Military-political analyst Hamza Visca spoke yesterday at the regular session of the Association of Independent Intellectuals – Circle 99 about how ready Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is to respond to security challenges, primarily institutionally, and stated that our country is one of the few countries that does not have a national or state security council.
”Thanks to the Dayton solutions, we have a very extensive security system. I’m not sure how much the BiH Ministry of Security can compensate for that, bearing in mind the fact that too often state officials, even entity officials, handle information that is very contradictory and confusing,” said Visca.
BiH, as he states, does not have a systemic response to a hybrid war, which is not at all harmless even in the phases when weapons are not used. He says that it is necessary to train existing and establish new state capacities.
”Developing the ability to recognize information, pointing out the abuse of social networks, and strengthening the ability of quality political action should be put in the focus of all subjects of society and not think about parallel systems of resistance and struggle. They are in the service of a hybrid war against BiH,” pointed out Visca.
He also states that the inciting rhetoric of the separatists must not have an echo in our responses, which “must be more sophisticated, and politicians must be more responsible, and government institutions more agile and the media more careful.”
He believes that the issue of European integration should be put in the right place and says that the first step was taken by the international community and that in the last year the United States (U.S.), the European Union (EU), and NATO have done more for the survival of BiH than in the previous nine years.
At the session of Circle 99, Visca stated that the global challenges faced by BiH are: regional wars, migration, climate change, natural disasters, fires, terrorism, and cyber attacks.
”Each of these challenges can affect the security of BiH to a greater or lesser extent. We are on the migration path, that is, the south-north-northwest route. Natural disasters and climate change do not pass us by. Terrorist attacks are just as possible as in all other countries in the world, and hacker attacks occur on a reduced scale, and Russia is present in one way or another, legal and less legal,” said Visca.
Speaking about regional challenges, he says that one must start with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine – today the war in Ukraine is at a turning point, and Russia is on a serious offensive, and Ukraine, together with the West, needs to make a choice.
”Achieve peace at the expense of Ukraine or continue the war until the complete liberation of one’s own needs. There is no general agreement for either. The West has not found a formula for Ukraine to win and Russia not to lose. But that’s why Finland and Sweden found a formula for greater security, they joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Without a major escalation of relations between Russia and the West due to Russian aggression against Ukraine, the security picture of the Western Balkans is shaky, but it can be kept under control,” emphasized Visca.
Referring to the internal challenges, he pointed out that the initial successes in defense reform projects, with the establishment of the BiH Border Police, as well as the progress made in the judiciary, were promising and showed that an agreement in favor of BiH citizens was possible.
”Transition of BiH society and the state from the Dayton phase to the Brussels phase is at a serious standstill. Political and multi-ethnic relations in BiH are burdened not only with conflict and security problems but have become a security challenge. Our political scene is full of politicians committed to an irresponsible populist narrative and escalating verbal conflicts to a critical point. The level of fear of war is greater than the seriousness of the real situation and is the result of psychological and propaganda activities aimed at not equipping our country for European integration – concluded Visca at yesterday‘s session of Circle 99, speaking on the topic “Security challenges and possible responses of BiH authorities”.
