It also explains why a “promise” to abstain from a choice that would damage the other player may not be welcomed by him. A promise that permits him safely to make a particular choice may assure us that he would make it, so that we can count on it and make some prior choice that is to his disadvantage.

XREF: Connects to game theory and commitment signalling literature, and to the paradox of credible commitments in negotiation.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 787