One of his examples is that you should make yourself unavailable for contact, when you suspect someone is trying to blackmail you.
That's exactly the same severing of a link as described in the article.
Maybe I'm missing something, but how often does blackmail happen that it rises to the level of needing strategic advice like "make yourself unavailable" ?
Who is Tom Schelling's audience?
Politicians setting policies for use of nuclear weapons during the cold war, IIRC. Among others, at least.
I read parts of that book many years ago, I recall the major theme is that voluntarily sacrificing control over the situation can be a powerful way to force the other party to do what you want. Like if you and me are playing "chicken", speeding towards each other and wanting the other to turn away first, you ripping out your steering wheel and throwing it out for me to see is a guaranteed way to force me to turn first and lose. This kind of stuff.
I guess it ties into the larger topic here in that you can avoid being held accountable if you remove the ability to make any choices yourself.