“Bosnia disintegration would be catastrophic”

What exactly is the problem in BiH? Is it that RS is prospering while the Muslim Croat federation is bankrupt? The Western planners have failed yet again as they have in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. These people lack the basic skill of understanding and instead continually get it wrong and demand another flawed solution. It is the West that broke Bosnia in the first place and Serbians are having no more of this incompetence.

Ethnic cleansing has already been rewarded in both Croatia and Kosovo so that argument does not stick with Serbians. BiH will cease to exist before we join NATO. These people never learn, we do not bow to emperialists.

"would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe"

They must be joking. What is B-H now? A success?

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; a fertile breeding ground for terrorism and crime, and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

I have a hunch that this "failed state" that they allude to should Bosnia fall apart refers to the Federation part and not Srpska. I am open to being corrected on this point.

Bosnia is gone.

There will be three small states of Bosnia. A Croat one, a muslim one and a Serb one.

After a couple of years the Croat part will join Croatia and the Serb part will join Serbia. Bosnia as we know today will not exist but a smaller muslim Bosnia will exist. I think it is better for all parties because they can't live together and they don't even wish to live together.

Those that created the mess from the outside are now fearing the outcome almost 18 years too late. Fear of the inevitable, is fear of reality. The reality is, BiH will disintigrate...its just a matter of time.

Here we go again with all the lies that caused this problem in the first place, such as concentration camps and mass graves. Concentration camps? During the 1990s the use of this term was intended to evoke emotion by pretending that Serbs were like Hitler, throwing people into ovens. We all know now that this never happened. While people were concentrated in areas, and many people died, there were no concentration camps of the type the Nazis used. This was a ploy by the Muslims to win the hearts of soft-minded good Americans, who incidentally became war mongers when it came to bombing Serbia. It worked, didn't it? I was fortunate to confront one of these softies in the US one day when this lady asked me to protest US involvement in Iraq. She spoke of innocent people being killed. I retorted, "where were you when the US bombed Serbian civilians?" I told her if the US had something against Milosevic and the army, why didn't they stick to military targets? Why did they go after civilian targets?" Her response was, "we dropped the ball on that one." I agree, stupidity cannot be excused.
Too bad for these Brits, nobody cares about Bosnia any more. For those of you whom don't know much about Americans, we are fad people. Bosnia was a fad that made people feel good for a few months. Once the fad was over, people turned their attention elsewhere. Franky, if you asked most young Americans about Bosnia, most wouldn't know what Bosnia is. Bosnia will break apart and the Muslim remainder will be a threat to Europe, but it won't be Republica Srpska's fault, for they didn't create this failed state. The blame will fall squarely upon the shoulders of the Western Europeans whom created it.

Ashdown is a failed middle ranking UK politician who was once the imposed High representative in "Bosnia". What he says matters little as he took sides with the Federation Politicians against the RS and indeed the Serbian people, amazingly he still talks of ethnic cleansing well the RS is 90% Serb populated the Federation contains 2% Serbs go look at Sarajevo it isn,t very European is it Mr Ashdown?.Look also at Mostar a fine example of tolerance and co-existance NOT!. Bosnia cannot be the mini version of Yugoslavia which the US,Germany(Genser) destroyed. Why should we embrace a country that was created by Nato bombs, why should we embrace an islamic Federation in all but name.Let this monster have a natural end, we Serbs and indeed Croats have had enough..of outsiders talking about bratsvo i jedinstvo, which in any case doesn,t exist anywhere but in Ashdowns imagination..

The good news is that Paddy Ashdown and his other International Crisis Group friends who wrote this piece are being regarded as Cassandras by the policy makers.

This piece really does demonstrate how out of favor (and influence) Paddy and the ICG are. They are proposing nothing new.

Paddy's own attempts during his time as Bosnian Viceroy and sanctioning and molding the RS to his beliefs have totally failed so his arguments of 'more of the same' is seen by current policy makers as heaping failure upon failure, except this time there is no convenient excuse that can be used to remove Dodik and the whole political cadre within the RS.

I suppose he (and others) consider it a version of the 'white man's burden', bringing civilization and peace to heathens and barbarians. This of course is but a fig leaf for carrying out illegal and non-democratic actions against democratically elected leaders.

At the base of this argument seems to be the following belief, Sarajevo is incapable of holding itself together (let alone the rest of Bosnia) and the answer is to destroy the Serbs to buy some time.

Rather than insisting on his protoges in Sarajevo to stop stealing from their citizens and actually have a viable economic policy that provides jobs, investment, healthcare, education etc. he and his co-authors have in effect themselves become bosnian nationalists.

The answer is simple. It's the economy stupid. If you refuse to deal with the basic needs and aspirations of the people, then nationalism and radical actions look all the more attractive, especially when your neighbors are better off even if it is through their own efforts.

To divert attention away from its own disastrous domestic economic policy, Sarajevo blames everyone but themselves, useful idiots like Ashdown and the ICG always ready to provide a helping hand.

These people make no sense. Why is the solution to Bosnias problems to take all power away from Serbs? That would be good for Bosnia? These people are so dumb. The issue is that Bosnia has no rationale for existing. They need to stop trying to create a fantasy Balkan Switzerland.

Hague and Ashdown say that 'The breakdown of the country into independent ethnic statelets would be catastrophic...'

True, but isn't that exactly what the West so willingly did to Yugoslavia back in 1991-92, knowing full well that it would lead to a catastrophe, and using the specious argument that Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks cannot coexist in Yugoslavia, but must do so in Bosnia Herzegovina?

This is breathtaking hypocrisy writ large.

Bosnia Herzegovina is the heart of Yugoslavia. And a heart without a body is useless.

Excellent points Zoran.

I think at this point Bosnia exists only in the minds of certain Western officials and possibly Mesic and Siladzic. Other than that, every aspect of day to day life revolves around local politics in RS and Federacija. In the same way those in favor of Kosovo's statehood argue that the institutional mechanisms for self rule are already in place and irreversible, the same must be said for Bosnia, particularly RS.

