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Threat inflation (n.) can turn a Third World country that couldn't beat a gutted Iran into a superpower about to conquer the world — and only a well-schooled intellectual can keep a straight face.
Threat inflation (n.) depends on leaving out the obvious: a small state could use a bomb only for self-defense, since using it any other way would bring its own annihilation.
Threat inflation (n.) is the art of bludgeoning even the mass mind of top government — painting the enemy frightening enough to overcome the public's wish for peace and low taxes.