The point is you don't issue warnings to thugs unless the threat of death is behind them, Humphrey Bogart to Sydney Greenstreet, The Maltese Falcon, 1941.

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"The Maltese Falcon (1941)," IMDB, Quotes 

Humphrey Bogart explains threats

"Sam Spade: If you kill me, how are you going get the bird? And if I know you can't afford to kill me, how are you going to scare me into giving it to you? 

Kasper Gutman: Well, sir, there are other means of persuasion besides killing and threatening to kill. 

Sam Spade: Yes, that's... That's true. But, there're none of them any good unless the threat of death is behind them. You see what I mean? If you start something, I'll make it a matter of your having to kill me or call it off. 

Kasper Gutman: That's an attitude, sir, that calls for the most delicate judgment on both sides. Because, as you know, sir, in the heat of action men are likely to forget where their best interests lie and let their emotions carry them away. 

Sam Spade: Then the trick from my angle is to make my play strong enough to tie you up, but not make you mad enough to bump me off against your better judgment. 

Kasper Gutman: By gad, sir, you are a character."...(scroll down)

3/2/14, "‘Brandishes phone at Putin!’ WH releases baffling pic of Obama phone call; Most disturbing part?"

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Added: No one is saying to bomb Russia. It wouldn't help anyway. Obama is only one of billions of people who can do nothing about Putin. "A pen and a phone" are sufficent to defeat the US but they don't effect Putin.  Even if Obama wanted to scare Putin he has no means to do so.






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