N1BOS — broadcast
20260814 210000 UTC
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[00:00:01] as the post notes tonight, how the president was
[00:00:04] transported from that other secret plane
[00:00:08] back onto Air Force 1 after it landed, you see here the
[00:00:11] reporters captured the president getting off the plane that they
[00:00:14] thought he had just flown on with them to the UK and he seen
[00:00:18] coming down the stairs just before 11 p.m. after greeting
[00:00:22] American service members on the tarmac, Trump got on the
[00:00:25] new Air Force One Jet, that's the one that was given to the president by the
[00:00:29] Qatari. government and then he flew back to
[00:00:32] Washington. Now the plane that he's getting on here is not to be confused with
[00:00:35] the old Air Force 1 decoy or the military plane that he flew
[00:00:39] on secretly. But it was when the president got back on this plane
[00:00:43] to fly home to the US that he was asked by reporters
[00:00:47] why they had been told to lower their window shades on that first
[00:00:51] less this time, given flight, which is extremely unusual and not typically something
[00:00:54] that happens for the press that sits on the right side of the plane, which is where
[00:00:58] that airport catering truck was, now that you look back at that other
[00:01:01] video, but given what we know now, given the pictures that you can
[00:01:05] see now, it makes what the president told reporters and that gaggle
[00:01:08] afterward, all the more
[00:01:10] noteworthy. do you think there wasn't a security
[00:01:14] concern? no, no, do you know why they had
[00:01:17] us close our window blinds? that was enough,
[00:01:20] well yeah, because uh, you're
[00:01:24] you're probably a dangerous sleep because of the sleaze bags that we
[00:01:28] have to deal with. was possibly thinking, well I mean,
[00:01:32] if they ask you to close your windows, probably they feel the way, they did ask me to close
[00:01:35] mine, but if they did I would have done it. are you aware of any credible threat by
[00:01:39] Iran against her? I have a threat all the time, I'm number one on their
[00:01:43] list before you, but if I go you
[00:01:46] go, right? but was perhaps someday you want to
[00:01:49] change professions?
[00:01:53] If I go, you go. Though the president
[00:01:56] wasn't actually on the same plane as the reporters who were asking him
[00:02:00] that question, and when they asked him about why they had to lower their own shades,
[00:02:04] the president said, well he wasn't told to lower his, well he was a
[00:02:08] secret plane, he was not on the same plane that those reporters
[00:02:12] and some White House staffers were flying on. Joining me
[00:02:15] tonight is one of the reporters who broke this story, Washington Post National Security
[00:02:19] Reporter Dan Lamothe. And Dan, I mean, this is a
[00:02:22] remarkable scoop and very thorough reporting here.
[00:02:26] Can you just kind of walk us through what you've learned here?
[00:02:32] Yeah, I mean, I think the most significant piece here is that
[00:02:35] for weeks now, uh, the American public talking about the
[00:02:39] two Air Force One jets, uh, the newer one
[00:02:42] from Cutter and the older one from the last couple decades
[00:02:46] of operations, and in reality, the president was on neither plane.
[00:02:49] Uh, this came to the post in part because uh,
[00:02:53] individuals thought that there was a
[00:02:56] functioned, if there were problems at hole in public understanding here that needed to be clarified.
[00:02:59] I mean, it also just in terms of how they came up with
[00:03:03] this, I mean, you know, a
[00:03:06] big question is going to be how unprecedented this is, the idea that
[00:03:09] they would take the president, not only put him on an alternate aircraft,
[00:03:13] but use a catering truck at the airport, uh
[00:03:17] to do so.
[00:03:20] Yeah, you mean, you can see some creativity and ingenuity in how they were able to pull this
[00:03:24] off. And and I don't think there's any dispute here. I mean,
[00:03:28] Iran is serious. to the United States, Iran is a threat to
[00:03:32] senior US officials that predates this
[00:03:34] administration, uh, there is cause for concern.
