LONDON Shorting is a tactic well known among the financial cognoscenti.

Is this just another stalling tactic, or an opening to real reform?

It is a sadistic and cruel tactic, designed to terrorize hundreds of thousands inside their own homes.

In addition to more conventional methods of raising money, hostage taking is an established terrorist tactic.

Then there is the simple tactic of restricting your options in advance, when you have the strength.

The prime example of disaggregation is the Nord Stream pipeline, which appeals to Germany while angering Poland and the Baltic countries.

For three years, it has tried every conceivable tactic to bring Saakashvili down fomenting a domestic uprising, imposing an economic blockade, beefing up its forces in the enclaves, and finally a war.

LONDON Shorting is a tactic well known among the financial cognoscenti. It means betting against an asset with borrowed money in the expectation of making a profit when its value goes down.

Using the energy weapon, however, is not just a tactic it is at the heart of the prevailing doctrine guiding Russian foreign policy.

Unfortunately, what emerged was a deeply flawed approach, not least because in declaring a war on terror, America positioned itself against a tactic, not an entity or an ideology.

The fortune accumulated by Bo s wife (reliance on proxies, especially relatives, is a common tactic of corrupt officials everywhere) highlights the opportunities for the well connected to get ahead.

Instead, using an old Soviet tactic, Putin has imposed informal price controls, which cannot hold for long in a privatized economy.

Recall that Turkey made its first application to join in 1959, and that since 1963, the European Economic Community, the forerunner to today s EU, responded with a delaying tactic a request for a customs agreement.

For what Kim is now offering is not peace, but a peace offensive a tactic used by the North repeatedly since the armistice of 1953 in order to sow division whenever the regime s adversaries have demonstrated unity and resolve.

The French Navy won some important victories near the end of the 17th century but a focus upon land forces led to the French Navy's relative neglect, which allowed the Royal Navy to emerge with an ever growing advantage in size and quality, especially in tactics and experience, from 1695.

It remains to be seen whether Abu Marzouk s view is merely a tactic intended to encourage the Obama administration to reach out to Hamas, or whether the war convinced Hamas that the two state solution is the only viable option to settle the conflict with Israel.