I wish people who write this would take the time to read what we write on the Herceg-Bosna forum.

What Lord Ashdown (Lord Pedi Ešdaun) fails to realize is that the current setup for Bosnia-Herzegovina is completely unworkable for the long term. What we have is Muslim centralization and Serb separatism as the two forces in Bosnia. These two forces are extreme and will lead to a dissolution of the state. If the EU wants to keep the country in its current shape they will have to reform it to a decentralized model where all ethnic groups have a piece of non-contiguous territory. It would keep Serb separatism in check and Muslim centralization in check too. I am not saying either side will like, especially that the Croats would stand to gain, it but if you don't put these two forces in check the country will be doomed to collapse.

Fresh Bosnia bloodshed risk warning

Bosnia and Herzegovina is at risk of a return to bloodshed amid a "depressing dynamic back towards dissolution", former high representative to the country Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon has warned.

His comments follow the parliament of Bosnia's Serb-dominated region, the Republic of Srpska, last month calling for a referendum questioning the legality of decisions made by the present high representative.

Lord Ashdown told peers at question time: "The plans by the president of the Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, to hold a referendum is clearly against the provisions of the Dayton agreement and confirm the country's depressing dynamic back towards dissolution.

"Given the country would be very unlikely to go through dissolution without returning to bloodshed, will the Government give us their assurance that they would be prepared to use every means possible to protect the territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and to act against those who would seek to put it at jeopardy?"

Foreign Office minister Lord Howell of Guildford replied: "Will I give the assurance? Yes, I certainly will. We will if necessary argue for the European Union to deploy fully all incentives and deterrents at its disposal and we will use all pressures available to us to ensure that what looks like a blatant and very clear attempt to contravene the Dayton agreement by the Republic of Srpska and by its leader are being put forward.

"These are developments which we are determined to see resisted. We don't want to see the territorial integrity of the structure of the Bosnian state undermined as it would be if these kind of proposals are pursued."

Source: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/ ... 53387.html

Here's another article.

Which reminds me: Hey Lord Ashdown, here's an idea - if you wanted to keep Serbian nationalism at bay then the West should have not allowed the creation of the Republic of Srpska, especially since the Serbs could have been militarily defeated in 1995.

I agree the EU in general prefers to avoid crisis. They wanted to keep Yugo-slave-ia in on piece in the 1990s and their predecessors sacrificed Czechoslovakia to Hitler in the hopes of avoiding war so there really is nothing new under the sun.

This ultimately does not help Bosnia because as recent history has shown when the central powers governing Bosnia weaken then the whole thing blows up, like for example the Croatian-led Herzegovinian Uprising against the Ottomans in 1875. The Serbian "Black Hand" in 1914 removed the Austrians from Bosnia. Not to mention the chetnik carnage in the 1990s when Bosnia failed to become a state after the centralizing force of Yugo-slave-ia fell apart.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... fears.html

Bloodshed to return to Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown fears

The European Union is failing to confront a new breed of Bosnian Serb nationalists and unless it does so bloodshed will return to Bosnia, Paddy Ashdown has warned.

By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels 6:09PM BST 27 May 2011

Lord Ashdown, the former international high representative for Bosnia, between 2002 and 2006, has told The Daily Telegraph that mounting Bosnian Serb pressure to break up the multi-ethnic state threatens to plunge the region into a new conflict.

The Liberal Democrat statesman, credited with a key role in putting Bosnia on its feet after the war, added his voice to growing criticism of Baroness Ashton and a "less than competent" EU deal last week with Serb separatists.

It is the first time that Lord Ashdown has predicted that conflict could return to a region devastated by war crimes and ethnic cleansing during the 1990s, reflecting growing diplomatic pessimism about Bosnia and Herzegovina's future.

"For 10 years Bosnia was the poster boy for international relations, making steady and sometimes miraculous progress towards statehood, capable of joining the EU and Nato," he said.

"For the last five years the dynamic in Bosnia has reversed itself. The centripetal forces have become centrifugal ones. The dynamic is now moving in the wrong direction. I think if that dynamic is not reversed then Bosnia is moving towards separation and that cannot be done without more blood. I think the situation is now very poor. I don't say that conflict is around the corner – because it's not. But whereas even a few months ago I would have said we cannot get to conflict, I would not say that now."

European diplomats have revealed that a "livid" Lord Ashdown phoned Lady Ashton last week to relay his fury over the EU's decision to cut a deal with the current leader of the Bosnian Serbs.

"It is a hostage to fortune that may cost us more in the long run," he said. "I think it was bought at a price which we shouldn't have paid."

Milorad Dodik, the president of the Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb part of the federal Bosnian state, had threatened to hold a referendum challenging Bosnia's multi-ethnic judicial system.

Mr Dodik, who accuses the West of exaggerating the Srebrenica massacre and who denies that Bosnian Serbs, such as Ratko Maladic carried out genocide, is suspected by most EU diplomats of seeking the break-up of Bosnia.

The judicial vote, set for June, would have directly challenged the existence of Bosnia which in 1995, in the aftermath of war, bound together the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina with the Serb Republika Srpska.

Under the deal, brokered by Lady Ashton, the EU foreign minister, the referendum was dropped in return for negotiations with the Bosnian Serbs on the future of judicial institutions in Bosnia, to take place in the summer.

Lord Ashdown, 70, believes that the EU should have used powers given to it and the UN after the Bosnian conflict 16 years ago to overrule Mr Dodik, including the use of sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans against him if he resisted.

"The EU has always preferred the path of the short term, anything to avoid a crisis rather than facing up to the issues," he said. "I think the effect has been to enhance the status of the person, Dodik, who is leading the process of breaking up Bosnia and diminishing the standing of the EU and its foreign minister."

Excellent.

Paddy never mentions BH Croats in his interviews.

Fuck Ashdown and fuck the British. These people are entirely hostile to Catholics and to continental Europe as a whole unless they agree to their dictates.

All the more reason for us to take the fight to them and make sure that our opinion is heard. That is why we have been trying to post thematic topics on the English language forum such as the thread for the Croatian entity. I have more to ad to that discussion...