Mesic, Tadic, and others can officially proclaim the territorial integrity of Bosnia, but does anyone really doubt that if Serbia is ever forced to acquiesce on Kosovo that it's going to push for breaking up Bosnia too? Does anyone doubt Zagreb will be pushing for a Croatian entity apart from the Bosnian Muslim entity?

The only way to keep Bosnia whole is to keep all other states whole. A unified Bosnia means a unified Serbia and a unified Georgia. Carving up one invariably facilitates conditions for carving up of others.

US n UK r still pretend they can push little countries around, even though they're own countires are finacially bankrupt. Once this new world ends Bosnia will collapse and Kosovo will be avenged

"“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; a fertile breeding ground for terrorism and crime, and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

I believe Ashdown is referring to Kosovo?

Who is going to drive this called message home to the Serbs that refuse to financially support Bosnia? That’s the essence of the problem and nothing else! If RS leaves Bosnia then the EU has another financial crises on its hands, just like Kosovo. I have said many times that the west does not have a blessed a clue what it’s doing, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and the list goes on and on.

“A robust international approach should focus on a single goal: a central government in Bosnia effective enough to meet the responsibilities of EU and NATO membership. Each Bosnian leader should have to stand for, or against, that simple idea – and face consequences for his or her answer."

This statement is a pipe dream and it show just how far out of touch Ashdown is with reality. Where is the driving force coming from to achieve this goal? NATO is being whipped to a standstill in Afghanistan with western losses mounting each day and in NATO’s haste to show progress its bombing innocent civilians then claiming they were Taliban fighters. This only increases the hatred of foreigners and pushes the locals to the Taliban.
NATO only wants more fresh meat for the Afghanistan grinder. I have just today learnt from a very reliable source that NATO is in serious trouble there and that they are losing many more “assets” than disclosed in the media.

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; a fertile breeding ground for terrorism and crime, and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

Ah! Now you get to the nub of the problem. It’s not ethnic cleansing, to which you turned a blind eye in Kosovo, but hold a high moral ground in Bosnia, it the breeding of terrorism and crime to a lesser extent. But then you try and disguise the real concern by claiming that it’s also a betrayal of those that survived concentration camps, mass graves etc.
Paddy my dear lad, it’s far, far, too late. The horse has bolted and there is nothing you or your allies can do – Bosnia is “a dead man walking” and the kindest thing would be to announce the final date and bury the idea of one Bosnia.

Hold on mr Ashdown, No NATO membership until both entities in Bosnia have voted in favor of it. And I strongly suspect that RS will vote against it, so you will continue to find cannon fudder for Afghanistan from the poorer parts of Wales, England and Scotland, so called Great Britain... No serbs from neither RS nor Serbia will join a criminal organisation called NATO to support a war already lost in Afghanistan.

yeah, right, i´m also "shivering" about the official end of socalled "bosnia" (after 12 years no more bosnia existing).

and it will be like with the anti-russia missile shield or a lighter georgia with nato-compatible borders: nothing at all will happen, as a constructive behaviour of america ensures economic and development help for the "superpower" ...

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; a fertile breeding ground for terrorism and crime, and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

What a disgusting statement, full of lies and anti-Serb propoganda.
First of all, Ashdown and his 'humanitarian bomber' imperialist brigade recognize ethnic cleansing all the time. They recognized the Croats' cleansing of Krajina, and in fact planned and helped them militarily achieve this - this is genocide.
Also, Kosovo was built on decades, actually centuries, of ethnic cleansing of Serbs, and the they recognized it. He refers to creating failed states in the middle of Europe, well Kosovo is a perfect example! As for fertile breeding grounds for terrorism, that is exactly what Kosovo is. Not only that, it was Al Qaeda who sent money and soldiers to Bosnia to fight for Islam, and Ashdown/Clinton knew about this and supported it. Furthermore, Ashdown has the gall to mention concentration camps, when in fact Serbs suffered at the worst one of all - Jasenovac. What Ashdown is doing is something equivalent to calling a Jew a Nazi - accusing the Serbs of genocide when in fact the Serbs are the ones who suffered many genocides.
So please shut it Ashdown, nobody is listening to your anti-Serb racist rants. Republika Srpska is already independent, and it will be official soon. Russia is no longer on her knees and you will not be able to do anything about it when she joins Serbia.
Cheers!!

Sandro from Tuzla,

You know, a lot of us Serbs really did like Yugoslavia and everything that came with it.

I think you’re making more of an argument for the whole of Bosnia to join Serbia, which would bring solid stability.

Creating a “mini-yugoslavia” that doesn’t include all the Southern Slavs is really just a recipe for disaster. Especially when the logic behind such an arrangement is in direct contradiction to the ethnic solutions for the surrounding countries.

The best we can hope for, if Bosnia is to remain independent, is a trade of Sandzak for RS. Or possibly a third entity for the Croatians.

If you unify the country, all you’ll end up doing is enabling the nationalists from the Serb and Croat camps to unite to split Bosnia.

Basically the way I look at it is, the Croats wanted to break up Yugoslavia, so they sided with the Muslims to form a majority in Bosnia. Well, now they want to break up Bosnia (their obvious plan all along) so they’ll side with the nationalist Serbs to form a majority.

Yugoslavia is like a fractal, dividing itself endlessly.

Once that process started, its hard to stop.

“I believe Serbia got lucky after the war's in the 1990's”

Sandro, you know as well as I that Croatia benefitted the most. They fought your side for a year and a half with no negative consequences whatsoever, most Westerners don’t even know what they did to Mostar. They even completely cleansed Croatia of Serbs and still, to this day, haven’t allowed them back.

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

When are you british going to stop spreading lies to the world? Get out of our Holy Land!

Let's face reality! Keeping Bosnia together will not last in the long term. Let the muslims start to build their own state. As long as Bosnia looks like this that won't happen. Accept the facts and move on.

Hague & Ashdown.......– "to send a strong signal that neither secession nor violence will be tolerated".

Who in the hell do these two individuals think they are?

I don't know much about Mr. Hague's 'activities' in Bosnia but I surely am aware of all the mayhem and evil wrongdoings which Mr. Ashdown has caused throughout the Balkans.

If the majority of Serbs in Republik Srpska wish to secede, then they have every right to do so. It's that simple.
Watch all the hypocrisy and double standards being shovelled out in the coming weeks regarding 'BiH' by similar Serbophobic cretins as the two aforementioned.

