As my plane slowly made its descent into Sarajevo I was awestruck by the beauty of the surrounding mountains. The haze and late day rays of sun embraced the sprawling peaks and their vast meadows, casting a mesmerizing image of a set of mighty waves in the ocean making their way to shore as the mountain tops peaked in and out of the blanket of haze that had settled in for the day. Sarajevo and those of us on the plane were the lucky benefactors of nature’s paintbrush on this day.
Throughout the campaign MIrsad and I have spoken via Skype as thousands of miles have kept us separated. Today that all changed as I was fortunate enough to travel to Bosnia, thanks to the generosity of the Echo Foundation, and sit down face-to-face with him on the patio of a local restaurant in Sarajevo. Mirsad had time for a quick bite of food, the occasional puff on a cigar and some conversation between debates and hitting the road for yet another rally on this final week of the presidential campaign. I of course had to ask him about this so-called “eighty seconds heard around Bosnia” following a recent televised presidential debate.
Osamdeset sekundi koje su se čule širom Bosne i Hercegovine: Mirsad Hadžikadić napušta nedavnu televizijsku predsjedničku debatu
Dok se moj avion polako spuštao u Sarajevo, bio sam zadivljen ljepotom okolnih planina. Izmaglica i sunčeve zrake kasnog popodneva grlile su nizove planinskih vrhova i njihove prostrane livade, stvorivši opčinjavajuću sliku serije moćnih talasa u okeanu kako se probijaju do obale, dok su vrhovi planina izvirivali tu i tamo iz prekrivača izmaglice koja se tu smjestila za ostatak dana. Sarajevo i mi putnici u avionu smo bili sretnici koji su mogli uživati u slici koju je naslikala priroda tog dana.
Tokom kampanje Mirsad i ja razgovarali smo putem Skype-a, pošto su nas hiljade kilometara razdvajale. Danas se sve to promijenilo, pošto sam imao sreće da otputujem u Bosnu, zahvaljujući velikodušnosti Echo fondacije, i sjednem s njim oči u oči u otvorenom dvorištu jednog sarajevskog restorana. Mirsad je imao tek toliko vremena da nešto prezalogaji, otpuhne koji dim cigare i obavi kratki razgovor između debata i polaska na još jedan izborni skup u ovoj posljednjoj sedmici predsjedničke kampanje. Ja sam ga, naravno, morao pitati o takozvanih „osamdeset sekundi koje su se čule širom Bosne“ nakon nedavne televizijske predsjedničke debate.
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