Back in 2005, Hugh Shelton was asked on a C-SPAN program of his opinion on the US intervention against Serbs in Kosovo and the ultimate outcome of the situation, and he replied that any loss of territory for the Serbs might have to entail "compensation".

Montenegro independence may indeed be the catalyst so that by year's end, perhaps permanently, the Balkans may be territorially reconfigured.

On Saturday, chairman of the Democratic Party (DSS) of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Predrag Kovacevic said that Bosnian Serbs will hold an independence referendum if Kosovo gets independence.

"Albanians are an ethnic minority in Serbia, not a constituent nation, and they are moving towards independence. Serbs are a constituent nation in Bosnia-Hercegovina and they have a right to such a referendum in line with the Serb Republic Constitution," Kovacevic said.

Citing a slightly different independence template, Bosnian Serb Republic Prime Minister Milorad Dodik said that the model of Montenegro's road to independence could be applied also to Bosnia.

Speaking in an interview for Bosnian Muslim daily Oslobodjenje on Saturday, Dodik said that the Bosnian "union should affirm the right to self-determination through the right to hold a referendum, which would be organized in line with democratic standards as defined by the European Union".

"People who live in Bosnia-Hercegovina believe less and less in the existing state model," Dodik said.

On Monday, Serb People's Movement (SNP) collected over 2,000 independence signatures in Banja Luka in a matter of 4 hours. SNP president Dane Cankovic who runs the independence petition told a Croatian news agency, Hina, that 50,000 signatures have been collected in the Bosnian Serb entity to date.

"The drive will continue until the realization of the final goal, which is a free Serb Republic," says Cankovic.

Chairman of the New Force of the Serb Republic, Petar Kunic says that the Serb Republic is entitled to a referendum, because neither the entity nor the Bosnian constitutions specifically deny that right.

Neither does the Democratic Movement of the Serb Republic object to the right to a referendum that will, according to them, determine if the Serb people have a future in Bosnia inside which Bosnian Muslims consistently attempt to abolish the Serb Republic.

While various Serbian movements and political parties voiced their opinion on the independence matter, the High Representative to Bosnia-Hercegovina, Christian Schwarz-Schilling objected to all of this because, according to him, there is no parallel between Republika Srpska and Montenegro because Republika Srpska did not exist before. Schwarz-Schilling then went on to meet with the Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Western "peace" diplomacy resembles the famous chess set up known as Trebuchet zugzwang: a compulsion to move where whoever moves first loses. Many hope Serbia get compelled to move.

The Office of the High Representative in Bosnia on Friday stated that Dodik had been cautioned not to urge a referendum based on the model of the Montenegrin referendum so, promptly, a retraction statement of what Dodik said followed.

"We reject all claims suggesting that we want to break up Bosnia-Hercegovina," said secretary general of the Party of Independent Social Democrats, Rajko Vasic and added that their party leader, Milorad Dodik, had never mentioned concrete plans or steps aimed at holding a referendum but rather, was referring to theoretical, democratic possibilities of using "a modern tool for resolving political problems in this part of Europe".

Meanwhile, Bosnian Muslim caucus inside the Serb Republic parliament's Council of Peoples said that only the Bosnian Parliamentary Assembly could call a referendum in Bosnia at which citizens would say if they were in favor of the separation or - as they promptly reminded Serbs of what they desire the most - the abolition of the Serb Republic.

Obsessed with revenge and with a distinctly Islamic animus for Bosnian Serbs, the Muslim caucus expressed confidence that, perhaps soon and finally, Serbs will be placed in the proper juridical place inside Bosnia: inferior and subservient to the Muslims.

"We are confident that the majority of Bosnian citizens would opt for the abolition of Serb Republic, which would represent the final justice for all the victims of the aggression against Bosnia-Hercegovina," the Islamic caucus said.

The position expressed by this Bosnian Muslim caucus is in line with the policy of the Islamic world, expressed in the 1997 Islamic Conference held in Teheran that "urged" the western powers to reintegrate the country, a codeword for abolition of Serb entity and centralization of the country which presumes domination of Bosnian Muslims over Christians and in particular, the most numerous Serbs.

In the 1997 Tehran Declaration, the Islamic world "urged the international community to support the peaceful and democratic reintegration of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It reiterated its commitment to fully participate in the implementation process."

Since then, the main Bosnian Muslim party, Party of Democratic Action (SDA) has been obsessively campaigning for the abolition of Serb entity.

In reference to Dodik's comments, SDA Muslim chief, Sulejman Tihic said that his statements about announcing a referendum for the independence of the Serb Republic cannot be compared to other regional situations constitutionally and legally and is "politically pointless".

"It is not possible under the Bosnia-Hercegovina constitution, just as the separation of Sandzak and the Vojvodina Hungarians is not possible," Tihic said and prudently omitted to mention Kosovo as a region that does not have this right, possibly because Kosovo is another Muslim state that is a result of internationally sanctioned Islamic Jihad: In the same 1997 Iran-led Islamic conference, UN was urged to "revoke all discriminatory legislation entered into force since 1989," which the ruling UNMIK in Kosovo did with disastrous consequence on Kosovo's property rights.

In an opinion published in Oslobodjenje, Zija Dizdarevic was explicit on the Islamic view of the Kosovo matter.

"Kosovo's independence would indeed set a precedent outside of the legal framework that applies to other parts of former Yugoslavia. This solution, however, is derived from the violence against Albanians; in other words, from Belgrade's unwillingness to rule over Kosovo in a democratic fashion," writes Dizdarevic.

Dizdarevic, of course, skips over such niceties as to how did all of the Christian churches in Kosovo get to be leveled while Muslim mosques remain erected all in the midst of an alleged Serb violence on Muslim Albanians. Indeed, it is not the first time that this perfidious Islamic ideologue with a gift of rhetorical spin, swaps the fate of the vanquished for the fate of the victor: Dizdarevic also complained of the presence of Bosnian Serb President Paravac at the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz because Paravac is a son of a Chetnik soldier, a Serbian guerilla force that vigorously fought Bosnian Muslim SS Units, Skenderbeg, that rounded up Serbs and Jews for deportation to Auschwitz.

Dizdarevic was also critical of the former US Ambassador to Serbia, William Montgomery, because he supposedly expressed "understanding for the Serbs' need to be compensated" so one presumes that, perhaps, Muslims may go to war against the US if, Allah forbid, they side with the Serbs.

At any rate, Montgomery merely cited the known fact about the political sentiments of the Bosnian Serbs.

"A significant portion of Bosnian Serbs at least wants independence, if not a union with Serbia. It is certain that many - at least until now - have not felt any loyalty to the concept of Bosnia-Hercegovina and are afraid of consequences if they are left 'at the mercy' of Croats and Bosniaks," wrote Mongomery.

According to Montgomery, Serb Republic has three options: first is to let go of autonomy it got through Dayton Accords to the central government dominated by Muslims; second, maintain status-quo and face wrath of EU or three, seek independence via Montenegro formula.

That independence for the Bosnian Serb Republic is suddenly an option, made during the week when the Contact Group is readying to launch the final phase of the Kosovo talks cannot be a coincidence for a region that knows not a motive of innocence in the political deal making.