MB,Ireland

Sandro and Matthew,
NEVER again, we Serbs will never live with Bosnian Muslims and Croats in one state. We saved you not once but twice when you fought on the wrong side of both world wars. You lost, we Serbs won, and we forgave you. You took that forgivenss and what did you do you broke up yugoslavia, what millions of Serbs died for.

(Sandro, 31 December 2009 18:36)

It’s amazing that everyone is allowed to leave! Albanians can leave Serbia with Kosovo; Croatia a BiH, Macedonia nd Slovenia left Yugoslavia, but not the Serbs because all hell will break loose and the world will end and time will stop. The Bosniak tactic; the carrot and stick – joy and happiness if we stay, war if we leave.
You see everyone needs the Serbs, but we don’t need any of them. This is the very essence of the EU dilemma. If Serbia does not trade with these new countries then the EU has to bankroll them forever.
However, that time has passed and Yugoslavia is gone, but I know that all the other ethnic groups are regretting this fact; Croats are now celebrating Tito and his achievements. Bosniaks are talking of brotherhood and unity. The Slovenes are sucking up to the Serbs now claiming they had liberated them from the Austro Hungarians and I could go on and on giving examples, but it’s all too late.
There was not luck on Serbia’s side but good leadership that retained the best lands in Serb hands. You’re comparing Hitler and the Serbs, but it was the Bosniaks that sided with the Croats and the Nazis not the Serbs.
Sandro, this is not the 1990s and when the Serbs leave Bosnia it will be without a peep from anyone. There is no “international community” to defend the Croats, Bosniaks or Albanians simply because the power base has shifted and the US is no longer at the top.
If you want to blame anyone then blame Alia Izetbegovic. Libia’s Colonel Gadaffi told the Bosniaks to stay with the Serbs and not venture with the US/EU, but Alia had another agenda and the rest is now history.
Despite asking several times I have never had one person explain to me what it means to join this EU. Is visa free travel that important? Well it will only affect 10% of the population; trade – Serbia traded with the EU before liberalization of the trade agreement. So the politicians are the real beneficiaries, to be paid off by Brussels for talking the Serb people into joining.

“When all the Balkan countries join EU their boarders will be irrelevant, especially amongst Serbia, Croatia, Monte Negro and Bosnia.”

With all due respect Ako, then why the hell did the West actively support the breakup of Yugoslavia if it doesn’t matter?

If being “united” makes borders irrelevant why didn’t Yugoslavia itself solve the regions problems?

If anything having the Balkans in the EU will only make the EU itself unstable.

Ako, where exactly were you in Bosnia? The Federation doesn’t really have any minorities. Only RS is significantly multi-ethnic.

Probably because you didn’t talk to any Serbs so you don’t realize that there exists a great fear of Croatians because of what happened in WWII. You don’t have to be a nationalist to fear them if your family lived in one of the regions near Jasenovac.

so kosovo would also be catastrophic if it gets independent yes are no whats the difference here you westerners just make up stories but republica srpska will be independent in the new year, and like you said the west is broke and busy so it does not matter republica srpska will be free and majority of people in bosnia as a whole are Serbs so whats your point.these people cant live side by side anyway so this is the only way.

"...focus on a single goal: a central government in Bosnia effective enough to meet the responsibilities of EU and NATO membership. Each Bosnian leader should have to stand for, or against, that simple idea – and face consequences for his or her answer."

Of course.
Bosnian leaders should strive to appease EU and NATO - and face consequences if they don't.
Shouldn't they strive to improve lives of oridinary folks, create jobs, rise quality of education, etc..

And if they don't - they should face consequences!

Paddy, Paddy...
At least try to sugar your imperialisam a bit, by pretending that Bosnian leadears should care about people they lead.

“We must impress on Bosnia’s leaders that the sovereignty of the country is unquestionable and its break-up unthinkable,”

Depends a lot on what the ICJ says though doesn’t it? Dayton also mentions the Helsinki final act as the basis for its sovereignty.

“But we must also say to European candidate countries Serbia and Montenegro that they are expected to uphold EU policy towards Bosnia.”

EU policy is status neutral towards Kosovo, yet Croatia and Montenegro recognized the UDI instead of remaining neutral.

“Even the Bosnian Croats increasingly talk of their own entity and a break with their federation with the Bosniaks”

Why shouldn’t the Croats have their own entity? That would certainly solve the stability issue.

“The breakdown of the country into independent ethnic statelets would be catastrophic," Hague and Ashdown wrote.

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe”

How is this any different from the Kosovo\Serbia situation?

“Bosnia will not solve itself, nor will the prospect of EU integration be enough to pull the country back from the brink.”

That’s because the majority of the population, Serbs and Croats NEVER wanted to live in Bosnia. Centralizing the government would only allow these two ethnicities to dominate the Bosniak population.

“a central government in Bosnia effective enough to meet the responsibilities of EU and NATO membership.”

Hold on, why are NATO countries deciding whether the Bosnian citizens want to join a military alliance? Don’t the citizen’s get a vote on whether they want to join the EU either?

The problem I have with EU candidacy is it seems the big Western countries use that as an excuse to force weaker countries to do their bidding.

I hate to say it but Bosnia will disintegrate eventually,just like the artificial state created after WW2 "the former Yugo".

@Sandro-I truly share your pain and hate outside influences that distroyed yugo, the country, where all people of all religion lived in peace together. Now, you know that serbs were main creators of that unity and they tryed desparately to save it with no success. West and muslom countries were too eager to distroy it, and serbs were forced to fight for their existance, because, WW2 was a bitter lesson. So serbs can not trust anyone any more and just want to live their lives in peace from now on. I hope that they learned their lesson truout the history, finally. At least when they all split, then noone can blame other for their failure. It was very sad what happened to Yugo, but serbs were not the reason for its distruction. West did all that and needed to bomb serbs in order to show muslom countries that they attack christian country also when it does not behave to their liking.

The country is less significant because the R.S. has been purged of communists and socialists. That's democracy, assassinating elected officials... something done routinely in the R.S.'s early years by the Western powers.

