RIFLE RANGE BOY: foe

Chanakya, Machiavelli and Bismarck had one thing in common. They were all master tacticians. They have the best ways to wriggle themselves out of tight situations. In other words, they were Houdinis of realpolitik.

Politics is a strange animal. There is a thin line when a politician morphs to be a statesman. Churchill is hailed as a statesman, but tell that to the people of Bengal who perished in one of the world's most enormous man-made famines. Washington was a statesman too, but tell that to slaves who were uprooted from their villages and endured a torturous voyage across the Atlantic to be sold off as a commodity.

Some people would classify politicians as diametrically opposite to statesmen. Politicians work with the next elections on their minds, whereas statesmen think of the future, supposedly, of the region he represents. His interest is, in a way, self-absorbing. He is not bothered about doing the humane and fair thing or how his actions will affect the rest of the world. It is no skin off his nose.

Nationalism is just a weapon and strives to uphold the dignity of their territorial control. Along the way, anything and everything can be roped in to serve self-interest, be it race, religion, common enemy, denominations, political leanings or environment.

Some of the following quotations by past leaders will give us an idea of how geopolitics actually works.

Your friends are three: your friend, your friend's friend and the enemy of your enemy.
And your enemies are three: your enemy, your friend's enemy and your enemy's friend.

Imam Ali in Nahj-albaga circa 700CE

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Never share your secret with anybody. It will destroy you.
A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first.

Chanakya/Vishnugupta/Kautalya in Arthashathra 4th Century BCE

It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.
Politics have no relation to morals.
He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.

Niccolo Machiavelli

Never believe in anything until it has been officially denied.
Anyone who has looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.

Otto von Bismarck

I'm ready to work with Dr M, says Muhyiddin.

Things mere mortals will never comprehend. A protege becomes a foe, then a partner, become arch enemy, then to be equal yet again for a noble cause, it seems. In the immortal words of Tamil cinema comedian, Goundamani, all these things are expected in politics.