Hanley Strange things happen during a war.
People suddenly change sides in abrupt and unexpected ways.
In English there is no real word for this phenomenon. Since the onset of NATO air strikes against Kosovo, the Czech Republic has been undergoing its own peculiar drole de guerre. Prime Minister Milo Zeman stood at attention with his Hungarian and Polish counterparts as the Czech flag was unfurled at NATO headquarters in Brussels. All the pundits were agreed that joining NATO was the thing to do. But, as the first cruise missiles hit Yugoslavia, it was a choice that leading Czech politicians seemed to be speedily and shiftily disavowing.