I would not describe live ammunition as "sabre rattling."
Hmmm ... You will gain a better understanding of history if you do.
As is, the phrase is misleading.
Many governments, especially those run by evil men, attempt to
intimidate others by killing people. The phrase is "sabre rattling",
but people die.
Of course, not all "sabre rattling" involves killing people; sometimes
it is just a threat to kill people. But a threat gains credence if
backed by death.
How many a government kills depends on its and the others' culture and
accident.
Thus, if a government thinks that one killing will cause the other
government to be intimidated and give in, it will try to kill just
one. If it thinks that killing three thousand will achieve the same
effect, it will kill three thousand. In either case, it will figure
that such killings and the subsequent giving in of the other side
(presuming its predictions are successful) is less expensive to it
than a war. (I mean an actual war, not a pretend war.)
(Everyone quotes Stalin, who said words to the effect that `one death
creates a martyr; a million deaths create a statistic'. He killed
millions.)
--
Robert J. Chassell
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http://www.rattlesnake.com http://www.teak.cc
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