THE ART OF REPUBLIC: DODIK AND BANJA LUKA'S MASTERS OF WAR WITHOUT BULLETS

SARAJEVO, OCTOBER 21 /SRNA/ – "The supreme art of war is not to win a hundred battles, but to subdue the enemy without fighting," a line from "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu, could today stand at the entrance of President Milorad Dodik's office, because what we are witnessing is no longer the racket of a Balkan tribune, but a chess match conducted with cold precision, almost militarily, writes the portal Poskok.info in its commentary.

While Sarajevo still believes that Dodik is improvising, the article states, it is becoming increasingly clear that behind his "repositioning of Republika Srpska" stands a serious team from Banja Luka - people who understand the international system, read the balance of power, and know that 21st-century wars no longer require weapons, but rather — patience and legal loopholes.

"Following their recipe, Dodik has turned Republika Srpska into an experimental state within a state: he challenges Christian Schmidt, strengthens his own institutions, and establishes paradiplomacy with Moscow and Beijing — direct contacts bypassing Sarajevo.

This is not reckless adventurism, but an attempt to position Republika Srpska as a subject of international law without formal recognition. His `time-limited Bosnia and Herzegovina` is merely a scenario for peaceful separation, one in which he can later claim he did not destroy the country, but `sought an agreement that others refused,`" the article notes.

Behind that cold strategy, it adds, there is less and less of Russia - and more and more of Banja Luka.

"Local minds: former diplomats, lawyers, and strategists, long ago understood that colonial apparatuses are not dismantled with bombs, but with humiliation. They have turned Schmidt into a metaphor - `a German bureaucrat threatening nations with Bonn decree,` and Republika Srpska into the story of a small people defending their sovereignty from imperial arrogance. That is their Sun Tzu moment - to make the enemy lose face by himself," the text emphasizes.

When Dodik says that "Republika Srpska has everything except international recognition," it states, he is not bluffing - he is testing how far he can go before the world accepts him as a reality.

"And the longer this game lasts, the more global powers begin to speak of Republika Srpska as a factor, not as an entity," the commentary concludes.

If Schmidt falls, it continues, it will not be a victory for Moscow, but a triumph of the Banja Luka school of politics - the one that understands that "the victor creates facts, while the loser quotes resolutions".

"That is why another Sun Tzu verse applies today: `A wise general does not go where the enemy is strong, but where he is blind.` In BiH, everyone is blinded by their own morality. Only in Banja Luka have they understood that power is quiet, slow, and relentless. And that already is - the art of war," the text concludes.