[00:03:38] It's unclear at the moment what exactly triggered them to
[00:03:42] take these uh extreme measures, um, but but
[00:03:45] either way, we we've gone about a month now since it occurred, and
[00:03:49] until today, uh, there was no public understanding of
[00:03:52] it. Well, and you report that the defense
[00:03:55] secretary also boarded that C32A
[00:03:59] plane, separately, using external stairs, which
[00:04:02] means people could see him boarding it. And you write that this is part of
[00:04:06] an attempt to make the the flight appear typical. That's a plane that typically
[00:04:09] other VIPs, cabinet members would fly
[00:04:12] on. Do we know who else, if anyone, was on
[00:04:16] that secret plane with the
[00:04:17] president?
[00:04:20] I can't speak at the moment to the with any specificity to to who
[00:04:24] the European Union has its own rules on else was aboard that plane, but but yes, Secretary, I'm
[00:04:28] told, up the external stairs deliberately
[00:04:32] so, as a part of a
[00:04:34] the president of the party, think about it and work larger plan to make it look like he was the senior official on that
[00:04:37] plane. The C-32s that they used that day are
[00:04:41] commonly used. The Vice President uses them, the president uses
[00:04:45] on occasion domestically. I
[00:04:47] have flown on C32s in the past with general officers, it's
[00:04:51] not uncommon to see VIPs on that
[00:04:54] plane, but but obviously when you have even
[00:04:58] the usage of an Air Force One.
[00:05:12] after the president is on is Air Force One or any helicopter that he's on, that's
[00:05:16] technically Marine One. But but you said that the one that he was actually flying
[00:05:20] on had a non-descript call sign, while the other
[00:05:23] plane that everyone thinks he's on is still considered
[00:05:26] in the still the call sign of Air Force
[00:05:29] One.
[00:05:32] Yes, that's right. And then as we kind of backtrack some of the publicly
[00:05:35] available flight tracker data on this, uh, you had the
[00:05:39] uh nework jet, uh, from Cutter that that landed with a
[00:05:42] relatively non-descript uh call sign, a couple hours in advance in
[00:05:46] Britain. The C32
[00:05:49] simply did not show up in flight tracker data at all, at least
[00:05:53] in the publicly available information we had. And
[00:05:56] and the Air Force One jet landed with the Air Force One
[00:05:59] call sign despite the president not being aboard. That that there
[00:06:03] was a serious shell game of sorts that occurred there
[00:06:06] uh, to keep the president safe. And did
[00:06:10] were there White House staffers who were on the
[00:06:12] Air Force One that also thought that the president was still on that
[00:06:16] plane?
[00:06:19] My understanding is there were some White House staff that did not know. Uh, this
[00:06:23] was kept close hold in a small group and
[00:06:27] obviously the White House press core which reported not
[00:06:30] only that day but in the subsequent weeks as well, uh, that the president had
[00:06:34] traveled on the quote unquote old Air Force One, that's simply not
[00:06:38] the case, we're
[00:06:38] told.
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[00:09:06] In
[00:09:10] the current political moment, police. allies, challenges in the functioning
[00:09:12] of the state,
[00:09:15] relations within the federation and the vision of Bosnia and Herzegovina after the elections
[00:09:19] in October, we talk with the president of the Party for Bosnia and
[00:09:22] Herzegovina, the mayor of the Sarajevo municipality of Novi Grad, Semir Efendić. Good
[00:09:25] day to you and welcome. Good day to you and the viewers of N1 television.
