If Klinkel did not lift the whole matter to the level of an "international issue", summoning to his office the Croatian Ambassador in Bonn Mr Ivan Ilic, it is most likely no one would have known of the "incident", that is, that the Croats by emphasising their flag "damaged the sovereignty of Bosnia and Herzegovina".
There was no response regarding this from European Union's administration in Mostar, nor the Sarajevo media which is quite unusual given Klinkel's reaction. Only the media in Serbia reported the displeasure of the chief of the Bonn diplomacy towards Zagreb.
If all the visible pressures being placed on Croatia and Croats are to one side so that peace in Bosnia can be patched together at their cost and according to the measure of the west then the question remains: Why is it that the chief of the Bonn diplomatic corps just at this moment sees the Croatian flag as a diplomatic provocation? Is it possible that Kinkel is not aware that there is not a Federation flag, and that the Croats have no other flag beside the one that disturbs him? Croats, just like Germans are "Kulturvolk", which means that as members of the same nation they do not live within the one state, as is the case with say the French, but by the fact that they belong to the same cultural- historical context and share the same identity. It is because of this that the Croats were able to survive under the foreign rule but always had their own, one flag.
It is difficult to believe that Kinkel does not know or understand this. It would be similarly difficult to believe that Kinkel has forgotten that hundreds of thousands of West German flags were flying in East German cities at the time when the German Democratic Republic existed as an internationally recognised state. That was in 1989/90, almost one full year prior to unification. Was that also a provocation? Even if unification did not eventuate, would that have been termed as incidents?
Therefore, it is useful to ask why the Croatian friend Kinkel has such "poor nerves". Because of his injured vanity? Reliable sources state that during Kinkel's last visit to Zagreb when he was desperately trying to save the failed arbitration of his countrymen Koschnik he exchanged sharp words with the President.
Or, because of his own weak position in relation to German politics and party relations?
In any event, it is indicative, after the politico- diplomatic debacle in and about Mostar that Kinkel demonstratively invited the united Zagreb opposition, which is a precedent in Germany or the west. No where has it happened that the entire opposition, one that is in frontal conflict with the party in power, has received such an invitation. Unless, it is the intention by the gesture to meddle in the internal affairs of the country in question. It is similarly indicative that Kinkel gave an interview to a Rijeka newspaper which has for months been leading a political campaign against the Croatian President. For anyone with even a little political sensitivity all of this is more than an ordinary signal. And now there is this fabrication of an "incident" about a Croatian flag on a Mostar railway bridge, financed by the Germans.
Isn't all of this too obvious for it to simply fall into the context of a political manoeuvre of the German government on this territory and towards our country?