While Bosnia and Herzegovina, after September 11 this year, became a leprosy for some of the surrounding countries because "Muslims live there", its officials were "forced by an ultimatum to side with the fighters against terrorism", and the attitude towards America, truely motivated differently, he brought Bosniaks and Serbs closer as never before
Serbs, who have a priori negative attitude towards America and Washington almost did not make a party about the tragedy in New York, while a local politician from Zenica commented on the events in America, in a recent conversation with politicians in Banja Luka: "P.ć(soft c)..im m…… ., let him do it to them, while you ethnic groups trampled on us for five years, they watched, let them now..."
The majority of Bosnian-Herzegovinian intellectuals agreed that this country did not realize what terrorism was until September 11, nor did it begin to deal with what consequences it could have in the otherwise troubled BiH. "In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we have lived for 12 years in an atmosphere of terror - linguistic, economic and other, which forces people not to be who they are. And the way out is difficult, almost impossible to find," said Mr. Esad Baital, M.Sc., from the independent club of intellectuals "99", recently in the political show of the Banja Luka Alternative Television.
EXTORTED OPINION: The events surrounding America and Bin Laden have led to certain changes in the local public, according to the political advisor of Prime Minister Mladen Ivanić, Miodrag Živanović, otherwise a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Banja Luka. According to Živanović, it is about changes on two levels:
"The first level is official, that is, the level of political institutions, and the second is the reactions of ordinary citizens." At the first level, BiH as a country is practically under investigation. The official institutions were under an ultimatum, especially Washington. I have attended some conversations that I would say with certainty that the language of diplomacy does not know. Orders have been issued, an ultimatum has been set, so that the united attitude of BiH politicians in relation to the fight against terrorism has been forced. BiH politicians had no choice, but were forced to side with America. The ultimatum read: whoever is not with us is our enemy. That's how the platitude about supporting Washington was born," Živanović explains for "Vreme".
Therefore, he believes that the functions of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina were not in a greater crisis than is the case now, caused by the terrorist attack on the Trade Center in New York. Citizens' reactions can be observed, according to the good old custom, in the national prism - Serbs and Bosnian Croats received confirmation of "dangerous Islamic fundamentalism", for which they went to war. All this, Živanović believes, intensifies the "conflict with Bosniaks". "And then the Bosniaks get a mortgage of responsibility for what happened." Now they become bad guys and start making excuses. They get a sense of guilt, which destabilizes the whole situation even more."
For the Croatian geopolitical theorist Vlatko Cvrtila, a professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences in Zagreb, it is about "reducing the problem to a simple model - friends and enemies, in which it is clear who stands where and in which it is easy to get paranoid that a person walking down the street with with a turban on his head he can attack, and he may be a Sikh, who is the mortal enemy of a Muslim."
Cvrtila is therefore concerned about the attitude that arose in Croatia from that paranoia. In an interview with "Feral" from Split, Cvrtila talks about the attitude towards Bosnia and Herzegovina:
CHANGE POSITION BOSNIAKS: "Croatia is being forced to take the view that it is necessary to be especially cautious towards Bosnia and Herzegovina because Muslims live there. Such attitudes go hand in hand with Osama bin Laden, although it is actually a gross simplification of Huntington's theses on the clash of civilizations and religions."
In Bosnia and Herzegovina itself, the position of Muslims and Bosniaks is changing. "Looking back at American events, Alija Izetbegović and the wrong policy of the SDA contributed the most to this, because they did not respect the fact that BiH Muslims are European Muslims." Instead of putting a strong intellectual core in the forefront of their struggle, Izetbegović relied on the church and thus created a counterpart to the SDS. So now this people in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in trouble because politicians from all sides, especially in the country, use the argument that the Muslims here are the same as the other extremists", says Miodrag Živanović about the current position of Bosniaks in Bosnia and Herzegovina for Vreme.
"But Serbs and Croats should not rejoice over the fate of their compatriots today, because the world's retribution will not be directed only at Bosniaks. All citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina will pay dearly for such a policy of the Bosniak wartime political leadership. "International investors are already giving up on projects in BiH, and donors are slowly withdrawing", warns columnist Branko Perić of "Nezavisne Novina" from Banja Luka.
During that time, the recent leader of the national Party of Democratic Action Alija Izetbegović naively explains the accusations that he met with Bin Laden's associate Ayman: "I met many people from Arab countries, but I really don't remember their names."
GENERAL CONFUSION: Hence the whole burden of washing away the stain from the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, explaining why citizens from Arab countries who came to BiH at the beginning of the war at the invitation of Alija Izetbegović and the SDA, today are "reputable and respected citizens", activists of "humanitarian organizations" and holders of BiH passports fell to the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Zlatko Lagumdžija. In such a situation, Lagumdžija was left with nothing else to do, Miodrag Živanović believes, and: "makes statements, for which it is no longer known in whose name he is making them." Not even those who listen to him know that, and probably not even he himself, which is not good for the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor for the party he represents" (Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina - SDP, original author). It just so happens that one day he says that terrorists are also active in the countries of Western Europe, so Bosnia should not be satanized, a little later he admits that "BiH is threatened by terrorism", and the very next day he proudly reveals that "BiH is a politically stable country", in which should be invested by foreign capital.
This attitude only reflects the general confusion in BiH, especially when it comes to the "Serbian side of Dayton". In the Republika Srpska, Živanović believes, there have been no serious and professional discussions about the problem of terrorism, the activities of Osama bin Laden, and a good media presentation of the events. The first events on BiH public television were followed and commented on by half-drunk journalists, who were expected to fall asleep in the studio at any moment.
DANGER OD NEW TERRORISM: Research by the marketing agency "Partner" points to catastrophic data on the fact that assessments of the current situation in the RS are given by one person. In addition, RS lacks experts of any kind.
"The President of Republika Srpska (Mirko Šarović, op.aut.) cuts the celebratory cakes, the Vice President (Dragan Čavić, op.aut.) sits down at the Banja Luka Summer Games. In that vacuum, they push the government to deal with jobs that are essentially theirs.
In addition to all that, the question arises of how to form the public as a factor of democracy, because it does not exist," says Živanović in an interview with "Vreme".
During that time, the Director of the Center for Geostrategic Research of the University of Banja Luka, Dr. Duško Vejnović, fears emerging "political, religious, refugee and any other terrorism in BiH". Živanović points out that there is no necessary security for the borders of BiH, because "BiH does not exist as a state in that sector." Until then, the citizens are retelling jokes about Bush and Bin Laden, inventing the most incredible sexual poses between the two. Foreign embassies in BiH introduce a strict visa regime for residents of both BiH entities.
Many agree that today, in fact, "it is difficult to be a Muslim from Bosnia and Herzegovina, anywhere in the world."
"Every Bosniak today, no matter where he is, 'carries in his pocket' a picture of Alija Izetbegović with Osama bin Laden." "Neither guilty nor liable, he will be linked to Islamic terrorists, searched, followed and suspected at every step," believes Branko Perić. However, it seems that for a long time the fate of Bosniaks will be shared by all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including Croats and Serbs (regardless of how much they "pointed the finger at the danger called Islam" and rejoiced over what happened to Bosnian Muslims), because many believe that " no one is sure anymore that they don't have their double on the Interpol list, to whom someone issued or sold a BiH passport".
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