While standing in front of the citizens, talking about the new face of the city and announcing a decade of construction, Mayor Draško Stanivuković forgot to mention that he didn't obtain the necessary building permits before starting the works. He does it casually, while the construction is well underway. The Journal didn't receive a response regarding whether citizens can do the same.

In 2018, the OSCE Mission in BiH warned about poorly crafted indictments and their hasty confirmation, with Damjan Ožegović noting that nothing has changed since then. A former employee of SIPA claims that prosecutors handle public funds without any authorization. The Chief Prosecutor of the Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton, Sabina Sarajlija, emphasizes the importance of the quality of indictments, and the significant role of pre-trial judges, and acknowledges that in individual cases, we can discuss certain shortcomings on the part of prosecutors.

Residents of several villages near Tušnica in Livno are concerned about the concession granted for the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources, fearing the loss of drinking water. While the residents fight to preserve their water sources, authorities in Livno turn a blind eye to the report of the Government of Canton 10's working body, which explicitly lists all the shortcomings from the initial exploration permit in 2006 to the first concession in 2012, and its transfer to another company in 2018.

An apparent challenge for Dodik and those around him is the lack of support among the people in Republika Srpska, unlike what they had, for example, in 2006 when Dodik rose to political heights, replacing the rhetoric of a moderate social democrat with a radical nationalist narrative. Since then, Dodik's policies have not brought anything good to the citizens of Republika Srpska.

Some residents of the Hrasno neighbourhood in Sarajevo and the Municipality of Novo Sarajevo cannot agree on the fate of the currently abandoned building at 56 Aleja Lipa. Municipal services, along with other relevant institutions and at the request of the company Senabil, are working on adopting changes to the zoning plan that would allow the demolition of the existing building and the construction of a new residential-commercial building of much larger proportions. Residents of surrounding buildings are concerned, believing that the proposed interventions could jeopardize the stability of their buildings, the quality of life, and the health of the inhabitants. Unofficially, Žurnal learns that there is currently no majority in the Municipal Council to approve the proposed changes.

Research on the radioactivity of brown coal in Tušnica and the presence of uranium seems to have interested only a few people who see profit in it. With the current price of uranium at $120 per kilogram, it's no surprise that there are growing stories about foreign investors being interested in this Livno mine. The health of the population in several villages beneath Tušnica, surviving illegally by extracting this coal, seems to be disregarded, and no one has warned them about its radioactivity.

The guidelines of Erdoğan’s foreign policy that originated on boosting of the influence in the areas that were part of the Ottoman Empire can be found in the book of former Prime Minister of Türkiye and former AKP President Ahmet Davutoğlu “Strategic depth – Türkiye’s international position”.

In the objections raised against the Plan, owners of existing properties on Jahorina point out that the proposed solutions close off access to some houses, and multi-story buildings are planned in areas that have served as parking lots until now, exacerbating the issue of parking shortages during the winter months in the tourist season. The road is expanding towards ski slopes, the route of ski slopes is narrowing, and the plots of existing business properties are expanding up to ten times. This includes the enclosure and fencing of existing cottages.

Strikes and protests of the miners in mines of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entity Federation are becoming a customary event. Their salaries are late, and they neither have health insurance nor contribution payments for retirement. The debts have exceed one billion Convertible Marks. This sector was managed by SDA and Party for BiH and SDP and Democratic Front, individually or in coalitions. They have been continuously ignoring the problem for the sake of alleged social peace.

Despite little concrete evidence of malign Chinese influence, Chinese business dealings in Bosnia and Herzegovina demonstrate how Chinese economic investments are intertwined with politics, and their lack of transparency fuels the already pervasive corruption in the country, according to analyses and research. Chinese companies have become one of the favourite business partners of Milorad Dodik and his associates, with the Chinese currently facing virtually no competition on major construction sites in this entity. On the other hand, authorities accommodate them by approving deadline extensions, contracting additional work, and granting natural resources, even though some Chinese companies have been proven to engage in fraud, placed on blacklists, engaged in bribery, and operated illegally...

The calculation is simple – for just over 7,000 officials who work in state institutions from 8 am to 4 pm, and from 6 pm they are expected to block the entity border at the "Border Exists" protest, and whom RS President Milorad Dodik would reward for leaving those same institutions, he would need to provide 328,936,667 KM. The methods - Dodik did not explain. By the end of this year alone, he must find another half a billion KM for loan instalments.

While Republika Srpska continues to borrow hundreds of millions of KM day by day, the political leadership of SNSD (Alliance of Independent Social Democrats) in the entity has not disclosed to the citizens how they have been extracting money from the budget for years through closely connected private companies. Through tenders and direct agreements, they have secured sums ranging from several hundred million to several billion marks in their accounts.

In a time of never-before-seen demand for products from the defence industry on the global market, companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina that are engaged in the production of weaponry and military equipment are facing numerous issues. The Sarajevo-based company "Zrak" is probably in the most difficult position – due to accumulated debts and executive court judgments, it has gone into bankruptcy. Skilled workers have been laid off, and today the company employs retirees. Who is at fault, and what will happen to the assets of "Zrak," whose value is measured in tens of millions of KM?

While Chinese investments in countries in the European Union have been decreasing year by year, investments and loans from China to Bosnia and Herzegovina have notably increased since 2019. As the EU implements stricter rules for scrutinizing Chinese companies' investments, there are hardly any controls in Bosnia and Herzegovina, making the Chinese one of the favourite business partners. The primary interest of China is economic, but there are claims that Chinese economic investments are closely intertwined with politics. Controversies, suspicions of corruption and favouritism, lack of transparency, delays, activist protests, and failed projects... all of these characterize Chinese projects in both entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Thirteen years ago, Republika Srpska (RS) adopted the Law on Referendum and Citizen Initiative, and the day before the adoption of that law, Dodik stated that a referendum on whether RS would remain within Bosnia and Herzegovina or not would "definitely be held one day." Since then, the issue of referendums has become Dodik's main tool, which he constantly wields to defend his political position and keep Bosnia and Herzegovina in a state of continuous crisis and weakening of its institutions.

Republika Srpska that Dodik desires would have to resemble its "national treasure," in addition to Milošević's Serbia – to be deceitful, aggressive, unreliable, intolerant, homophobic, chauvinistic, primitive, and crude...

Following the arrest and subsequent release from custody of former mayor Senaid Memić, various "investors" who obtained necessary permits for construction in water protection zones, riverbeds, and national monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina should come under the scrutiny of the prosecutor's office

A student from the Economics School in Brčko reported a primary school teacher for harassment, and a police investigation revealed that the same teacher had previously been convicted of killing a police officer and other criminal acts. Chief Prosecutor Zekerija Mujkanović recalled a case from 2006 when a primary school educator, known for his inappropriate behaviour towards minors, was convicted of sexual offences against underage girls. Despite his previous record, he was still employed to work with children.

In this video clip that has been done in cooperation with members of a research group called Umbrella, we have selected a few examples that illustrate the way Milorad Dodik communicates with media representatives.