Strategic Culture
No sooner did superficial observers surmise that last year’s painful and divisive commotion over the apparent murder in March of 2018 of the obscure 21-year-old David Dragičević finally subside, then on April 23 another assassination, this time of businessman Slavko Krunić, a slightly more prominent figure, again grabbed the headlines in the Republika Srpska. For those who are not particularly keen on following affairs in that off the beaten path but strategic corner of Europe, some background may be useful.
David was apparently murdered last year as the October 2018 electoral campaign was heating up, and his lifeless body was found lying in a ditch near Republika Srpska’s capital of Banja Luka. The stakes in the murder were considerable, if you were observing the process from the Western point of view. President Milorad Dodik, Putin’s friend and therefore bête noire to Western chancelleries and intelligence services, could not constitutionally run for re-election. But rather than retire, he had the effrontery to declare his candidacy for Serb member of the Presidency of his entity’s umbrella state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
To understand how outrageously that plan must have resonated in Brussels and Washington (not to mention London) it suffices to point out that over the years Dodik has been viciously denounced by those very circles as the gravedigger of the unified Bosnian state. He was charged with the egregious offence of asserting Republika Srpska’s prerogatives under the country’s constitution. Dodik had therefore to be thwarted at any cost. The tragic death of poor David, whether contrived or not, was a literal godsend to the Gene Sharp brigade, which sprang into action forthwith.
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No sooner did superficial observers surmise that last year’s painful and divisive commotion over the apparent murder in March of 2018 of the obscure 21-year-old David Dragičević finally subside, then on April 23 another assassination, this time of businessman Slavko Krunić, a slightly more prominent figure, again grabbed the headlines in the Republika Srpska. For those who are not particularly keen on following affairs in that off the beaten path but strategic corner of Europe, some background may be useful.
David was apparently murdered last year as the October 2018 electoral campaign was heating up, and his lifeless body was found lying in a ditch near Republika Srpska’s capital of Banja Luka. The stakes in the murder were considerable, if you were observing the process from the Western point of view. President Milorad Dodik, Putin’s friend and therefore bête noire to Western chancelleries and intelligence services, could not constitutionally run for re-election. But rather than retire, he had the effrontery to declare his candidacy for Serb member of the Presidency of his entity’s umbrella state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
To understand how outrageously that plan must have resonated in Brussels and Washington (not to mention London) it suffices to point out that over the years Dodik has been viciously denounced by those very circles as the gravedigger of the unified Bosnian state. He was charged with the egregious offence of asserting Republika Srpska’s prerogatives under the country’s constitution. Dodik had therefore to be thwarted at any cost. The tragic death of poor David, whether contrived or not, was a literal godsend to the Gene Sharp brigade, which sprang into action forthwith.
Read more
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