state in decline!

Because, when Dodik completes the finalization process of the last attribute of statehood, he will easily find that “moment he dreams of” to secede Republika Srpska. He will find it easily because he will have all the elements of statehood, and the world, the West, and whatever else we call it, will always agree much more easily to the peaceful secession of a crumbling state of Bosnia and Herzegovina than to new bloodshed on the Old Continent.

I wish I were wrong, but I am quite sure that the Sarajevo bazaar will not see the light and will function even less effectively in protecting the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its territory.

But I am absolutely sure that even at the moment when Dodik finishes his work, the Sarajevo bazaar will believe in friendship and, above all, American help, because if there had been any signs of realpolitik on patriotic grounds in Sarajevo, Dodik would never have dared to embark on the story of RS's independence.

Bosnia fell with a whisper back then, and we didn't really have a say, but this time it has a great chance of falling, thus marking the current political generations with the eternal ink of shame and betrayal. Because, as long as the comfort of the cushion on the divan is more important than the state, that state will not exist. It might survive on thin threads of obligation, and very possibly disappear, because perhaps we didn't deserve it!

And finally, I know you are busy connecting the Našists and fascists, but Mr. Schmidt, find some time, I am waiting for an answer!