Heads swiveled today when the US dropped the “mother of all bombs“ in Afghanistan, targeting an ISIS tunnel and cave complex. Officially known as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, the MOAB is America’s biggest non-nuclear bomb. This is was its first-ever use.  

Here in the newsroom, we talked about whether the bomb’s deployment might have sent a message to North Korea, a master military tunnel builder. Pyongyang certainly is getting other military messages as its provocative acts rattle East Asia: A US aircraft carrier strike group is steaming toward the Korean peninsula, and Japan appears ready to join it.

But words matter in preventing a crisis as well. Are the US and China cooperating in that arena? China’s language toward its ally Kim Jong-un has toughened since President Trump and President Xi met last week. Its Global Times newspaper warned Kim yesterday that Washington meant business – and foreshadowed tougher sanctions from Beijing if things get worse. 

Those kinds of communications are crucial – and can be equally powerful in keeping tensions from escalating to the battlefield.