No great command of the intricacies of non zero-sum games is required to understand what may be going on between Pyongyang and Washington. All that is needed is an extended metaphor originating from one of the high priests of game-theory, T. C. Schelling.
If a desperate-looking and thoroughly dishevelled man knocked at your door and asked for a little money, threatening to kill himself there and then if you did not give him something, you would probably think it best to accede to his wishes. His apparently crazed demeanour and blighted appearance lend his threat to do away with himself far more credibility than it would otherwise possess.
