Journalist and publicist Erol Avdović believes that the current priority of the US administration is the war in Ukraine, that BiH is on the sidelines and that the regional priority is Kosovo.
Avdović spoke today at the forum of the Council of the Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals on the topic “View from New York – Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Western Balkans” and on that occasion analyzed American policy, intentions and plans.
He reminded that Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the war, was viewed with empathy, through the media, the way CNN perceived the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“BiH was constantly on the front pages of the media, unlike the war in Ukraine, which is not in the media every day, not as much as BiH was,” he said.
Today, he says, Bosnia and Herzegovina is not on the front pages in the US every day, but it is still present, and it is in 26th place on the US administration’s list of priorities.
Although today it seems that the US administration has one plan and some politicians another, Avdović says that this is not the case and that it is very well organized who is doing what.
“To preserve BiH in its territorial integrity and sovereignty, but also to help some democratic growth within BiH itself, not necessarily with the same actors who have been there all this time,” says Avdović.
Secondly, he added, some elements are not about what are proclaimed American values: democracy, freedom, and human rights.
“We can see the violations of human rights, violations of what are basic American values in the BiH Electoral Law, that the Americans supported through High Representative Christian Schmidt,” Avdović pointed out.
In this, he adds, the objections to the US administration are justified, with the fact that it should be borne in mind that the priorities of the US administration are something else, than Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The priority of the US administration is Ukraine, the Russian-Ukrainian war, and everything is analyzed in this context. These are priorities, and Bosnia and Herzegovina is on the sidelines,” stressed Avdović.
America also has a regional priority, he believes, and that is Kosovo, and “the Americans are very interested in solving the problem of Kosovo, that is, the recognition of Kosovo by Serbia, if it is even possible to achieve that”.
