Entity Gas Pipelines Contribute to a Solution for BiH

Is a peaceful division of BiH beginning before the 'equal agreement of the three sides on its future', announced by the Americans without a precise scheduled date, has even started? We could call this peaceful beginning 'pipeline-related'. Two pipelines: one will enter FBiH from the West and will be built by the Americans, the other from the East into RS and will be built by Serbia and Srpska. The latter has existed since before the war and went from the Drina river border near Zvornik towards Sarajevo, while this new one, with a significantly larger capacity, will branch out across Srpska to Banja Luka, with intermediate stations in cities and municipalities, up to consumer connections. It is understood that American liquefied gas will arrive in Bosnia from the West, and natural Russian gas from the East. Thus, Muslim Sarajevo will stop consuming cheaper Russian gas and switch to more expensive American gas, but at least they will be sure that Serbs cannot cut it off as it allegedly happened during the war. We say allegedly, because after the war, 'Slobodna Bosna' revealed under the title 'This is why we froze during the war!' that the gas was cut off by the Muslim authorities themselves to make Sarajevo a martyr city. Now, separate entity gas corridors will break another link between the two Sarajevos, the Serbian and the Bosniak.

Entity Gas Pipelines Contribute to a Solution for BiH

TL;DR

  • Two new gas pipelines are planned for Bosnia and Herzegovina: one from the West (US) to the Federation of BiH, and another from the East (Serbia/Russia) to Republika Srpska.
  • This energy infrastructure could lead to a de facto division of the country, aligning FBiH with the US and RS with Russia.
  • The article suggests that international actors and internal political factions are leveraging energy and geopolitical strategies to shape BiH's future.
  • There are ongoing debates and political maneuvering regarding the role of international representatives (like the High Representative) and the potential for the creation of a third entity.
  • The author posits that these developments could lead to a peaceful, albeit entity-based, resolution or division of Bosnia and Herzegovina.