rattling the sabre
Threatening without attacking
Rattling the sabre is making aggressive threats or displays of military power without necessarily intending to follow through.
A nation rattles the sabre by moving troops to a border or conducting provocative exercises.
The phrase suggests the noise of a weapon being brandished rather than drawn: The president's speech was just rattling the sabre.
Also *sabre-rattling* as a noun.
- geopoliticsGeography's role in statecraft
- brinkmanshipPushing conflicts to disaster's threshold
- bluffingDeceiving about one's position
- threatIndication of potential harm
- empty threatsInsincere warnings of consequences
ultimatums · red line · intimidation · posturing · war games · nuclear option · sanctions · deterrence · signaling · negotiations · drawing a line in the sand · line in the sand · rhetoric · tough talk · war of words · coercion · gunboat diplomacy · raising the stakes
rattling the sabrebuilding bridges
Fostering relationships between parties
appeasing · burying the hatchet · disarmament talks · rapprochement
rattling the sabregoing to war
declaring war · pulling the trigger · following through · crossing the Rubicon · boots on the ground
rattling the sabrede-escalating
Reducing intensity of conflict
standing down · backing down · backing off · demilitarizing · lowering the temperature
rattle, rattles, rattled, rattler, rattlers, sabre, sabres, sabers