Personalisation and depersonalisation in politics

Presumably everyone knows the saying, "States have no friends, only interests." Supposedly, the former French President Charles de Gaulle said this. The saying is often quoted as an expression of a realistic understanding of politics. If one thinks more precisely about it: Isn't the sentence just stupid? States are subjects under international law, but not subjects in the sense of psychology. At least, "friendship" can only be understood as a so…