Everyone in Bosnia and Herzegovina is aware that things in the country are not going well at all.
As elsewhere, however, no one likes being blamed by others for his own state even when it is as bad as it can get. That is why many Bosnians find themselves more annoyed than frightened by recent simultaneous warnings of a possible new conflict in Bosnia, expressed particularly by US officials, institutions and media.
Following US Vice President Joe Biden's warning to Bosnian politicians against falling back into “old patterns and ancient animosities,” which has brought no tangible effects since his visit to Sarajevo at the beginning of summer, the US-based Foreign Affairs magazine wrote in its last issue that “the country now stands on the brink of collapse.” The Washington Post stressed that “the old divisions and hatreds are again gripping this Balkan country.” The New York Times went further in the first week of September, expressing that “Bosnia could well return to violence.” In his article “While Europe Sleeps, Bosnia Seethes,” Nicholas Kulish writes, “Renewed fighting in Bosnia may not launch World War III, but it could well spread to other parts of the former Yugoslavia, including Kosovo.”
The New York Times perhaps went too far, although the situation on the ground indicates that internal Bosnian divisions are reaching dangerous levels of tension already existing in the wider Balkan region. Last week's controversial visit of Serbian President Boris Tadic to Bosnia was the most recent example in that regard.
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