Milorad Dodik is the main responsible person for maintaining the international presence in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), says political analyst Adnan Huskic. He adds that thanks to Dodik’s wrong moves and rhetoric, not only has the Office of the High Representative (OHR) not been closed, but the position of supervisor for Brcko has been retained, and the OHR continues to work after Valentin Inzko was considered the last High Representative.
Escalation route
”I think that even Inzko’s actions were caused, above all, by the fact that Milorad Dodik was the first to problematize the issue of the Srebrenica genocide. Absolutely everything that this man has done has strengthened the international presence, despite everything he says – that foreigners should leave. Everything he does results in them staying,” Huskic adds.
Commenting on Dodik’s reaction to decision by High Representative Christian Schmidt which was made on Tuesday, when he told Schmidt to take a one-way ticket to Germany, Huskic says that Dodik has nowhere to go and is following a determined escalation route, Avaz writes.
”I am not sure that he can and wants to return to some framework of normal action. I don’t think the whole story is over with this, but he certainly managed to bring the West back to BiH. The result of Milorad Dodik’s work is that the West has definitely returned and that here, in a way, a foot is being put here again, so that it can be clearly said to whom this region belongs,” Huskic points out.
Russian exponent in the field
Looking at the situation in BiH in the context of the wider picture, with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the West’s response, the scope for further action is now narrowed for Dodik.
”For a long time, he functioned without anyone going against the grain. On the contrary, I think everyone gave in. However, he showed that he is absolutely incapable of any constructive policy, but only of escalation in order to protect his own crime. I don’t think we can talk about a stronger engagement of the West without Milorad Dodik. If that can be said for one person, he is the key person and everyone else is an episodeist. Dodik is a key Russian exponent in the field, who now has more room for maneuver with Vucic in that sense, and he has evidently shown that he is ready to deepen the crisis further,” concludes the political analyst Adnan Huskic.
E.Dz.
