I don't think any of this is about politics by other means. When you are competing with another country for resources, land, prestige, et cetera, then that is politics. When a group of people is willing to blow themselves up in order to kill you, that's not politics. That's war in its purest form. But our enemies, knowing that we could nuke them into oblivion if we were so inclined, also know that we're not too keen on flaunting international norms to that extent. So they use political means, when expedient, to keep us in check. Politics, for our enemies, is war by other means.