[00:09:29] I announced quite a few topics. Let's start with these
[00:09:33] high, high politics, as some call it, and
[00:09:36] the upcoming October elections. You are definitely a candidate for a member
[00:09:40] of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although many thought you would give up in
[00:09:43] that photo finish, uh, how do you view that election
[00:09:47] race that has not yet started, at least officially, and how
[00:09:51] do you evaluate your opponents' chances in this race? The Central
[00:09:55] Election Commission has verified the candidacies, so that matter is
[00:09:58] now official. Ballot papers are being prepared and will
[00:10:02] be printed for the October elections, so things concerning
[00:10:05] the candidacy are definitive. I have spoken several times before about
[00:10:09] the reasons for that candidacy. First
[00:10:12] of all, I would like the political will of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina
[00:10:16] to be translated into our state system, for our system to work as
[00:10:20] the citizens want. Mm, I thought it was best to do it
[00:10:24] through mm... a candidacy for a member of the Presidency,
[00:10:27] considering that I am also the president of a political party and our citizens
[00:10:30] have the greatest, the greatest opportunity to show their political will by
[00:10:34] voting for members of the Presidency who have the largest electoral bases
[00:10:38] or units, in the case of the federation, so that is the entire
[00:10:41] federation, where two members are elected and members of the Presidency usually
[00:10:45] receive the largest number of votes, it exceeds 300 and sometimes even exceeds
[00:10:49] 400,000 votes and so on. By giving
[00:10:52] support to these politicians, candidates... "citizens
[00:10:55] largely show their political will,
[00:10:58] however, our system still does not function in accordance with the political will
[00:11:02] of our citizens, because there is no such
[00:11:05] vertical from the Presidency to other levels of government for the system to do
[00:11:09] its job. It is expected that our health system will function, that
[00:11:12] our security system will function, that
[00:11:16] our school system, communal and all others will function. That is certainly the political will
[00:11:19] of our people, but it is not happening due to the complexity
[00:11:22] of the system and the inability to integrate processes
[00:11:26] at all levels from the Presidency to the cantonal. Given that you entered this
[00:11:29] race, do you think you can change any of that if
[00:11:33] you become part of that story, i.e., if you are elected as
[00:11:36] a member of the Presidency, how realistic is it to expect that one person in
[00:11:40] any position in this country today can change
[00:11:44] given precisely the mentioned system that exists
[00:11:47] in Bosnia and Herzegovina today? Not that I think so, I am completely convinced of it. I remind you,
[00:11:51] I am a political scientist by profession, so that is my expertise on how a political system
[00:11:55] should function, and I have a master's degree. We have been observing the
[00:11:58] situation for 30 years, and many have actually come with the idea of wanting
[00:12:01] to change things, but things remain as they are, even
[00:12:05] worse. People, often people don't know, those who take on that job, they don't even
[00:12:09] have a theoretical basis on how to establish a system, what are the foundations
[00:12:12] of its functioning. I say that I know that it is possible because
[00:12:16] before that I said from the role of the president of the party, which also has candidates for
[00:12:20] all other levels, I am running for the most important position, but it is very important that it
[00:12:24] be... a pyramid from top to bottom, so support does not only apply to
[00:12:27] the candidate for a member of the Presidency,
[00:12:30] but that we have a certain political strength within the parliaments, which will
[00:12:34] consequently mean within the executive branch. When
[00:12:37] things are set up that way within the system, it is certain that changes
[00:12:41] are possible. But we now have an anomaly, for example, that a member of the Presidency has no
[00:12:44] influence on the current member of the Presidency, absolutely no political
[00:12:48] influence in terms of a political party. Decisions on the most important processes
[00:12:52] in our country are made by citizens, made by some people who
[00:12:56] any support in the elections, because that is how it is. You know, in other countries it
[00:12:59] is often the practice that the most responsible people, party presidents, fight for the most important
[00:13:03] positions, and then by supporting them, citizens actually decide
[00:13:06] who they want as a political party in a certain
[00:13:09] system. Then the system must function
[00:13:12] in all its segments, that's why there must be
[00:13:15] political will. Again, I say the people are the ones who give political will with their
[00:13:19] votes. Someone who has received it from the people must not shy away
[00:13:23] from that responsibility, he must take on that responsibility and then systemically
[00:13:27] first establish the system and lead it in accordance with the will of the people.