As for the tragedy - the destruction of yugoslavia was a tragedy in itself. Lets finish the job and stop with the double standards.

We all know that Bosnia is in a Political deadlock. A while ago, Milorad Dodik (PM Republika Srpska) took a miniature Bosnian flag from a conference table (Serbian and Croatian flags were there too) and he threw the flag of Bosnia. This proves that the man cannot even look at the flag, bringing up the question of how can he be a Bosnian Politician if he is so absurd and his behavior shocks many people.

I am a Bosnian Muslim from Tuzla, Muslims and Serbs could live together for a thousand years after all, Muslims are basically Serbians who converted to Islam during the Ottoman control of Bosnia.

Many patriotic and real Bosnians don't want Bosnia to cease and split, but the world isn't perfect.

Radical Nationalism is ruining out great lands, From Belgrade to Zagreb to Sarajevo. Once we were brothers in arms, but those days are long gone, Now we are either a Serb, a Croat or a Muslim.

I would make it my life long dream and goal, to unite the people of former Yugoslavia, because if we put away our differences, we have great similarities.

But yes, there is talk of a disintegration of Bosnia but I don't think anyone would want the split of Bosnia mainly becuase if Serbia did decide to take their share of Bosnia, then the old taunts would come back to the country and it would be bring great consequences. Hitlers Germany was punished to the maximum extent after the war and I believe Serbia got lucky after the war's in the 1990's (Some say Serbia started 4 wars, but I beg to differ).

The best interest in the Serbian peoples and the country is to remain the same, your almost a EU member which is a big step, so congratulations on your process.

Sandro from Tuzla

"Ako, where exactly were you in Bosnia? The Federation doesn’t really have any minorities. Only RS is significantly multi-ethnic."

I was in Banja Luka and Sarajevo. I went to Banjaluka with my sister to visit some of her business partners. It is amazing to see how much companies are interconnected and working together. I saw the first hand an unbelievable trust between company owners.

In Sarajevo, in a building where I have my apartment, still live at least 10 serbian families. I spoke and visit some of them. I would always have a gift for cika Djuru, cika Miladina i teta Daru. There is no single reason in my mind that these people couldn't live together any more...

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see an economic boom in RS as some of the B92 posters very often write about. No economic boom in the Federation either but no bankruptcy neither. If you follow news from Bosnia you'd have heard by now that the most profitable companies (not privitized) are BH Telecom and Elektroprivreda BIH with multimillion dollar profit.

A very Happy New Year to everone!!!

When all the Balkan countries join EU their boarders will be irrelevant, especially amongst Serbia, Croatia, Monte Negro and Bosnia. Economy will integrate these people as will art and sport. When I was in Bosnia this summer I saw that people there wanted to live and work together and only the nationalists on all sides have been actively preventing it to conceal their criminal and corruption activities creating an illusion that there was a chaos. A solution would be NOT to vote for the current politicians (Dodik, Silajdzic, Covic...) during next elections.

Mr William Hague - why Yugoslavia disintegration was not "catastrophy" for Europe and Europe with enthusiasm support this disintegration??
Mr William Hague - why disintegration of Serbia (pseudoindependence of Kosovo) is not "catastrophy" for most of UE countries incl. United Kingdom?? Your government support secession of part of Serbia.

So?? Where is logic in Your words?? Why in Your opinion Republika Srpska can't be independent state, but Kosovo can??
Hypocrisy?? Misunderstanding?? Fatuity??

A very Happy New Year to everone!!!
(Ako, 1 January 2010 19:55)

You only see what you want to see and nothing else. All the Bosniaks say the same, heaven on earth if you stay in Bosnia but hell if you leave. How about you guys standing on your own two feet and stop asking the Serbs to prop you up all the time. You live with your Croat brothers in peace and show us Serbs that we were wrong and then we can all have a happy new year.

Bosnia disintegration would NOT be catastrophic - it would be a fair, sensible and progressive thing if it were to happen and I believe it will happen soon.
I feel it is the likes of Ashdown and Hague and other 'Universals' who wish to turn BiH into a centralised muslim state.
(I use the term 'Universals' rather than 'Internationals' here, as some of these political prigs don't know what planet they are on or even from).
The problem for them is that due to having accepted 'brown envelopes' in the past, they are now caught by the 'short and curlies' when their sordid antics become exposed.

I see an interesting year ahead in 2010 in BiH. Let's hope that common sense will prevail and that the 3 ethnic peoples concerned will be allowed to choose their own separate destinies.
Forced integration is an abomination.

MB,Ireland

Exactly Mr Hague and Mr Ashdown, it is nobody's interest to break this country. Int. community knows that Bosnia is a just cause to fight for and they will. NATO is in Bosnia, and they won't allow a destruction of the country before their eyes. But more importantly, patriotic Bosnian people of all ethnicity and religions won't allow this to happen either.

Tadic also keeps saying that the national interest of Serbia is united BIH. Is this true? Yes. He doesn't like to destroy Serbia because of Republica Srpska.

So, keeping the status-quo with small Constitutional changes to make the state functional is the best option for everyone but the nationalists, like Dodik, who just want to conceal their criminal and corruption activities.

As a Croat from Mostar I'm sick to death of this "fake state" that continues to function. The only person who actually thinks BiH is running smoothly is alleged war criminal Haris Salajdzic. We Croats were forced into this so called federation( Oluja 4 Federation ) what choice did we have.......

"Economic boom" in the RS? I've never read that, rather that it has carried out much more privatization, has garnered significant foreign investment and its economy is on a much sounder footing that BiH, despite previously facing numerous sanctions and has received no free money from Brussels nor has it faced bankruptcy and default as the Federation did last year (before its bailout).

The official statistics for the RS (as accepted by the WB & IMF) are somewhat better than the rest of BiH.

Isn't a big question whether that once you are out of the major population centers, what the quality of life is like in the smaller towns and provinces?

I'm not surprised by the business links though. Prrof enough in Brcko. Where there's money to be made there is always a will.

There was plenty of very good small business though in the SFRY, pity about the larger ones (I won't mention Agrokomerc or the botched export of Yugos to the States etc.).

