DRAGIČEVIĆ: WHEN SOMEONE THEY QUALIY IRRELEVANT BECOMES THE ONLY TOPIC, PROBLEM IS WITH THEM, NOT HIM

BANJA LUKA, May 15 /SRNA/ – If Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik is, as Sarajevo politicians and media claim "irrelevant, insignificant, and politically dead," then the question arises: why is nearly every media outlet in Sarajevo obsessively focused on him to the point of pathological repetition?, Danijel Dragičević, the head of the Office of Republika Srpska President stated in a SRNA statement.

"How is it that in a country with hundreds of political parties and leaders, the only name dominating the headlines and political analyses is that of the man they claim is irrelevant?" Dragičević asked, citing former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who once said: "In politics, when everyone is attacking you, that is the strongest evidence of your power." Dragičević emphasized that ever since a court case was initiated against President Dodik, the political and media elite in Sarajevo seem to be competing over who can more loudly label him a "fugitive, a politically dead, or a man whose time has passed," yet every activity he takes, every statement he makes, even every column he publishes, becomes headline news and an object of obsession. He noted the contradiction in a country where dialogue, agreement, and compromise are often spoken of, yet everyone tries to exclude Dodik even though they can't seem to stop talking about him. Recalling Dodik's address at yesterday's special session of the Republika Srpska National Assembly, Dragičević paraphrased him: "There are hundreds of leaders from various parties, movements, and groups. They are all considered important and relevant. But I'm the one supposedly irrelevant, yet everyone's priority is to know where Milorad Dodik is and what he is doing." "That one sentence sums up the essence of Sarajevo's political and media strategy: If Dodik were truly a political nobody, why can't they ignore him? Why does every move he makes become the main topic of political analyses and comments?" He stressed that the truth is clear - Sarajevo cannot move a single step forward without President Dodik. "Now that it's become clear how the project by Michael Murphy and Christian Schmidt to eliminate the president of Srpska through a politically staged trial has failed, the only tactic left is to try and weaken him verbally," Dragičević stated. According to him, Sarajevo's media and the opposition trio from Republika Srpska refuse to admit that Dodik has become the center of political universe in BiH. "Without him, there is no resolution to the political or constitutional crisis, no agreements, no progress. Sarajevo can keep writing that he is `irrelevant,` `politically dead,` or `finished`. But each of those texts only proves that BiH cannot function without a clear agreement between its two entities and three constituent peoples. And that is the core of their political agony," Dragičević said. When someone they call irrelevant becomes the only topic, he added, then the problem isn’t in him, but in those who call him irrelevant and can't stop watching, analyzing, or commenting on him. "In a country supposedly on the path to European integration, BiH has become a victim of a failed project to remove President Dodik. And now that the failure is obvious, they remain trapped in a vicious cycle - obsessed with a man without whom no agreement in BiH is possible," said the head of the President's Office. While they write about the irrelevance of the president of Republika Srpska, Dragičević concluded, he is the one creating and leading political processes. "While they wave around political indictments, he waves political programmes and puts forward proposals to resolve the crisis. While they are saying he's `politically dead` - he continues to set the political tempo in BiH, and will continue to do so."