[00:13:30] I say again, our great desire is for the judiciary to function,
[00:13:34] everyone certainly wants that, for healthcare to function. Neither one nor the other
[00:13:37] functions, and nothing will ever function anywhere in the world by
[00:13:41] itself, without this political will that pushes it from the top. It can
[00:13:44] only be that way. Yes, but we have in Bosnia and Herzegovina that tripartite political
[00:13:48] system. You commented and very often
[00:13:51] comment uh
[00:13:55] and messages from SNSD and HDZ. If these two parties
[00:13:58] again become, therefore an unavoidable factor in forming
[00:14:02] the government after October, how do you think anything can
[00:14:05] change, no matter who is from this side, for example,
[00:14:09] from the Bosniak corps as part of that government? I think that
[00:14:12] they primarily need an adequate political counterbalance, someone
[00:14:16] with whom they can play as they wish. I
[00:14:20] remind you, in this mandate it could have been without them, so there was a
[00:14:24] possibility, but..." for everything there are terms. After the elections themselves,
[00:14:27] the government could have been formed even without SNSD and without HDZ. This is something
[00:14:31] I warned all the presidents of the "troika" parties about from the beginning, who joined
[00:14:35] that government. We have now lost four years. Believe me, I knew at that
[00:14:39] moment when this government was formed that it would be this way. So, there don't have to be
[00:14:42] assumptions for something to be done somewhere, there must be an agreement, even SNSD
[00:14:46] and HDZ, if they enter the government and if they cannot
[00:14:49] enter that government without a third party, let's conditionally say, even without the Bosniak
[00:14:53] side, it must be sufficiently
[00:14:56] articulated so that it cannot be established without some basic agreements
[00:15:00] on what needs to be done in a given mandate. That was not done at
[00:15:04] the beginning, the opportunity was not used, especially
[00:15:07] because there was an alternative. So at a time when you have an alternative, the opposition
[00:15:11] from the RS entity, you choose SNSD, and you don't sign
[00:15:15] or agree on anything important with them, and you get what we got. I
[00:15:18] am convinced that if there was adequate political
[00:15:21] power on the side whose interest is the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
[00:15:25] these separatist intentions, the government cannot
[00:15:28] then be formed. But if that side gives in and enters into forming a government
[00:15:32] with those who openly work to realize their separatist
[00:15:36] goals, you get this. what you get. But it is definitely true that the government cannot
[00:15:40] be formed, neither SNSD nor HDZ can do it. After
[00:15:43] all, an absolute majority in the House of Representatives of the Parliament can be
[00:15:46] elected in the cantons where neither HDZ nor
[00:15:50] SNSD have any influence. So, 25 representatives can be elected. Would that actually lead
[00:15:54] Bosnia and Herzegovina, given the already present
[00:15:57] tensions and messages that come
[00:16:00] from the part where HDZ is in
[00:16:03] the majority, and from the Republic of Srpska, would that actually further
[00:16:07] radicalize the political situation? One should not worry about that, it cannot radicalize, but
[00:16:11] there must be a package of political agreements for what needs
[00:16:15] to be done. Both HDZ and SNSD are very interested in being part
[00:16:18] of the government, that is the opportunity to discuss with them
[00:16:22] how it will function and the mechanisms to
[00:16:25] ensure that it is true. But the fact is, for example, that when this current
[00:16:28] convocation of the Council of Ministers and this current
[00:16:31] coalition, which doesn't even exist, was formed, that for the first
[00:16:35] year it somehow functioned, and we also had those breakthroughs on the European
[00:16:38] path, some, conditionally speaking, good energy, then everything
[00:16:42] fell apart at once. It functioned as long as the process of appointing
[00:16:46] directors, board members, supervisory boards, and so on, lasted. Until then, they pretended that
[00:16:50] everything was functioning so that they wouldn't betray each other. No director can be appointed
[00:16:53] unless everyone votes for them, the troika and HDZ and SNSD in this
