It is not true, as illustrated in the example of extortion, that in the face of a threat it is invariably an advantage to be rational, particularly if the fact of being rational or irrational cannot be concealed. It is not invariably an advantage, in the face of a threat, to have a communication system in good order, to have complete information, or to be in full command of one's own actions or of one's own assets. Mossadeq and my small children have already been referred to; but the same tactic is illustrated by the burning of bridges behind oneself to persuade an adversary that one cannot be induced to retreat. An old English law that made it a serious crime to pay tribute to coastal pirates does not necessarily appear either cruel or anomalous in the light of a theory of strategy.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 52