the enemy of my enemy is my friend

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the principle that a shared adversary creates a basis for temporary alliance between parties who may otherwise have no natural affinity or common interest; the idea, rooted in ancient Indian political philosophy and the Arthashastra, describes the logic of coalitional politics in which the existence of a common threat overrides other differences; it warns that such alliances are typically instrumental and unstable, dissolving once the shared enemy is defeated, as seen in the wartime alliance between the Western democracies and the Soviet Union that gave way immediately to the Cold War