The enemy of my enemy is my friend

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The phrase the enemy of my enemy is my friend is usually considered a foreign policy doctrine that is commonly used to confront a significant enemy through an intermediary in order to undermine the enemy and in a "cold" manner, as opposed to a "hot", direct confrontation. It is an ancient proverb that means that solely because two parties have a common enemy, they are friends. Often described as an Arabic proverb, there is also an identical Chinese proverb^[1] which may be an extension of another Chinese proverb that says, "It is good to strike the serpent's head with your enemy's hand." A historical example of this policy occurred when the Greeks were attacked by the Persians at Thermopylae; the Greek city-states put aside their differences and fought the common enemy. Other historical examples include Christendom uniting against the Muslim conquests, the Muslim world uniting against the Crusades, or the Allies of World War II uniting against the Axis powers.

Contents 1 In religion 2 In foreign policy 3 In business 4 In nature 5 Criticisms 6 Variations 7 References

[edit] In religion

In Exodus, Chapter 23:22, it is said, "I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you."^[2]

In Matthew, Chapter 22, the Pharisees and the Herodians united against Jesus. Even though they hated each other, they had a common enemy. This simply means the hatred between two parties can easily spread to a third party.

[edit] In foreign policy

In Kautilya's Arthashastra: Book VI, "The Source of Sovereign States", he wrote:

• The king who is situated anywhere immediately on the circumference of the conqueror's territory is termed the enemy.

• The king who is likewise situated close to the enemy, but separated from the conqueror only by the enemy, is termed the friend (of the conqueror).

The doctrine was used extensively during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviets and the Chinese aided North Korea during the Korean War, and the Viet Cong/North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War to oppose American foriegn policy goals.^[3] Likewise, the United States and its allies supported the Afghan Mujahideen after the Soviet invasion in the hopes of thwarting their goals there.^[4] In the Third World, both superpowers were willing to support regimes whose values were at odds with the ideals espoused by their governments -- capitalism and democracy in the case of the United States, and Communism in the case of the Soviet Union. The United States government was willing to support undemocratic regimes in order to oppose the spread of Communism, such as Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire and Augusto Pinochet in Chile.^[5][6] And although not directly related to the global American/Soviet power struggle, the United States also backed Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War due to the anti-American Iranian Revolution of 1979.^[7] Similarly, the Soviet Union supported a handful of nations with overtly anti-Communist governments in order to oppose American foriegn policy, most notably Gamal Abdul Nasser in Egypt.^[8] The Soviets also backed India to counter both the pro-American Pakistani government and the People's Republic of China (following the Sino-Soviet split) -- in spite of the fact that India had a democratic government.^[9]

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is also thought to be the reasoning behind Albania's alignment with the Soviet Union after the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was expelled by the Soviet Union from Cominform in 1948.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] In business

The doctrine can also be seen in the business partnerships formed over the years. One example might be in the speculated purchase of Yahoo! by Microsoft in an attempt to gain marketshare from Google in the online search engine market.^[10]

[edit] In nature

Humans are not the only species to employ the doctrine. Some creatures have evolved to take advantage of the fact that some creatures have natural enemies and benefit can be gained by in turn "making friends" with one or the other. An example that might illustrate this is the Pilot fish that cleans parasites off larger predators like sharks. These smaller fish swim freely around the sharks and even inside the mouths of the sharks that could easily eat the small fish. Since the shark's enemy is the parasite and the parasite's enemy is the smaller fish, the shark considers the Pilot fish a "friend" and accommodates an otherwise potential food source.

[edit] Criticisms

Using a common enemy as the basis for an allegiance is problematic because there are probably very few other areas for common ground, and absent the common enemy, the friends might otherwise be enemies themselves. If the common enemy disappears, the allies might turn on each other. This has been shown before, such as when some of the Afghan Mujahideen fighting the occupying Soviet Army spawned the Taliban and al-Qaeda after the Soviets withdrew, both among America's greatest enemies in the early twenty-first century. Going further back the same situation happened at the end of World War II; without a common enemy, the differences between the United States, the United Kingdom and France and their Soviet allies were no longer accepted because the threat they shared was absent. In many respects, the Soviets and the Americans posed far greater threats to each other than Nazi Germany ever did. Cartoonist Howard Taylor, using humor toward social critique, condenses the concept into 'Rule 29', "The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Variations

The enemy of my enemy is my friend is one of four rules in the rule of triadic interaction. The others are: "the friend of my friend is my friend", "the friend of my enemy is my enemy" and "the enemy of my friend is my enemy" ^[11].

[edit] References