We all need a good enemy. As U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates once shrewdly pointed out, the talk of a new Cold War fills him “with nostalgia for a less complex time.” Indeed, the world made a glib sort of sense back then — communism vs. capitalism, good vs. evil empire.

Empires need enemies.

Deception needs enemies.

Alas that some forms of friendship involve not joy but the gathering around the negative pole of a demonised enemy.

Deception needs enemies.

Your deception certainly does.