In an unprecedented joint US/UK government effort the United States and the United Kingdom yesterday announced the creation of a joint website. An acknowledgement of the complex and fluid nature of international diplomacy in the modern world, the aim of the new service will be to provide citizens of both countries with a continuously updated list of enemies and allies of the two countries.
“The basic concept will be very simple”, Bill Igbrother told us. “The site will show a map of the world with a continuously updated colour code dividing the world into Enemy and Friendly states.” “Simply rolling the cursor over any country will enable users to check not only if a country is an enemy or friendly state, but also whether that status is currently in the process of changing for instance when a previous enemy such as Libya is half way through becoming a friend.”
Tony Blair simultaneously announcing the website in a BBC interview told reporters “We have become aware that it’s very difficult for our citizens to follow just who our friends and enemies are nowadays. Monday Libya, and Iran are enemies, Wednesday Libya is a friend and Iran is kind of so-so, and by Friday we’re all best of friends and we’re dispatching Prince Charles. It’s hard for people in the government to follow, let alone ordinary citizens. Friendorenemy.com will address that issue.”
The website, to be built by Microsoft corporation will feature patented technology to display different information for users from the different countries. “Sometimes there’s a lag of a few days before a status change in the US is seen in the UK or vice versa or sometimes we just forget to tell each other about a change. The double-take™ technology that Microsoft have specifically developed for us will enable users in both countries to see up to date and country specific information as it happens and will also tailor it’s use of the English language to be more easily readable in each country. Thus terms such as “friend/enemy” in the UK will become “Good/Bad Guy” in the US.
In an unprecedented joint US/UK government effort the United States and the United Kingdom yesterday announced the creation of a joint website.