Exactly Mr Hague and Mr Ashdown, it is nobody's interest to break this country. Int. community knows that Bosnia is a just cause to fight for and they will. NATO is in Bosnia, and they won't allow a destruction of the country before their eyes. But more importantly, patriotic Bosnian people of all ethnicity and religions won't allow this to happen either.

Tadic also keeps saying that the national interest of Serbia is united BIH. Is this true? Yes. He doesn't like to destroy Serbia because of Republica Srpska.

So, keeping the status-quo with small Constitutional changes to make the state functional is the best option for everyone but the nationalists, like Dodik, who just want to conceal their criminal and corruption activities.

I hate to say it but Bosnia will disintegrate eventually,just like the artificial state created after WW2 "the former Yugo".

What exactly is the problem in BiH? Is it that RS is prospering while the Muslim Croat federation is bankrupt? The Western planners have failed yet again as they have in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. These people lack the basic skill of understanding and instead continually get it wrong and demand another flawed solution. It is the West that broke Bosnia in the first place and Serbians are having no more of this incompetence.

Ethnic cleansing has already been rewarded in both Croatia and Kosovo so that argument does not stick with Serbians. BiH will cease to exist before we join NATO. These people never learn, we do not bow to emperialists.

Here we go again with all the lies that caused this problem in the first place, such as concentration camps and mass graves. Concentration camps? During the 1990s the use of this term was intended to evoke emotion by pretending that Serbs were like Hitler, throwing people into ovens. We all know now that this never happened. While people were concentrated in areas, and many people died, there were no concentration camps of the type the Nazis used. This was a ploy by the Muslims to win the hearts of soft-minded good Americans, who incidentally became war mongers when it came to bombing Serbia. It worked, didn't it? I was fortunate to confront one of these softies in the US one day when this lady asked me to protest US involvement in Iraq. She spoke of innocent people being killed. I retorted, "where were you when the US bombed Serbian civilians?" I told her if the US had something against Milosevic and the army, why didn't they stick to military targets? Why did they go after civilian targets?" Her response was, "we dropped the ball on that one." I agree, stupidity cannot be excused.
Too bad for these Brits, nobody cares about Bosnia any more. For those of you whom don't know much about Americans, we are fad people. Bosnia was a fad that made people feel good for a few months. Once the fad was over, people turned their attention elsewhere. Franky, if you asked most young Americans about Bosnia, most wouldn't know what Bosnia is. Bosnia will break apart and the Muslim remainder will be a threat to Europe, but it won't be Republica Srpska's fault, for they didn't create this failed state. The blame will fall squarely upon the shoulders of the Western Europeans whom created it.

When all the Balkan countries join EU their boarders will be irrelevant, especially amongst Serbia, Croatia, Monte Negro and Bosnia. Economy will integrate these people as will art and sport. When I was in Bosnia this summer I saw that people there wanted to live and work together and only the nationalists on all sides have been actively preventing it to conceal their criminal and corruption activities creating an illusion that there was a chaos. A solution would be NOT to vote for the current politicians (Dodik, Silajdzic, Covic...) during next elections.

We all know that Bosnia is in a Political deadlock. A while ago, Milorad Dodik (PM Republika Srpska) took a miniature Bosnian flag from a conference table (Serbian and Croatian flags were there too) and he threw the flag of Bosnia. This proves that the man cannot even look at the flag, bringing up the question of how can he be a Bosnian Politician if he is so absurd and his behavior shocks many people.

I am a Bosnian Muslim from Tuzla, Muslims and Serbs could live together for a thousand years after all, Muslims are basically Serbians who converted to Islam during the Ottoman control of Bosnia.

Many patriotic and real Bosnians don't want Bosnia to cease and split, but the world isn't perfect.

Radical Nationalism is ruining out great lands, From Belgrade to Zagreb to Sarajevo. Once we were brothers in arms, but those days are long gone, Now we are either a Serb, a Croat or a Muslim.

I would make it my life long dream and goal, to unite the people of former Yugoslavia, because if we put away our differences, we have great similarities.

But yes, there is talk of a disintegration of Bosnia but I don't think anyone would want the split of Bosnia mainly becuase if Serbia did decide to take their share of Bosnia, then the old taunts would come back to the country and it would be bring great consequences. Hitlers Germany was punished to the maximum extent after the war and I believe Serbia got lucky after the war's in the 1990's (Some say Serbia started 4 wars, but I beg to differ).

The best interest in the Serbian peoples and the country is to remain the same, your almost a EU member which is a big step, so congratulations on your process.

Sandro from Tuzla

Who is going to drive this called message home to the Serbs that refuse to financially support Bosnia? That’s the essence of the problem and nothing else! If RS leaves Bosnia then the EU has another financial crises on its hands, just like Kosovo. I have said many times that the west does not have a blessed a clue what it’s doing, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq and the list goes on and on.

“A robust international approach should focus on a single goal: a central government in Bosnia effective enough to meet the responsibilities of EU and NATO membership. Each Bosnian leader should have to stand for, or against, that simple idea – and face consequences for his or her answer."

This statement is a pipe dream and it show just how far out of touch Ashdown is with reality. Where is the driving force coming from to achieve this goal? NATO is being whipped to a standstill in Afghanistan with western losses mounting each day and in NATO’s haste to show progress its bombing innocent civilians then claiming they were Taliban fighters. This only increases the hatred of foreigners and pushes the locals to the Taliban.
NATO only wants more fresh meat for the Afghanistan grinder. I have just today learnt from a very reliable source that NATO is in serious trouble there and that they are losing many more “assets” than disclosed in the media.

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; a fertile breeding ground for terrorism and crime, and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

Ah! Now you get to the nub of the problem. It’s not ethnic cleansing, to which you turned a blind eye in Kosovo, but hold a high moral ground in Bosnia, it the breeding of terrorism and crime to a lesser extent. But then you try and disguise the real concern by claiming that it’s also a betrayal of those that survived concentration camps, mass graves etc.
Paddy my dear lad, it’s far, far, too late. The horse has bolted and there is nothing you or your allies can do – Bosnia is “a dead man walking” and the kindest thing would be to announce the final date and bury the idea of one Bosnia.

