In the "and-you-thought-Congress-was-petty" bin we have the diplomatic row between Macedonia and Greece:

The new Macedonian republic, in voting for a new flag ... was immediately interpreted by parties in Greece as a clear statement of territorial ambition.

[It was seen as] a symbolic threat to Greek national identity and its relationship with the past.

Already angry at the use of the name Macedonia, which is also one of Greece's northern provinces, Athens insisted the flag be changed.

It eventually was, becoming the current yellow-and-red Sun flag, and the country agreed to go by the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Yeah, I know, I'm an insensitive American thug who doesn't even attempt to understand the nuances of this tender issue. Doesn't mean this isn't the dumbest thing I've heard out of the balkans since the media made the "shocking discovery" that ethnic cleansing was about more than making smelly people take showers. Well, take showers in water anyway.