Unholy alliance (geopolitical)

An unholy alliance popularly refers to an alliance which is perceived as unnatural, unusual, or simply undesirable, sometimes between seemingly antagonistic parties.

Original use
In 1855, the term Unholy Alliance was used for Western European alliances with the Ottoman Empire against the interests of Russia, Greece, and most of the Balkans.

Later use
In 1912, US politician Theodore Roosevelt campaigned against the "invisible government", "the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics".

In the context of World War II, the term has been used for the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and the alliance of the Soviet Union with the Western Powers against Germany.

The term came to be used by the African liberation movement against its enemies. The Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity, meeting in its Fourteenth Ordinary Session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 27 February to 6 March 1970, stated they were "Deeply concerned at the strengthening of the unholy alliance among the racist regimes of Pretoria, Salisbury, Lisbon and their collaboration with other imperialist powers..." U.S. and British supplies of arms and other support to South Africa, Rhodesia, and Portuguese overseas provinces, principally Angola and Mozambique, during the Cold War are implied here. In its resolution 3151 G (XXVIII) of 14 December 1973, the UN General Assembly condemned, what it called, the unholy alliance between South African racism and zionism.