[00:16:56] case. And while they delivered everything to each other, while Dodik
[00:17:00] got the director of the Indirect Taxation Authority, while he
[00:17:02] got a new Minister of Finance, until then it seemed like he
[00:17:06] was doing something. However, after that, everything was completely
[00:17:09] blocked. What about other levels? Who prevents more efficient work
[00:17:13] in Sarajevo Canton? Who prevents the Federation or ministries within
[00:17:16] the Federation from doing their jobs more efficiently? So it's not all so that
[00:17:20] it can't be done, that things aren't set up the right way. Here's an opportunity
[00:17:24] to mention just one example. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a law on sports,
[00:17:28] adopted I think in 2008, proposed by SNSD
[00:17:31] personnel, and today not a single sports federation of Bosnia and
[00:17:34] Herzegovina has secured funds for its functioning. "We don't
[00:17:38] have secured funds for national teams' performances on the
[00:17:41] international stage. We cannot participate in any other way than as a national team. No
[00:17:45] athlete from Bosnia and Herzegovina, whether from Republika Srpska, whether from Western
[00:17:49] Mostar, or anywhere else, cannot participate or become relevant on
[00:17:52] the international stage in representative competitions,
[00:17:56] except through the national teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are formed through
[00:17:59] umbrella federations. These federations have no money to function.
[00:18:03] At the same time, in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are funds
[00:18:07] for..." they are distributed through some public calls. I am convinced that it is
[00:18:10] possible, that there must be a will from all sides to
[00:18:14] secure funds for the functioning of umbrella sports
[00:18:17] federations in Bosnia and Herzegovina by this state, because no
[00:18:21] athlete from Bosnia and Herzegovina can perform anywhere except through sports
[00:18:25] federations at the state level. And therefore, the problem is not a lack of money, it
[00:18:28] exists in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, it is distributed to some clubs
[00:18:31] questionably due to what projects and for what reasons. At the same time,
[00:18:35] national or state federations have no money to function.
[00:18:39] So SNSD was once a party that proposed the law on sports, and
[00:18:43] the strategy for the development of sports in Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted sometime in 2010 or
[00:18:47] a year before or after. To this day, we have no agreement
[00:18:50] on financing those federations. They are in everyone's
[00:18:54] interest. You cannot, therefore, if you do not want to secure funds for the functioning
[00:18:57] of the national federation, no athlete or even performances
[00:19:01] of our clubs in international competitions should not be supported by
[00:19:04] the state. It is in the interest of Zrinjski and Borac and... Sarajevo and Željezničar to
[00:19:08] be supported by the state. I haven't seen anyone
[00:19:11] put these questions on the agenda in this way, and in numerous other
[00:19:15] areas, but it must be clearly prepared before entering and forming
[00:19:19] any government. If you are still in a position, if you are still in a position
[00:19:22] to choose a partner, as was the case now and often it is
[00:19:26] so, if you are in a position to choose a political partner, then you are in a position to do much more than
[00:19:30] this. After all, when we talk about choosing, you criticize the troika,
[00:19:34] you criticize SNSD, you criticize HDZ, and you criticized
[00:19:38] the previous ones, so you didn't have too
[00:19:41] many positive words for them. Who do you see as
[00:19:45] potential partners with whom you would build Bosnia and Herzegovina as
[00:19:48] you want? Uh, it is important
[00:19:52] who, of course, and it is important who manages the processes, who leads the processes, whether
[00:19:55] within that circle where decisions are made there is someone who
[00:19:58] knows what the goal is, not just to grab positions
[00:20:02] and end everything there. We had such an opportunity, we knew that things could not be led
[00:20:06] that way, but we... but as an opportunity for the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, I, as
