Bosnia update

TOL has a decent article about the latest government crisis in Bosnia. However, I feel it also illustrates a number of the problems one encounters in reporting Bosnia. Perhaps I am biased because when I lived there it was in Banja Luka rather than Sarajevo, and happen to know all the Serb politicians mentioned – Ivanić, Dokić, Trisić-Babić, Dodik. But it has always seemed to me that the internal politics of the Bosnian Serbs are a fascinating and totally under-reported story, and this article does little to shed any more light.

Fully half of the article is an interview with Sarajevo-based opposition leader Zlatko Lagumdžija, someone whom I do respect, but who is not himself directly involved with the current crisis. Tanja Topić, who was always a pretty good analyst of what was going on, does make interesting predictions about the likely future behaviour of the Serb politicians but gets only one paragraph to do so. Another Sarajevo-based political scientist is interviewed about the internal dynamics of the RS, and takes refuge in conspiracy theories (presumably because he knows nothing about the topic).

I don’t think I’ve seen any decent English-language reporting from Banja Luka since the disappearance of the Alternative Information Network. No doubt the recent death of Perica Vučinić will mean we have to wait even longer.

One thought on “Bosnia update

  1. I think the moment in Muppet Treasure Island when Piggy and Kermit are singing their love song to one another, dangling from a rope which is fraying, is one of the most hysterical things I’ve ever seen. Reduces me to tears of laughter, it does. 🙂

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