OVER THE past few weeks Russia has stepped up its military involvement in Syria. First Russian warplanes, tanks, armoured personnel carriers and artillery were spotted at a base off the Syrian coast. Then, hours after the Russian parliament granted Vladimir Putin permission to use these forces, Russian planes started to hit rebel targets in Syria on September 30th. A week later, cruise missiles were used as well.
The reasons behind such intervention are varied. Close ties between Russia and Syria go some way to explaining the action, and in particular Russia’s desire to protect its Mediterranean port at Tartus. Political and diplomatic posturing also plays a part. But another aspect of Mr Putin’s plan is to distract attention from the war in Ukraine, which is condemned by the West and has being raging for 18 months. In this, Mr Putin has succeeded. The world’s attention has swung toward Syria, according to data on Google searches, Wikipedia page views and the number of news stories that reference the two countries. As a diversion technique bombing another country is heavy-handed—but apparently effective.
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