Telephone call listing solves the mystery of Del Vechio's presence at the 9th of January event

By: Armin ALJOVIC

As much as Dragan Covic tried to end the story about the 9th of January by minimizing the importance of 'Croat delegation' at Dodik's celebration academy, one cannot help but notice Covic's avoiding the mere mention of Croatian ambassador Del Vechio in that context, even though they appeared together in Banja Luka.   

Speaking from experience, Covic may succeed in 'passivating' BH public, however, a rapidly growing snowball of questions regarding the behavior of Croatian diplomacy will not be easy to stop in Croatia.

The entire Croatian public has come down heavily on both Covic and Del Vechio over the past days, from the left to the right of the political spectrum. Nobody seem to understand how Covic and Del Vechio could possibly attend the event at which Dodik awarded general Slavko Lisica, convicted of war crimes in Croatia.    

While Dodik was giving award for war crimes committed in Croatia's Sibenik, Covic and Del Vechio were applauding. 'I hope that ambassador Del Vechio is merely stupid', said Croatian historian Ivo Banac, hoping that the decision about the ambassador's participating in the event of January 9 was not based on the official stance of Croatian government.

Croatian intellectual Zarko Puhovski said: 'We have to bear in mind that Dodik is a man who usually on weekends holds prochetnik speeches, while on workdays he helps Slovenian, Croatian and Austrian capital to make its way to the Republika Srpska. Therefore, those relations are nothing new, they are only somewhat more arrogantly shown to the public.

As regards Del Vechio's presence at Dodik's private party – to which even Serbs come only if they have to – one cannot escape the impression that Republic of Croatia, in spite of its European orientation, still functions based on the remains of the politics characterized by the Hague verdict because of the war against Bosnia and Herzegovina and its citizens as 'joint criminal enterprise'.

To put it simply, if Del Vechio's behavior towards BiH represents the stance of Croatian diplomacy towards this country, how could we not suspect that 'deep Croatia' still lives?! Did Ambassador Del Vechio receive instructions as regards his participation in Banja Luka events from those circles? If so, do members of those circles sit in advisors' armchairs at the presidential office of Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, or at Croatian Sabor or Plenkovic's government? Someday, Croatia will find out where they are, just like it found out about 'red telephone' of its first president Tudjman and then Serbia's president Milosevic.    

Speaking of telephones, it comes to mind that, perhaps, the background of Del Vechio's wrong move towards his own country and the neighboring BiH could be identified by perusing telephone calls list between Del Vechio, Covic and Croatia.