[00:20:12] on it so that we are as a party a sufficiently good
[00:20:15] alternative so that we don't think about with whom we will
[00:20:18] fare better. Of course, there are, last time we
[00:20:21] specifically proposed that the opposition from the RS entity be a partner, not
[00:20:25] SNSD as it is, or that we actually specifically demanded from
[00:20:29] SNSD the withdrawal of the law on state property, allowing
[00:20:32] the Bosnian language in schools in the entity, if it doesn't want any of that, there's no point in going further
[00:20:36] into those discussions. "I believe that political strength is
[00:20:40] what gives you the opportunity to get what is needed
[00:20:44] but it seems to me that you are somewhat quite alone, apart from
[00:20:47] this support from Pomak that you received as a candidate for a member
[00:20:50] of the Presidency, there are no other parties that
[00:20:54] share your views. In Republika Srpska, you will go to the elections independently,
[00:20:58] have you noticed that citizens are satisfied with what we have seen so
[00:21:01] far? We could just get lost in this grayness,
[00:21:04] continue to waste our lives without any
[00:21:07] results,
[00:21:09] uh, I told you that in the RS entity there are two political options, one is SNSD,
[00:21:13] the other are opposition parties. We, our, we are closer
[00:21:17] to what is the rhetoric and what are the actions of those
[00:21:21] for the Federation, there are many parties, uh,
[00:21:24] yes, but will that independent entry into the elections in Republika Srpska actually
[00:21:28] weaken the position of Bosniaks there, considering how few seats
[00:21:32] in parliament have been won so far by
[00:21:35] parties with a Bosniak prefix? Will it be even
[00:21:41] that stratification? We were part of that majority last
[00:21:44] time, but because of those who led that joint
[00:21:47] project, it happened that it completely failed. So
[00:21:51] the fact is that soldiers, a proud
[00:21:54] soldier of the Army of Republika Srpska, says that he
[00:21:57] is a representative of, he is actually today a representative of the movement for the state from the last
[00:22:00] elections. We believe that this is trading with the votes of returnees. We are not
[00:22:04] ready to trade with the support we receive there. Whatever support we receive, we
[00:22:08] will manage it in a way that we will truly represent those citizens on whose
[00:22:11] behalf we applied for the elections. And our only condition is that
[00:22:15] SDP participates in the RS entity, so SDP in the RS
[00:22:18] entity has destroyed pro-Bosnian politics
[00:22:21] and led to such a low turnout of the diaspora to
[00:22:25] register for elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, helped
[00:22:28] SNSD in the beginning to get a fourth delegate whom it lost through a court case,
[00:22:31] from BH Telecom in Banja Luka it created an employment office for
[00:22:35] SDP personnel from Banja Luka who are not returnees at all, especially not
[00:22:38] Bosniaks. So we don't trust them, pro-Bosnian politics cannot be built with SDP
[00:22:42] in the RS entity. Why SDA agreed to that, we
[00:22:46] don't know, but we believed that citizens at least have the right to
[00:22:49] have a motive that this is not their
[00:22:53] only option, what they saw last time. Let's go from Banja Luka
[00:22:56] to Mostar, uh, you commented on the situation there as well,
[00:23:00] Mostar just doesn't seem to stop being a case study.
[00:23:04] Uh, do you think that the relations between Bosniaks and Croats, especially
[00:23:07] in Mostar, are worse than ten
[00:23:11] years ago, that these national tensions are rising year after year, even
[00:23:14] election years. For a long time, somehow Mostar is a problematic city,
[00:23:17] ten years ago Mostar did not have a mayor. I think that period
[00:23:21] lasted 10 years in Mostar there were no
[00:23:23] elections, it is simply visible that what is the statute of the city
[00:23:27] of Mostar proclaimed by the high representative in practice
[00:23:31] in reality does not function that is a big problem, this
[00:23:34] must be discussed at a serious political level to seek solutions,
[00:23:37] mm, what I regret is that the local
[00:23:40] self-government was abolished, Mostar had municipalities like Sarajevo, well at least they
[00:23:46] the city level in that part of jurisdiction that the city implements, they could...
