It means that other countries do not attack the country with the "deterrent" because they might be attacked back.

These smaller countries are distinct from the barbarian nation, and do not normally attack major nations unless attacked first.

If Asian countries are attacking universal human rights, it is because they are under closer scrutiny.

Is it only a matter of time before countries attack one another's computers?

Smaller countries have also attacked Government waste and inefficiency.

Each promised to stay neutral if another country attacked them for the next five years.

The three countries promised to help each other if another country attacked them.

In all the years since its first swearing at the completion of the Great Road, neither country had ever attacked the other.

The large countries are attacking the equal rights enshrined in the rotating presidencies.

It would also offer Iraq guarantees that the countries with forces in the gulf would not attack.