Bosnia should heed Trump’s message to counter Putin’s aggression

Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump traveled to Brussels where he rightfully called on fellow NATO members to invest more than 2 percent of their GDP on defense, noting that many are not meeting that guideline. The past two U.S. administrations have made similar demands of our European allies with the belief that, if NATO is to remain the most successful military alliance in history, all members must be on equal footing. However, according to NATO’s most recent estimate released last month, only five members of the 29-nation alliance will hit the 2 percent target.

Among the current four NATO aspirant countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina is in last place, with defense spending that falls under 1 percent of its GDP; however, Bosnia should heed President Trump’s message and more than double its spending. Doing so would showcase goodwill towards becoming a more credible NATO partner and help deter Putin’s destabilization efforts in the Balkans.

{mosads}While Russia’s encroachment in the Balkans is widespread, it’s most pronounced in Bosnia’s smaller entity, Republika Srpska (RS), where posters of Putin line the streets during each election cycle. The corrupt and Kremlin-backed populist leadership of RS has stalled Bosnia’s NATO accession for years, and recently, RS thumbed its nose at the West once more by purchasing military grade weapons from Serbia for its police force, stating that special units will be trained in Russia.

A month following the weapons purchase, the president of RS, Milorad Dodik, a staunch genocide denier who is sanctioned by the U.S. for obstructing the Dayton Peace Accords that stopped the genocide in Bosnia, called for a change to the Balkan borders. It is clear that Russia sees NATO as an existential threat and is willfully imposing the iron curtain, as was also seen in Montenegro two years ago. According to Foreign Policy Research Institute, Russia was to blame for the alleged coup attempt in Montenegro as the country was preparing to join NATO.

Lest we forget, it was 104 years ago that Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, fired the “shot heard around the world” when he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The slaying sparked the beginning of World War I, after Russia intervened to protect Serbia. The events that followed led to the rise of communism, fascism, World War II and the Yugoslav wars of the ’90s.

Extreme nationalism within the region seems to be on the upswing once more, and with Russia in the driver’s seat, conflict becomes more of a probability than a possibility. Last May, the Council of Europe issued a report warning that neo-fascism is on the rise in Croatia, with similar rhetoric coming from Bosnia’s nationalist Croat party, the HDZ. Dragan Covic, the leader of the HDZ, has adopted rhetoric similar to that of Serbia’s late wartime leader Slobodan Milosevic, and has aligned himself with Russia and RS.

To add fuel to the fire, last month, as Bosnians and members of the international community commemorated the genocide in Srebrenica — where Serb forces killed over 8,000 innocent Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys — Rajko Vasic, a member of the main board of the RS’s ruling party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), threatened the survivors and non-Serbs in Bosnia with another genocide, a move condemned by the Office of the High Representative.

The United States can best safeguard its interests by strengthening its allies so that they can carry their own weight, and thereby deter Putin’s adventurism. The United States should stand ready to help Bosnia strengthen its defense capabilities; after all, it was the U.S.-led NATO effort that stopped the war in Bosnia in 1995. Given Russia’s meddling, it is critical for Bosnia to heed President Trump’s call for increase in defense spending.

Additionally, Bosnia should take note of Sweden’s approach to Russia with the reintroduction to conscription amid worries about Russia’s Baltic military drills. By following in Sweden’s footsteps, Bosnia not only would increase its defense capabilities, it would also help reduce youth unemployment, which stands as one of the highest in Europe.

While NATO was formed almost 70 years ago as a deterrent to Soviet aggression, it continues to stand as the premier defensive alliance against growing global threats to Western democracy. Aspirant countries such as Bosnia and Macedonia must continue to uphold Western values, and serve as an example to populist and anti-American regimes within the region.

Ajla Delkic is president of the Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina, a Washington-based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for a united, multiethnic and democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina.