Offers and demands (a slight return)

Well, that has to be a relief. Wednesday afternoon, the Middle East was "on brink." By Thursday morning, it was merely "rattled," though apparently by the same image:

A.J. Liebling would be pleased, in his way, to note that one side in this confrontation "threatens," while the other "condemns" -- or merely "vows" that it's "locked and loaded." Let's turn the microphone over to another great midcentury American commentator for today's example of the "realism-free zone": If you offer to poison your sister, why are you surprised when she threatens to poison you right back?