As alleged viral photographs of the Croatian President are shown to be a case of mistaken identity, Kolinda's visit to America goes almost unreported.
As Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic's trip to America continued on January 4, 2016, the president was causing plenty of international headlines, but for very different reasons.
Indeed, apart from a report in the Minneapolis Post (who were kind enough to reference an article by TCN) there has been little or no coverage of the presidential visit in the American media - but that is not to say that the President has been out of the news...
"This is how the President of Croatia broke the Internet", read one headline, as images allegedly of President Kolinda in a bikini started doing the rounds online. Presidential observers quickly spotted that the bikini photographs were a case of mistaken identity, with the shapely blonde in the photos none other than reality star and model Coco Austin.
The posting of false pictures of the president is not a story in itself, but the fact that respected publications such as The Washington Post and (ok, less respected...) The Daily Mail decided to cover this story while not mentioning the presidential visit to America at all is somehow symbolic of the chaotic nature of Croatian politics at the moment.
With a new government still not formed after the November 8 elections, and with the new Speaker of Parliament escaping the country and the traffic queues for a skiing holiday just five days after being elected, it is somewhat ironic that one of the most popular political stories of the week in the Croatian media surrounded the Irish Ambassador clearing snow from the path of his official residence, hands on work that locals would never dream of expecting from their own elected officials.
This is the second time that President Grabar Kitarovic has unwittingly made global headlines on the topic of a state of undress, as she was filmed next to the unfortunate Ivan Zvonimir Cicak, president of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, as his trousers fell down during an award ceremony, an event which had the President on the pages of Time Magazine.
With the holiday season coming to an end, and - one presumes - a government about to start functioning, it is to be hoped that Croatia's politicians start making global headlines for effective governing.
