Friends

 

Friendship

If you're ever in a jam, here I am.
If you're ever in a mess, S.O.S.
If you're so happy, you land in jail. I'm your bail.
It's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship.
When other friendships are soon forgot, ours will still be hot.

Is the enemy of your enemy your friend?

As in the Cole Porter song, a friend values your User Optimal almost as much as you do in ALL things.  An enemy might share the same User Optimal as you with respect to your enemy, but that is NOT all things. He still values his User Optimal more than yours.  It is purely a transactional “friendship”.  If his User Optimal with respect to your enemy changes and is no longer shared by you, he will act in his own interests, not yours.

In this sad definition of “friendship”, today’s "friend" may be tomorrow’s enemy.  Thus when the Mujahidin in Afghanistan were fighting the Soviet Union, the United States acted liked they were our friend.  When they became the Taliban and sheltered Osama Bin Laden, they became the enemy of the United States.

When Saddam Hussein was fighting the enemy of the United States, the Islamic Republic of Iran, he was treated as our friend.  When he invaded Kuwait, he became the enemy of the United States.

The saying is that you should keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.  A distinction should be made between real friends, and purely transactional friends.  You would be wise to keep transactional friends, who are only the enemy of your enemy, almost as close as enemies. The difference is that you can trust real friends.  You can’t trust transactional friends.