Those that created the mess from the outside are now fearing the outcome almost 18 years too late. Fear of the inevitable, is fear of reality. The reality is, BiH will disintigrate...its just a matter of time.

Sandro and Matthew,
NEVER again, we Serbs will never live with Bosnian Muslims and Croats in one state. We saved you not once but twice when you fought on the wrong side of both world wars. You lost, we Serbs won, and we forgave you. You took that forgivenss and what did you do you broke up yugoslavia, what millions of Serbs died for.

US n UK r still pretend they can push little countries around, even though they're own countires are finacially bankrupt. Once this new world ends Bosnia will collapse and Kosovo will be avenged

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; a fertile breeding ground for terrorism and crime, and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

What a disgusting statement, full of lies and anti-Serb propoganda.
First of all, Ashdown and his 'humanitarian bomber' imperialist brigade recognize ethnic cleansing all the time. They recognized the Croats' cleansing of Krajina, and in fact planned and helped them militarily achieve this - this is genocide.
Also, Kosovo was built on decades, actually centuries, of ethnic cleansing of Serbs, and the they recognized it. He refers to creating failed states in the middle of Europe, well Kosovo is a perfect example! As for fertile breeding grounds for terrorism, that is exactly what Kosovo is. Not only that, it was Al Qaeda who sent money and soldiers to Bosnia to fight for Islam, and Ashdown/Clinton knew about this and supported it. Furthermore, Ashdown has the gall to mention concentration camps, when in fact Serbs suffered at the worst one of all - Jasenovac. What Ashdown is doing is something equivalent to calling a Jew a Nazi - accusing the Serbs of genocide when in fact the Serbs are the ones who suffered many genocides.
So please shut it Ashdown, nobody is listening to your anti-Serb racist rants. Republika Srpska is already independent, and it will be official soon. Russia is no longer on her knees and you will not be able to do anything about it when she joins Serbia.
Cheers!!

"would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe"

They must be joking. What is B-H now? A success?

Ashdown is a failed middle ranking UK politician who was once the imposed High representative in "Bosnia". What he says matters little as he took sides with the Federation Politicians against the RS and indeed the Serbian people, amazingly he still talks of ethnic cleansing well the RS is 90% Serb populated the Federation contains 2% Serbs go look at Sarajevo it isn,t very European is it Mr Ashdown?.Look also at Mostar a fine example of tolerance and co-existance NOT!. Bosnia cannot be the mini version of Yugoslavia which the US,Germany(Genser) destroyed. Why should we embrace a country that was created by Nato bombs, why should we embrace an islamic Federation in all but name.Let this monster have a natural end, we Serbs and indeed Croats have had enough..of outsiders talking about bratsvo i jedinstvo, which in any case doesn,t exist anywhere but in Ashdowns imagination..

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

When are you british going to stop spreading lies to the world? Get out of our Holy Land!

yeah, right, i´m also "shivering" about the official end of socalled "bosnia" (after 12 years no more bosnia existing).

and it will be like with the anti-russia missile shield or a lighter georgia with nato-compatible borders: nothing at all will happen, as a constructive behaviour of america ensures economic and development help for the "superpower" ...

Hague & Ashdown.......– "to send a strong signal that neither secession nor violence will be tolerated".

Who in the hell do these two individuals think they are?

I don't know much about Mr. Hague's 'activities' in Bosnia but I surely am aware of all the mayhem and evil wrongdoings which Mr. Ashdown has caused throughout the Balkans.

If the majority of Serbs in Republik Srpska wish to secede, then they have every right to do so. It's that simple.
Watch all the hypocrisy and double standards being shovelled out in the coming weeks regarding 'BiH' by similar Serbophobic cretins as the two aforementioned.

MB,Ireland

(Sandro, 31 December 2009 18:36)

It’s amazing that everyone is allowed to leave! Albanians can leave Serbia with Kosovo; Croatia a BiH, Macedonia nd Slovenia left Yugoslavia, but not the Serbs because all hell will break loose and the world will end and time will stop. The Bosniak tactic; the carrot and stick – joy and happiness if we stay, war if we leave.
You see everyone needs the Serbs, but we don’t need any of them. This is the very essence of the EU dilemma. If Serbia does not trade with these new countries then the EU has to bankroll them forever.
However, that time has passed and Yugoslavia is gone, but I know that all the other ethnic groups are regretting this fact; Croats are now celebrating Tito and his achievements. Bosniaks are talking of brotherhood and unity. The Slovenes are sucking up to the Serbs now claiming they had liberated them from the Austro Hungarians and I could go on and on giving examples, but it’s all too late.
There was not luck on Serbia’s side but good leadership that retained the best lands in Serb hands. You’re comparing Hitler and the Serbs, but it was the Bosniaks that sided with the Croats and the Nazis not the Serbs.
Sandro, this is not the 1990s and when the Serbs leave Bosnia it will be without a peep from anyone. There is no “international community” to defend the Croats, Bosniaks or Albanians simply because the power base has shifted and the US is no longer at the top.
If you want to blame anyone then blame Alia Izetbegovic. Libia’s Colonel Gadaffi told the Bosniaks to stay with the Serbs and not venture with the US/EU, but Alia had another agenda and the rest is now history.
Despite asking several times I have never had one person explain to me what it means to join this EU. Is visa free travel that important? Well it will only affect 10% of the population; trade – Serbia traded with the EU before liberalization of the trade agreement. So the politicians are the real beneficiaries, to be paid off by Brussels for talking the Serb people into joining.

"“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; a fertile breeding ground for terrorism and crime, and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

I believe Ashdown is referring to Kosovo?

Hold on mr Ashdown, No NATO membership until both entities in Bosnia have voted in favor of it. And I strongly suspect that RS will vote against it, so you will continue to find cannon fudder for Afghanistan from the poorer parts of Wales, England and Scotland, so called Great Britain... No serbs from neither RS nor Serbia will join a criminal organisation called NATO to support a war already lost in Afghanistan.

“When all the Balkan countries join EU their boarders will be irrelevant, especially amongst Serbia, Croatia, Monte Negro and Bosnia.”

With all due respect Ako, then why the hell did the West actively support the breakup of Yugoslavia if it doesn’t matter?

If being “united” makes borders irrelevant why didn’t Yugoslavia itself solve the regions problems?

