The international community’s focus on battling Covid-19 provides the perfect cover for criminal political adventurism.
When France was distracted with a national election and a range of unresolved domestic issues in 1936, Nazi Germany seized it as an opportunity to violate the Treaty of Versailles by remilitarising the Rhineland. This buffer zone had been established in the aftermath of World War I to prevent it from threatening its western neighbours.
History is replete with examples of expansionist states using distraction and diversion as a weapon or element of surprise – as illustrated by Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 when the world’s attention was fixated on the Beijing Olympic Games.
It’s no secret that world leaders often use foreign policy as a means to divert attention from political problems at home, as illustrated by the United States’ assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, which was likely carried out to distract from President Donald Trump’s impeachment hearing.