Originally Posted by
Courtney Mil
Article 5 is generally invoked by request, Pontious. No deniability there.
The deniability to which I refer is that of "it wasn't us".
If the politicians then hold back from claiming that it was, then you don't have a recognised attack on one.
To take a not wholly improbable scenario.
There are a series of cross border incursions. Your camps ars attacked, your soldiers killed, and you blame your neighbour. You have no evidence except for spent ammunition known to be used by your neighbour. You have no prisoners. Your neighbour denies the attacks.
Is that war?
That actually happened and it was never publicly admitted.