If anything having the Balkans in the EU will only make the EU itself unstable.

Ako, where exactly were you in Bosnia? The Federation doesn’t really have any minorities. Only RS is significantly multi-ethnic.

Probably because you didn’t talk to any Serbs so you don’t realize that there exists a great fear of Croatians because of what happened in WWII. You don’t have to be a nationalist to fear them if your family lived in one of the regions near Jasenovac.

so kosovo would also be catastrophic if it gets independent yes are no whats the difference here you westerners just make up stories but republica srpska will be independent in the new year, and like you said the west is broke and busy so it does not matter republica srpska will be free and majority of people in bosnia as a whole are Serbs so whats your point.these people cant live side by side anyway so this is the only way.

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe; a fertile breeding ground for terrorism and crime, and a monstrous betrayal of all those who survived the concentration camps, mass graves and displacement of the 1990s."

I have a hunch that this "failed state" that they allude to should Bosnia fall apart refers to the Federation part and not Srpska. I am open to being corrected on this point.

These people make no sense. Why is the solution to Bosnias problems to take all power away from Serbs? That would be good for Bosnia? These people are so dumb. The issue is that Bosnia has no rationale for existing. They need to stop trying to create a fantasy Balkan Switzerland.

Sandro from Tuzla,

You know, a lot of us Serbs really did like Yugoslavia and everything that came with it.

I think you’re making more of an argument for the whole of Bosnia to join Serbia, which would bring solid stability.

Creating a “mini-yugoslavia” that doesn’t include all the Southern Slavs is really just a recipe for disaster. Especially when the logic behind such an arrangement is in direct contradiction to the ethnic solutions for the surrounding countries.

The best we can hope for, if Bosnia is to remain independent, is a trade of Sandzak for RS. Or possibly a third entity for the Croatians.

If you unify the country, all you’ll end up doing is enabling the nationalists from the Serb and Croat camps to unite to split Bosnia.

Basically the way I look at it is, the Croats wanted to break up Yugoslavia, so they sided with the Muslims to form a majority in Bosnia. Well, now they want to break up Bosnia (their obvious plan all along) so they’ll side with the nationalist Serbs to form a majority.

Yugoslavia is like a fractal, dividing itself endlessly.

Once that process started, its hard to stop.

“I believe Serbia got lucky after the war's in the 1990's”

Sandro, you know as well as I that Croatia benefitted the most. They fought your side for a year and a half with no negative consequences whatsoever, most Westerners don’t even know what they did to Mostar. They even completely cleansed Croatia of Serbs and still, to this day, haven’t allowed them back.

Bosnia is gone.

There will be three small states of Bosnia. A Croat one, a muslim one and a Serb one.

After a couple of years the Croat part will join Croatia and the Serb part will join Serbia. Bosnia as we know today will not exist but a smaller muslim Bosnia will exist. I think it is better for all parties because they can't live together and they don't even wish to live together.

Let's face reality! Keeping Bosnia together will not last in the long term. Let the muslims start to build their own state. As long as Bosnia looks like this that won't happen. Accept the facts and move on.

Excellent points Zoran.

I think at this point Bosnia exists only in the minds of certain Western officials and possibly Mesic and Siladzic. Other than that, every aspect of day to day life revolves around local politics in RS and Federacija. In the same way those in favor of Kosovo's statehood argue that the institutional mechanisms for self rule are already in place and irreversible, the same must be said for Bosnia, particularly RS.

Mesic, Tadic, and others can officially proclaim the territorial integrity of Bosnia, but does anyone really doubt that if Serbia is ever forced to acquiesce on Kosovo that it's going to push for breaking up Bosnia too? Does anyone doubt Zagreb will be pushing for a Croatian entity apart from the Bosnian Muslim entity?

The only way to keep Bosnia whole is to keep all other states whole. A unified Bosnia means a unified Serbia and a unified Georgia. Carving up one invariably facilitates conditions for carving up of others.

@Sandro-I truly share your pain and hate outside influences that distroyed yugo, the country, where all people of all religion lived in peace together. Now, you know that serbs were main creators of that unity and they tryed desparately to save it with no success. West and muslom countries were too eager to distroy it, and serbs were forced to fight for their existance, because, WW2 was a bitter lesson. So serbs can not trust anyone any more and just want to live their lives in peace from now on. I hope that they learned their lesson truout the history, finally. At least when they all split, then noone can blame other for their failure. It was very sad what happened to Yugo, but serbs were not the reason for its distruction. West did all that and needed to bomb serbs in order to show muslom countries that they attack christian country also when it does not behave to their liking.

"Ako, where exactly were you in Bosnia? The Federation doesn’t really have any minorities. Only RS is significantly multi-ethnic."

I was in Banja Luka and Sarajevo. I went to Banjaluka with my sister to visit some of her business partners. It is amazing to see how much companies are interconnected and working together. I saw the first hand an unbelievable trust between company owners.

In Sarajevo, in a building where I have my apartment, still live at least 10 serbian families. I spoke and visit some of them. I would always have a gift for cika Djuru, cika Miladina i teta Daru. There is no single reason in my mind that these people couldn't live together any more...

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see an economic boom in RS as some of the B92 posters very often write about. No economic boom in the Federation either but no bankruptcy neither. If you follow news from Bosnia you'd have heard by now that the most profitable companies (not privitized) are BH Telecom and Elektroprivreda BIH with multimillion dollar profit.

A very Happy New Year to everone!!!

"...focus on a single goal: a central government in Bosnia effective enough to meet the responsibilities of EU and NATO membership. Each Bosnian leader should have to stand for, or against, that simple idea – and face consequences for his or her answer."

Of course.
Bosnian leaders should strive to appease EU and NATO - and face consequences if they don't.
Shouldn't they strive to improve lives of oridinary folks, create jobs, rise quality of education, etc..

And if they don't - they should face consequences!

Paddy, Paddy...
At least try to sugar your imperialisam a bit, by pretending that Bosnian leadears should care about people they lead.

The good news is that Paddy Ashdown and his other International Crisis Group friends who wrote this piece are being regarded as Cassandras by the policy makers.

