When reading this post I thought about “Dr Strangelove” movie. “In strategies of Commitment”, Thomas Schelling refers to “Dr Strangelove” movie and the ‘Doomsday Machine’ (DM), a device that would annihilate all trace of life on Earth if there is a nuclear strike on the U.S.S.R., in order to explain that for a threat to be effective it requires an “announcement that punishment will be forthcoming in the event of misbehavior”. Reading the 2007 survey I understand that there is plenty brand new device of terror… so, my hope is that there is no DM out there that nobody knows about.

In its book Schelling says that “a threat, …, to be effective must be persuasive, and persuasiveness has two dimensions that may be called “potency” and credibility. Potency refers to the ability of the person making the threat to carry it out on a scale sufficient to make compliance attractive. Credibility refers to the correspondent’s belief that what was threatened will indeed be carried out”. If administration initiatives impact either the US “potency”, or its “credibility” then may I conclude that it impacts also the commitment of “Extended Deterrence” and ‘reduce its ability to manage a crisis should one occur’. or does it?