Word: blackmail
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...radio broadcast, Wazzan, a Sunni Muslim leader, called the continuing Israeli attacks "escalated blackmail that renders me unable to execute the duties of my office." His resignation, however, was not accepted. Walid Jumblatt, who served as a key conduit in the delicate negotiations involving the U.S., Israel and the P.L.O., announced his resignation at a news conference at which he stated that the Palestinians were ready for an honorable surrender but that Israel would not grant it. The Israelis, said Jumblatt, "just want to kill [the Palestinians] and the Lebanese with them...
Sherwin: Yes, it has a meaning, and the meaning is tied to the point that I was making--it's called nuclear diplomacy, atomic diplomacy, or nuclear blackmail, that sort of thing. The fear is that the side with more, with a superiority, will be willing to threaten more. It's a vague, general perception that has specificity, that is in a sense contrary to theory and in a sense beyond the bounds of history....It's a problem in cultural anthropology, and we don't want the Soviets to be superior...
...more valid now that power is nuclear. Precisely because these arsenals must not be used, they must keep each other in check. A gross imbalance, while it might not make war any less suicidal, would create opportunities for the side with the advantage to engage in bullying, blackmail, bluffing and adventurism; thus it would raise the danger of a political crisis turning into a military one, inadvertently but catastrophically...
...from cocaine. So it is appropriate that Colorado also boasts the country's only clinic of its type exclusively for coke abusers. Operated by the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, it has been extraordinarily successful in helping people kick the habit. Its principal method? Self-blackmail. The abuser, who comes to the clinic voluntarily and usually in desperation, promises to quit and then designs a painfully severe penalty for failure. The nature of the punishment varies with the individual...
...sessions to all patients, recommending life-style changes-finding new, nonsnorting friends for example-and helping them to understand the reasons for their habit. Cocaine is not, strictly speaking, physically addictive. But, says Clinic Coordinator Antoinette Helfrich, it has a "reinforcing nature-people want more and more." The self-blackmail contract seems to stir up the resources necessary to break the cycle. The key, says Helfrich, is that "patients have a reason not to do the drug that is stronger than any reason...