This piece really does demonstrate how out of favor (and influence) Paddy and the ICG are. They are proposing nothing new.

Paddy's own attempts during his time as Bosnian Viceroy and sanctioning and molding the RS to his beliefs have totally failed so his arguments of 'more of the same' is seen by current policy makers as heaping failure upon failure, except this time there is no convenient excuse that can be used to remove Dodik and the whole political cadre within the RS.

I suppose he (and others) consider it a version of the 'white man's burden', bringing civilization and peace to heathens and barbarians. This of course is but a fig leaf for carrying out illegal and non-democratic actions against democratically elected leaders.

At the base of this argument seems to be the following belief, Sarajevo is incapable of holding itself together (let alone the rest of Bosnia) and the answer is to destroy the Serbs to buy some time.

Rather than insisting on his protoges in Sarajevo to stop stealing from their citizens and actually have a viable economic policy that provides jobs, investment, healthcare, education etc. he and his co-authors have in effect themselves become bosnian nationalists.

The answer is simple. It's the economy stupid. If you refuse to deal with the basic needs and aspirations of the people, then nationalism and radical actions look all the more attractive, especially when your neighbors are better off even if it is through their own efforts.

To divert attention away from its own disastrous domestic economic policy, Sarajevo blames everyone but themselves, useful idiots like Ashdown and the ICG always ready to provide a helping hand.

“We must impress on Bosnia’s leaders that the sovereignty of the country is unquestionable and its break-up unthinkable,”

Depends a lot on what the ICJ says though doesn’t it? Dayton also mentions the Helsinki final act as the basis for its sovereignty.

“But we must also say to European candidate countries Serbia and Montenegro that they are expected to uphold EU policy towards Bosnia.”

EU policy is status neutral towards Kosovo, yet Croatia and Montenegro recognized the UDI instead of remaining neutral.

“Even the Bosnian Croats increasingly talk of their own entity and a break with their federation with the Bosniaks”

Why shouldn’t the Croats have their own entity? That would certainly solve the stability issue.

“The breakdown of the country into independent ethnic statelets would be catastrophic," Hague and Ashdown wrote.

“It would not only reward ethnic cleansing – surely a moral anathema – but would also risk the creation of a failed state in the heart of Europe”

How is this any different from the Kosovo\Serbia situation?

“Bosnia will not solve itself, nor will the prospect of EU integration be enough to pull the country back from the brink.”

That’s because the majority of the population, Serbs and Croats NEVER wanted to live in Bosnia. Centralizing the government would only allow these two ethnicities to dominate the Bosniak population.

“a central government in Bosnia effective enough to meet the responsibilities of EU and NATO membership.”

Hold on, why are NATO countries deciding whether the Bosnian citizens want to join a military alliance? Don’t the citizen’s get a vote on whether they want to join the EU either?

The problem I have with EU candidacy is it seems the big Western countries use that as an excuse to force weaker countries to do their bidding.

The country is less significant because the R.S. has been purged of communists and socialists. That's democracy, assassinating elected officials... something done routinely in the R.S.'s early years by the Western powers.

As for the tragedy - the destruction of yugoslavia was a tragedy in itself. Lets finish the job and stop with the double standards.

Hague and Ashdown say that 'The breakdown of the country into independent ethnic statelets would be catastrophic...'

True, but isn't that exactly what the West so willingly did to Yugoslavia back in 1991-92, knowing full well that it would lead to a catastrophe, and using the specious argument that Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks cannot coexist in Yugoslavia, but must do so in Bosnia Herzegovina?

This is breathtaking hypocrisy writ large.

Bosnia Herzegovina is the heart of Yugoslavia. And a heart without a body is useless.

A very Happy New Year to everone!!!
(Ako, 1 January 2010 19:55)

You only see what you want to see and nothing else. All the Bosniaks say the same, heaven on earth if you stay in Bosnia but hell if you leave. How about you guys standing on your own two feet and stop asking the Serbs to prop you up all the time. You live with your Croat brothers in peace and show us Serbs that we were wrong and then we can all have a happy new year.

As a Croat from Mostar I'm sick to death of this "fake state" that continues to function. The only person who actually thinks BiH is running smoothly is alleged war criminal Haris Salajdzic. We Croats were forced into this so called federation( Oluja 4 Federation ) what choice did we have.......

Bosnia disintegration would NOT be catastrophic - it would be a fair, sensible and progressive thing if it were to happen and I believe it will happen soon.
I feel it is the likes of Ashdown and Hague and other 'Universals' who wish to turn BiH into a centralised muslim state.
(I use the term 'Universals' rather than 'Internationals' here, as some of these political prigs don't know what planet they are on or even from).
The problem for them is that due to having accepted 'brown envelopes' in the past, they are now caught by the 'short and curlies' when their sordid antics become exposed.

I see an interesting year ahead in 2010 in BiH. Let's hope that common sense will prevail and that the 3 ethnic peoples concerned will be allowed to choose their own separate destinies.
Forced integration is an abomination.

MB,Ireland

"Economic boom" in the RS? I've never read that, rather that it has carried out much more privatization, has garnered significant foreign investment and its economy is on a much sounder footing that BiH, despite previously facing numerous sanctions and has received no free money from Brussels nor has it faced bankruptcy and default as the Federation did last year (before its bailout).

The official statistics for the RS (as accepted by the WB & IMF) are somewhat better than the rest of BiH.

Isn't a big question whether that once you are out of the major population centers, what the quality of life is like in the smaller towns and provinces?

I'm not surprised by the business links though. Prrof enough in Brcko. Where there's money to be made there is always a will.

There was plenty of very good small business though in the SFRY, pity about the larger ones (I won't mention Agrokomerc or the botched export of Yugos to the States etc.).

Mr William Hague - why Yugoslavia disintegration was not "catastrophy" for Europe and Europe with enthusiasm support this disintegration??
Mr William Hague - why disintegration of Serbia (pseudoindependence of Kosovo) is not "catastrophy" for most of UE countries incl. United Kingdom?? Your government support secession of part of Serbia.

So?? Where is logic in Your words?? Why in Your opinion Republika Srpska can't be independent state, but Kosovo can??
Hypocrisy?? Misunderstanding?? Fatuity??