Strip 635 -- First Seen: 2011-02-11
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The Transcript For This Page

Panel 1
Bert and Ed at the Chez Trief.
Bert: So, what's their game plan?
Ed: A pretext.

Panel 2
Focus on Ed, picking up a bite-size of fried meal worms with his fork.
Ed: Every war in the last three centuries has used some pretext on behalf of various puppet masters and their hidden agendas.
Ed: The Reichstag fire, the Tonkin Bay Incident, the Twin Towers, the Paris dirty nuke.

Panel 3
Looking over Ed's shoulder at Bert.
Ed: Some were lies, some were accidents, and I think some were 'false flag' operations.
Bert: That's depressing. What sort of pretext to you see here?

Panel 4
Ed is holding up his wine glass, about to take a sip, as he speaks.
Ed: How about, 'UW tourists attacked by Cererean thugs?'
Ed: There could have been a fatal conflict in the Iron Rock, had things gone differently.

Panel 5
Set camera between Bert and Ed, so we can see out the Chez Tief window at the Hôtel de Crillon, across the plaza.
Ed: That didn't work, so this business at the hotel is plan B.
Ed: They're going to hoist us on our own petard.
Bert: How so?

Panel 6
Focus on Bert, eyes widening as Ed describes the scenario.
Ed: Ceres has no immigration control, no weapons restrictions.
Ed: So they can march right in and do what they want so long as they use no aggression.

Panel 7
Focus on Ed, wagging his fork to emphasize his point.
Ed: As soon as these 'tourists' get their pretext, they'll take 'defensive action' to protect the lives of UW citizens threatened by us cutthroats.

Panel 8
Two-shot of Bert and Ed at the table, finishing their meal.
Ed: It's a replay of how the old United States gobbled up the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Ed: Look up The Committee of Safety, Hawaii in the Tanglepedia. It's an eye-opener.