[00:23:50] municipalities do their job, but what I see now, there are no municipalities
[00:23:53] and the city administration does not function as it should, as
[00:23:57] it was envisioned by the statute of the city of Mostar imposed by the high
[00:24:01] representative, but there were attempts, there were indications actually that
[00:24:04] a new statute would be adopted, it is obvious that whoever was in
[00:24:08] that city government, somehow what you mentioned
[00:24:12] earlier about positions is agreed upon, about the rest it's difficult, well, you see, through
[00:24:16] this landfill case, that a landfill that functions...
[00:24:20] absolutely without any ecological
[00:24:22] parameters, without what should be
[00:24:26] there to even be able to dispose of waste to people above or
[00:24:29] to a number of Mostar residents is next to their houses, they are protesting against it,
[00:24:33] today, the police are arresting them because they are trying to protect themselves from
[00:24:36] a landfill that has no mm
[00:24:39] ecological standards in its functioning, of course, on the other hand
[00:24:42] the city that has to solve the problem with waste disposal
[00:24:46] and there is no quality solution neither in terms of location nor
[00:24:50] the construction of a landfill that functions according to some
[00:24:53] minimal conditions that satisfy ecology, as with the landfill, you saw
[00:24:57] the situation with, or rather the public could see in the municipal
[00:25:01] company in numerous other areas, simply that city as it
[00:25:04] was conceived does not function, especially since the
[00:25:07] mayor started and established a
[00:25:10] majority, a simple majority in which there are no
[00:25:13] Bosniak representatives, then for those decisions that are made by a simple
[00:25:17] majority or what he does independently.
[00:25:20] "So imagine a city that builds a Croatian theater, as if only Croats
[00:25:24] live in it and these activities are supported by HDZ and
[00:25:28] the city administration of Mostar, is it a problem for
[00:25:31] Mostar to have a city theater,
[00:25:34] how can you define in the very name of the theater
[00:25:38] or whose theater it is, isn't it natural for a multiethnic city
[00:25:42] that has, besides Croats, Bosniaks and Serbs
[00:25:45] and many others to have a city one. He only has a Croatian one here, and
[00:25:49] how can a city function at all with such a policy,
[00:25:52] in which the one who is the mayor, who has the most authority,
[00:25:56] advocates such a policy, it's not just
[00:25:59] tense on the politics in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it seems to me on
[00:26:02] a regional level, the recent visit of Aleksandar Vučić to Bugojno
[00:26:06] also caused numerous reactions and what followed it, uh,
[00:26:10] do you see any possibility
[00:26:14] of actually thawing relations
[00:26:16] between neighbors and neighboring countries when it comes to
[00:26:20] Bosnia and Herzegovina, given that the problem is not only on the
[00:26:23] Sarajevo-Belgrade line, but very often on the Sarajevo,
[00:26:26] Zagreb line, it seems that our neighbors have not
[00:26:30] given up on those policies from the 90s that were primarily to the
[00:26:34] territorial detriment of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so their
[00:26:38] policy today is very often directed at the same
[00:26:41] this arrival of Vučić, I don't have concrete information, I am not, of course,
[00:26:45] in foreign affairs or in diplomacy, whether he
[00:26:48] even expressed a desire, and I assume he may not have, to come to the capital, to come
[00:26:52] to Sarajevo, but all those who in this way intend to build
[00:26:55] relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, I believe should not
[00:26:59] be allowed to. If they do not respect the capital of the state, if they do not
[00:27:02] respect the official state institutions and want to cooperate
[00:27:06] with some lower levels of government, then they cannot continue cooperation with state
[00:27:09] institutions. If that is their choice, let them continue cooperating with the entity, they cannot
[00:27:13] continue cooperation with the state as they have had so far, but I
[00:27:16] don't see that, I haven't seen that our presidency has seriously
[00:27:20] commented on Vučić's visit, where he stayed for several days, sending
[00:27:23] different, different this
[00:27:26] messages, I haven't seen any
[00:27:29] state-building state reaction from the level of the presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
