Political analyst Siniša Simikić stated for ATV that the USA sanctions against companies from Republika Srpska are an attempt to undermine Srpska.
During his appearance on ATV’s morning program, Simikić mentioned that sanctions are not new, especially for their media house which has been on the USA blacklist for two and a half years. However, he noted, every two months when the new, expanded list of sanctioned individuals and entities is published, people in Republika Srpska are taken by surprise.
“When we look at the bigger picture, these sanctions jeopardize the livelihood of many people, both in Banja Luka and generally in Republika Srpska. The key argument for the sanctions is the attempt to achieve an economic and financial collapse of Republika Srpska: of course, due to the specific structure of BiH, sanctions cannot be directly imposed on the entity, but they have found a way to target individuals and specific companies,” Simikić told ATV.
However, he emphasized that Republika Srpska should not and will not give in because of this.
“Sometimes we deceive ourselves with the idea that Anglo-Saxons are people who easily give up on their goals. By following their policies, and the policies of Great Britain as their predecessor, we can see that they are very persistent in fighting for their goals. This does not mean that Republika Srpska should give in to such challenges, it has not and will not because over the past year it has already found mechanisms to minimize the impact of these sanctions on ordinary citizens,” Simikić said.
He believes there is a deceitful attempt to change the political consciousness of the citizens of Republika Srpska. He also noted that these actions violate human rights, and the USA ambassador violates the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, specifically Article 41, which states that no diplomat can engage in the internal affairs of the country they are stationed in.
“Our people and all of us here need to understand that global politics is a power game; as they say, the powerful do what they want, the weaker do what they must. Of course, if you cannot directly fight the stronger, then you need to find a way to maintain independence while being able to exist in this world,” Simikić stated for ATV.
Simikić believes that while the sanctions certainly affect the citizens and Republika Srpska, the situation is not yet alarming.
Source: Atv
