Washington has set an example with the sanctions against Milorad Dodik: The President of the Bosnian Serbs now knows that the United States will oppose his attempts to weaken Bosnia-Herzegovina.
President Biden seems to know what is at stake across the region if Bosnia should disintegrate.
However, the sanctions can only become really effective if the European Union joins them.
But Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has already announced that he wants to prevent any EU sanctions against Dodik with a veto.
Sanctions could also be a gift
But perhaps the sanctions will already achieve their purpose.
That does not consist in driving the democratically elected dodik from power or dissolving the Bosnian Serb republic.
The point is to bring Dodik back to the negotiating table and to make it clear to him that an ongoing blockade of state institutions will isolate one actor in the region above all: himself.
Politically, the American sanctions in view of the Bosnian elections this year could also turn out to be a gift for Dodik: They enable the local prince to pose as an upright champion for Serbianism in Bosnia.