If you have typed the term ‘will there be…’ into your web browser in the last few days, in the first place it will give you a recommendation of the term that people type most often, and that is ‘will there be a war in BiH’.
At the beginning of the ’90s, some leading politicians said, ‘Sleep peacefully, there will be no war,’ and shortly after that we were awakened by shootings, barricades and death.
These days we are hearing messages again about how we can sleep peacefully, because there will be no war. That there will be no war, this time we can be sure, but as far as peaceful sleep is concerned, that part will be harder. Most people will not be able to sleep peacefully, not because of the war, but because they do not have enough money to feed their family, because they do not have a job, because their job is insecure, because the employer exploits them, because they do not have money to afford vacation and travel, who are afraid that they will be able to meet the new levies of the state and that they will face a new price increase every day.
In order to ‘help’ the citizens not to spend time thinking about those problems that bother them, politicians have invented a story about the war, so now everyone is just thinking about it and no one is wondering or worrying that we are failing economically. In a few months, when politicians stop rattling with weapons, which none of them have, the citizens will wake up happy because there is no war and because they ‘don’t shoot’ and with a smile they will go to buy a little less bread and a litre less oil because they won’t have enough money to buy as before the ‘announcement of war’. At the same time, no one will ask whether these same politicians killed people with poor quality respirators or industrial oxygen, because how can we deal with dozens of lost lives now, when they ‘spared’ thousands of lives by not starting the war. Well, yes! That was the purpose of their latest fuss. You will still not be able to sleep peacefully, because until the 2022 elections, they will threaten us with another war, secession, centralization, autonomy and who knows what else. During that time, their bank accounts will continue to flourish and our will melt.
They Cover Up Scandals With Stories About the War
It is unforgivable that political parties are playing with such a serious thing as war, to which the citizens are, for a reason, very sensitive. Many have not yet healed their wounds since the last war, and the question is whether they will ever heal, but that does not stop corrupt and incompetent politicians from playing with calling for war. They compete in the story of who will be the first to defend their people, as if we all forgot that none of them stood on the first line of defence of their people 30 years ago, when it was their obligation, but have already accepted business, smuggling and hiding in basements.
All three sides are aware that there will be no war, but they are even more aware that people will forget all the real problems at the very mention of the war, and especially the scandals of corrupt politicians. From the great intimidation of the war, the citizens forgot that politicians in the midst of the pandemic procured inadequate respirators, forgot all other purchases at higher prices for lower quality, forgot that oil became more expensive and that instead of 100 litres they now need to buy 67 litres, they forgot that the citizens at the recent protests in Banja Luka unequivocally said that they had had enough of Dodik and his power (lessness)… Due to the threat of war, we are not worried that gas will become more expensive, that bread will become more expensive, that electricity will become more expensive for businessmen to shift that burden to consumers, we do not care that prices are constantly rising, while wages have remained the same, at least for those who have wages. Just don’t shoot!
Nothing worries us because we believed them that there could be a war, and they are just playing war. However, that game could happen to them in the next elections, if not earlier.
There Will Be No War, but No Peaceful Sleep
War is a serious business that requires a lot of money and even more planning and organization. They have none of that. They have no commodity reserves, no weapons, no ammunition, no trained people or in short, they have nothing. The only thing they have is money, and the money they stole from the citizens, but they certainly do not want to spend that money on the war because they have invested a lot of effort and work to get that money from the public, ending up in their private accounts.
Do you think that Čović, Dodik and Izetbegović are not aware that they have the most to lose and that their considerable property would be the first target of war profiteers and robbers? Do you think that self-proclaimed leaders of the people are not aware that they could not profit in war, as they profit in peace? Do you think that the selectors of national teams would allow the jobs that companies owned by their sons and daughters, their godparents, sons-in-law and friends received from the state to fail? Do you think that national leaders will allow all these ‘employees’ (women, children, mistresses, sons-in-law, friends) to lose their jobs in the civil service and fall on them? Do you think that the ruling politicians will allow the war to start so that their wives, sons and daughters have nowhere to brag about their precious and branded goods? Do you think that Croatia will peacefully observe the independence of the Republika Srpska and watch how the border of Croatia, but also the EU, with that of Serbia expands by hundreds of kilometres? Do you think that Vučić will calmly watch his image of a peacemaker and a factor of stability in the Balkans deteriorate, just to protect Dodik from facing justice? Do you think that Russia will spend its money on the war in BiH, where they are given stolen icons? Do you think that Russia, America and the EU will send their people to die in the war in BiH, in which it is not known who drinks and who pays? Do you think that anyone reasonable will remain to fight for their national leaders, after seeing how they treat the disabled war veterans and after seeing that the leading politicians, all in turn, came out of the war much richer, while those who spent the war in trenches, out of the war came out ‘richer’ with PTSD?
Gullible Bosnians and Even More Gullible Foreigners
It is clear to me that many citizens have fallen for their story of war, but it is not clear to me why foreigners believed that they were serious about war and not that it was just a smokescreen for crime and inaction. Instead of letting them sink into the quicksand they jumped into themselves, they help them get out.
Instead of negotiating with representatives of official BiH. institutions they negotiate with self-proclaimed national leaders who have neither the legality nor the legitimacy to decide on behalf of the citizens. In this way, they give them legitimacy and create the impression that they are really representatives of the people, while forgetting that all three national parties together won about 25% of the vote in the elections. Instead of letting the opposition and the people replace them in the elections, as opinion polls show a drop in support for national parties, their promulgation of failed laws, giving importance to alleged leaders and sending their envoys to BiH urgently only help fix rating.
Instead of letting them carry out what they are threatening, because they neither can, nor want to, nor are allowed to carry it out, from referendums, secession, regaining power to war, they are helping them get out and come out victorious. It is understandable that the international community has lost the will and interest to help us, but it would be good if they stopped harassing us, because that is what they have been doing intensively in recent years, harassing citizens by helping corrupt politicians.
Don’t look for culprits, we are the ones to blame.
In elections, we voluntarily elect certain politicians to represent our interests in representative bodies. Those who manage to gather a majority, then elect the executive. For that, they receive very good salaries, some even receive a monthly salary in the amount of the annual salary of individual workers. If we are not satisfied with the policy pursued by the politicians we have chosen, it would be logical to demand from them to change the policy and take responsibility, and together with them to take our share of responsibility because we have chosen bad representatives. And we all bear even greater responsibility and guilt because for years, and even decades, we tolerate the same mistakes of the same politicians, without demanding responsibility from them or at least stopping voting for them.
Instead, at the first sign of trouble, we seek help not only outside parliaments and governments, but also outside the state. Why do we elect and pay domestic politicians if foreigners will do their job? We hold protests in front of foreign embassies and international organizations. We have such a low opinion of the politicians we have chosen that we know that they care less about their people and their country than those who came here for a few years and that they primarily represent the interests of the countries and organizations that appointed and sent them. In BiH. The fact that even those politicians, whom we have chosen to lead the country, address foreign representatives in BiH and ask them to do their job speaks best of how far we have all strayed together. And they do it without any shame or discomfort. It is not that the leading parties cannot agree, they agree very well and quickly on things that are in their interest. But their willingness to negotiate is lost as soon as it comes to things that citizens would benefit from.
Citizens have elected these politicians, and citizens should be the only ones who will replace their executioners and elect new people, whom they will control and who they will ask to work in the interest of the citizens, and not in their own interest. Citizens are not victims, citizens are accomplices and when they understand and accept this it will be easier for them to understand that only their change will lead to a change in the overall situation.
