Becirovic: The West has to counter reincarnation of Milosevic's politics

Director of International Institute for Middle East and Balkans Studies (IFIMES) Ljubljana, Dr Zijad Becirovic in an interview for News Agency Patria said that he did not see 'the need to reinvent the wheel and seek some special solutions after PIC took such a stance'.

- The High Representative should revoke all decisions of the RS governmental bodies relating to referendum, he should apply the Bonn powers, as the PIC obviously took the position that allows Valentin Inzko to do so. Neither the international community nor the High Representative should hide behind the local institutions, either the Constitutional court or the Prosecutor's office of BiH. It is clear now – these are anti-Dayton activities.

- Any attempt or activity to organize referendum after the high representative banned it, must be punished. Following the ban on referendum by the High Representative, should Milorad Dodik and Aleksandar Vucic continue with activities relating to organizing the referendum, it would become clear that Serbia was seeking a conflict with the Western countries and NATO, Becirovic says.

He thinks that would give a right to those who think that Russia stands behind such attempts i.e. that perhaps this is a similar scenario to that in Ukraine and other countries.

- It seems that Serbia got involved in something that will be difficult to get out of. According to some international sources, there are files being built as we speak that will reveal some heavy violations of the international humanitarian law. Vucic, as well as Dodik are becoming a reincarnation of the 90-ies of the last century when Milosevic was 'the boss' of all concflicts in the Balkans, Becirovic says.

He suggests to closely peruse the latest reports about conflicts inside Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

- Those reports helped find out about Serbian intelligence operatives in BiH, Srebrenica included, during the attack on Vucic.  

- One should recall 1989 and 1990 when Serbian security officers snooped around BiH and when then BH government reacted. Today, there are joint police exercises of Serbia and RS in BiH, something like digging trenches and artillery positions around Sarajevo back then, when a message was sent to BH public that 'they had nothing to worry about'.

Is Serbia doing today the same thing Slobodan Milosevic was doing back then?

The West has to resist the reincarnation of Milosevic's politics in the 21st century. Serbia sends diplomatic notes to BiH each time some video clip is posted with Serbian flag on fire. Now that there is hard evidence about numbers of Serbian spies in BiH, there is no sign of foreign politics from BiH to Serbia. Why is that? Probably because BH Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak is still investigating who from his Ministry had helped mark the anniversary of genocide in Srebrenica, or could it be that the foreign politics is concerned about something else?, Becirovic is wondering.  

He emphasized that the West had invested enormous efforts, funding and the time to stop the war in BiH, and at the time when Russia was down on its knees.  

- The West mustn't allow the reliving of Milosevic's scenario. It is hard to understand Bosniak politics which thinks – when there's no Milosevic and no JNA, there's no threat to BiH. Milosevic is no longer there physically, but there are some loyal followers in Serbia, as well as Putin and somewhat stronger Russia, Becirovic explained.

The Belgrade meeting reveals intentions of Serbia

- Today's meeting in Belgrade of Nikolic and Vucic with Serb leaders from the Republika Srpska speaks for itself and reveals the extent to which Serbia tends to involve itself in BH affairs. That is also clear to the official Brussels and Washington. That will in the future weaken the position of Aleksandar Vucic in Serbia and the region. I'm afraid that he will annul all good that he had done, which the international community gave him credit for. In this case, Vucic and Serbia have the most to lose, Becirovic concluded.