![](https://strategicdemands.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/The-Gates-of-Hell_Rodin-225x300.jpg)
Count the ways words and belligerance can escalate to war. A litany comes to mind — miscalculation, provocation, preemption, a Gulf of Tonkin moment, or just a temper-tantrum acted out in a “fit of pique” (James Clapper’s words). We could go on, but words that draw the world closer to the edge, push closer to disaster