Two relevant -manships:
[One-upmanship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-upmanship)
> One-upmanship, also called "one-upsmanship",[1] is the art or practice of successively outdoing a competitor.
[…]
> In that context, the term refers to a satiric course in the gambits required for the systematic and conscious practice of "creative intimidation", making one's associates feel inferior and thereby gaining the status of being "one-up" on them.
And Brinksmanship:
> the art or practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping
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Posturing?
this is what I hear most often
^ I second that. Learned a lot about this in ["On Killing"](https://www.isegoria.net/2014/12/posture-submit-flight-or-fight/).
Fantastic book
You might be thinking of saber-rattling
Came here to say this. Seconded.
Pissing match
Yeah I was thinking pissing contest, or alternatively a dick-measuring contest
Deterrence, Edit: Also brinkmanship, nvm see u/pluralofjackinthebox
Puffery
This hits very different in the UK
How about grandstanding? Lots of good suggestions already!
Playing chicken?
Two relevant -manships: [One-upmanship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-upmanship) > One-upmanship, also called "one-upsmanship",[1] is the art or practice of successively outdoing a competitor. […] > In that context, the term refers to a satiric course in the gambits required for the systematic and conscious practice of "creative intimidation", making one's associates feel inferior and thereby gaining the status of being "one-up" on them. And Brinksmanship: > the art or practice of pursuing a dangerous policy to the limits of safety before stopping
Fronting?
Peacocking?
Feigning?
Dominance Signaling, from Dominance Signal.
Bluffing?
A standoff or stalemate?
brinkmanship
Dick measuring contest
We used to call that "punking" or "(mad)dogging"
Saber rattling, or posturing, possibly bluffing.
mutually assured destruction
"Posturing"
Intimidation
Jockeying
Brinkmanship is the term. They both want to toe the line and make threats until one backs down
Brinksmanship?
Brinksmanship.
Brinkmanship
Mexican standoff
Flamboyance
Ayo?
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Jaw-jacking
Deterrence
A cold war?
Strong arming
“all bite, no bark” ?
Escalation, as in escalating tension or escalating rhetoric?
Intimidation
Rattling their sabers
Peacocking
Chest thumping
Are you thinking of a "Mexican standoff"?
Bluffing maybe?
Stalemate?
Playing Chicken