In its ten-hour emergency session, the Serb Republic's parliament rejected both Mr Poplasen's dismissal and the Brcko decision.
Those differentials have since eroded, not because Brcko is doing less well, but because the rest of Bosnia is catching up.
The future of Brcko almost derailed the talks that ended the war.
Brcko is the narrowest point in the Bosnian Serb territory, and falls midway between the east and west halves of Republika Srpska.
Mr Dodik has met Brcko's international supervisor to discuss implementation of the decision, and continues to say he wants to co-operate with Bosnia's international overseers.
In 2003 people in Brcko earned twice the average pay of people in Republika Srpska, and a quarter more than the average in the Bosniak-Croat federation.
In a couple of interim rulings about Brcko, Mr Owen had said that his eventual decision about the town and its surroundings would depend on how the peace agreement was implemented there.
Karadzic has offered to resign from the presidency after the September elections in exchange for Western security guarantees for Republika Srpska and the Serbs being given control of the strategic town of Brcko.
In his final award, Mr Owen ruled that the Serb authorities above all, Mr Poplasen had blocked both the return of Muslims and Croats to Brcko and the return of displaced Serbs living there to the Muslim-Croat Federation.
But that outcome is far from certain, given that voter registration, which was due to end this week, seems to have been marred by widespread irregularities in places like Brcko, a contested town in the Serb Republic which the Muslims hope to gain after international arbitrators report next March.
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