Man that paranoid guy is stupid. Threaten and attack someone enough, and even try to kill them, and then they'll fight back. Then what, be all like, "See?! They're dangerous, I knew it all along!" when you're the one that provoked them by being violent first?
Similar to all those villains in stories who are always, "To ensure peace, we must make war and strike the first blow! Show them our strength!" ...and they don't realize that other nations aren't extremely concerned about their strength if they don't use it aggressively to attack people. On the other hand, once they do start attacking other nations, they become a threat that every other nation allies against to beat, causing the very war they wanted to "avoid".