“Muddy the waters”in other languages

Same idea, different pictures

English and Japanese stir something until nobody can see through it: water, or tea, ocha o nigosu, like a beginner faking the tea ceremony. French drowns the fish, noyer le poisson, burying an awkward question under a flood of talk.

Russian talks someone's teeth away, заговаривать зубы, like the village healers who chanted toothache away; the patient is distracted rather than cured. Greek dismisses evasive talk with άλλα λόγια ν' αγαπιόμαστε, roughly “say something else so we can stay friends”. English can also give someone the runaround.