The penetration of remembrance from some ancient event, a hidden and distant memory depot, always and equally amazes me because of the unexpected and instantaneous power of the subconscious. When it floods and shakes the expanses of memory with its strokes and allusions to the present.
An anecdote from the old days came out of nowhere, probably not by chance: the endless quarrels and disagreements of a married couple about the “permanent and severe disruption of mutual relations” approached the epilogue, and when in the heat of the “debate” the pencils for signing a divorce lawsuit were sharpened, a neighbour appeared at the door of their home. With a smile on her face, she said that for years they had been neighbours, door to door, and had not yet drunk their coffee – well, now she was inviting them, very kindly, to entertain them and warm their long-standing neighbourhood. The unsuspecting guests gathered in astonishment, so after a short silence they thanked the lady for the invitation, asked for understanding and, with a comment on her careful gesture, postponed the coffee due to busyness with some household chores. With their eyes, they quickly harmonized and without saying a word, for who knows how many times they confirmed that they are a team whose synapses subconsciously and with sharp ease remove any intrusion of an uninvited actor into things that are only theirs. It happened a few decades ago, they are still together, untouchable and monolithic, in a way only known to them.
Anyhow, Ursula von der Leyen is coming to us.
They are the ones watching over the national attitude and interest
The three members are set up in a tripartite, functional way. They agreed that one should provide water, the other coffee, and the third to bring sugar. Coffee will not be missing, if that really happens, so at least let it be on our table. True, some mighty pencils are under the table, in drawers, some in the houses of our friends, it is written in large but somehow twisted, paperless, non-paper. The ardour to keep the coffee warm is not lacking here, it’s all just a matter of skill to walk on the hot BiH soil so that the fire does not burn, and the embers are always smouldering.
A recent commentary on the hot Balkans, which is endlessly silent in the time axis as a threat to a potential torch, in the days of a sudden and very dynamic avalanche of non-paper diplomacy, it also caused allusions to shamanic ritual. Primarily because of the symbolism and reflections on the “powers” of shamans, the heat that threatens, the burns that are certain but do not happen, the tricks and deceptions and the alleged catharsis, local leaders (domestic shamans) were ready to present their first non-paper appearance in front of the Brussels forums to present their commitment to the already seen methods of interplay and cross-cutting statements reminding that the situation is on the verge of flammable escalation. The other side denied its copyrights, first with the position of Brussels that such a document did not reach them, and then with the recognition that it did come before the EU authorities. Apart from the clumsy denial of the Slovenian president, and the observation that Slovenia wanted its upcoming EU presidency to start with ideas to offer new ideas on delimitation in the Balkans, news of Croatia’s non-paper response leaked. Enough for the Balkan leaders to get hold of a fresh and new narrative, and look at the miracles – Dodik’s shamanism, always effective in heating up the heat. The lava originated and to this day there has been a real eruption of several dozen non-papers with messages from hidden but recognizable authors with new ideas on how to remain stuck in the legacy of the past and old conceptions in the future.
The notion was repeated to the domestic audience that they were chosen (or perhaps elected?) To watch over the national attitude and interest of the primordial justice for the nation known only to them, so they sacrificed themselves pathetically, walking on the embers for the good of their constituents. Less transparent, but also quite recognizable is their expectation and hope that the foreign factor will devote all its attention only to them and arrange the Western Balkans to the measure and taste of local powerful people, finally realizing all their decades of misconceptions and finally understanding that Balkan leaders are priests with exclusive powers. The only partner with the right vision – that nothing should be changed in that area, because everything is darker for them and like this.
The traditional attitude of foreigners that the geopolitical hub in the Balkans is useful as a place of their meeting and a terrain for settlements on completely different interests outside the Balkans and on third reasons, remains unchanged. Occasional walks through the Balkan heat are an instrument and method to meet, painless and harmless for them, but caution is always great, burns are possible if they stay on the grill for a long time or the fire burns. While local shamans are brought to ecstasies by simulating and drawing new boundaries to round out their feuds and domains. Great actors (foreign powers, sic!) offer them invisible ink with a short evaporation time from paper, somewhat more aware that drawing new Great Little States carries San Stefano germ and a fire-burning capsule which is nevertheless of no use to anyone or for good.
While domestic shamans deal with geography, thinking that it is geopolitics, as they collect the area of Kosovo and Sandzak, and in the reply they get the sum of the area equal to part of Macedonia with Albania, so they take Dodik’s gifts as loose change, in the sum of the area of the territory of Serbia, or in favour of the nin desired cup state and while the French pretend to be English – there is an echo of the popular saying that domestic and foreign shamans, in all these non-paper games, are nothing but hicks.
If by any chance he testified to non-paper Balkan outwitting, Sartre would remember his comment on futile work, saying that “a mountain of paper gave birth to a mouse” A hill of non-paper colourful confetti.
New answers or new questions
The paradox that will spice up coffee with Ms van der Leyen will be clear when the post-meeting statement, at a really high level, makes it clear once again that it is unclear whether we have received new answers from the EU (no guarantees for enlargement) or new questions (What can you do? The Americans are again talking about the EU perspective of BiH) or just caution not to step into our zeal.
The hosts will convince the guest that the way in which a problem is managed is more important than what those problems concern, so the status quo is really quite appropriate for us, and practically and functionally verified on the horizons of all past and upcoming general elections, if any.
A look at the past does not mean exclusively images of our recent drama. In an area wider than the Balkans in the past more distant than the recent one, philosophers had a considerable influence on society, and intelligent people were more literate than the sages of today. Hegel would again describe the present in a few words, saying that ‘the known is not yet known’. Moving on the domestic field towards the EU is more and more like walking around a room of mirrors, the distorted image is sometimes more tempting and sweeter than the real one, although it is only an illusion behind a hard surface, untouchable and deceptive. Another thinker would say that people think a certain way because they live a certain way, and they live a certain way because they think a certain way.