[00:27:33] for what he week when he spent several days in
[00:27:37] the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and then the raid of the RS entity police into
[00:27:40] the territory of the Federation and all that that accompanied it, I think
[00:27:43] that it is, and it is certainly in the best interest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Croatia to cooperate in
[00:27:47] all areas in economy,
[00:27:50] security, and everything else, when they will one day realize
[00:27:54] and start cooperating with state institutions when they see
[00:27:57] that there is no other way. If they cooperate with the entity, that is a reduction
[00:28:01] of cooperation between Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but it's their choice. And
[00:28:05] geopolitical circumstances are rapidly changing,
[00:28:08] uh, it seems that the view of the world actually
[00:28:11] is becoming quite different than it was a year, two, or
[00:28:15] three years ago. Uh, is Bosnia and Herzegovina still in the focus
[00:28:19] of the world public, has domestic diplomacy managed to
[00:28:23] draw attention to Bosnia and Herzegovina, at least in part, as much as
[00:28:26] the footballers at the World Cup did, given the great
[00:28:30] interest of tourists, for example, in Bosnia and Herzegovina
[00:28:33] after the World Cup? How much of that was followed by domestic diplomacy? I think that
[00:28:37] Bosnia and Herzegovina is certainly not in the focus of the world public, this is due to all
[00:28:41] the problems that exist today in the Middle East, Southeast Europe,
[00:28:44] Ukraine, and so on. Bosnia and Herzegovina is not in that focus, but
[00:28:48] the memory has remained, of course, primarily in
[00:28:51] Europe, that there was a big hotbed here in the 90s, and
[00:28:54] a fear, a dose of fear that it could happen again sometime, that's why
[00:28:58] Europe will never stop paying attention to the developments here
[00:29:02] because it is their antechamber, no one wants a fire in their
[00:29:05] yard, because if there is a fire in the yard, it can reach the house, in that sense
[00:29:09] there is a kind of interest for sure, now how much Europe is
[00:29:12] able to articulate, take some concrete steps
[00:29:16] yet they are actively working to maintain some kind of stability, they are involved
[00:29:20] through how much America actually takes that
[00:29:23] primacy over political processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina in relation to Europe.
[00:29:27] For a long time, America held that primacy, but in cooperation with the European Union, they were completely
[00:29:31] aligned until... the last
[00:29:34] resolution or resignation of the high representative and the appointment of a new one, we first time
[00:29:37] have different views, so it's about the new
[00:29:40] American administration and the European Union, all previous, all previous
[00:29:44] American administrations uh had a completely identical
[00:29:48] approach in which sometimes Europeans, for practical reasons, left the
[00:29:51] leadership role to America to exert pressure on our
[00:29:55] representatives in various processes that were happening here, how long it will last I don't
[00:29:59] know, I know it's related to the new Trump administration.
[00:30:03] Yes, it is related to the South Interconnection project where an attempt is made to enter the European
[00:30:06] energy market through Bosnia and Herzegovina, and
[00:30:09] Europe, uh, seems to me to have succeeded in preventing the election of a high
[00:30:13] representative in its efforts
[00:30:16] to prevent a kind of what they consider
[00:30:20] unfair competition in the energy market in the European Union, Bosnia and Herzegovina is not yet
[00:30:23] a member of the European Union and
[00:30:27] how to trade energy and how to enter the
[00:30:31] EU market. Here it would be difficult for them to resist because through Bosnia and Herzegovina
[00:30:34] they enter with a gas pipeline that brings American gas, then
[00:30:38] probably thermal power plants would be built that would supply electricity
[00:30:41] to the European Union market and
[00:30:45] everything that was done with the southern interconnection is
[00:30:48] contrary to the norms of the European Union. And for that
[00:30:51] reason, I am convinced that the European Union this time
[00:30:54] has a different stance than the United States of America, where they are trying to
[00:30:58] protect European norms.