Donald Trump, US President-elect. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP/Beta

The rise of Donald Trump is already creating chaos in the Balkans, and he hasn't even taken the oath of office yet. I’d also bet a kidney that the 45th President of the US has no clue what the Balkans are - whether they are a type of smoked meat, precious metal, or the name for some new clever tax-evading trick.

To be fair, the political paralysis in Bosnia, although codified by the Dayton Accords in November 1995, had begun to transform into a permanent state of instability soon after the September 11 attacks on the US.

Sarajevo Professor Zdravko Grebo pithily described Bosnia’s modern condition as: “We won’t die but there is no hope for us either,” [“Umrijeti nećemo, a spasa nam nema.”]

The metamorphosis of Bosnian paralysis into a permanent state of instability can directly be linked to one thing, however, the retreat of the United States.