The current crop of Invasion movies and series all seem to follow the same basic trope:  The decision makers for every interstellar civilization that stumbles across Earth are  genocidal lunatics.<br/><br/>We might be a threat one day?  They decide to wipe us out.<br/><br/>They don't like the way we treat the ecosphere?  They decide to wipe us out.<br/><br/>They want our natural resources?  They decide to wipe us out.<br/><br/>Take the remake of "The Day The Earth Stood Still as an example:  In the original Klaatu was delivering a pointed message to earth.  "We don't like the road you're heading down.  We will not allow you to become a threat to us.  Is that clear?"  But Klaatu went to great lengths to make his point in a way that was both a very convincing display of the power his people had at their disposal, and yet had a remarkably low body count.<br/><br/>Contrast that to the remake, in which Klaatu is a genocidal loon.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body"> Yes, yes, he stops GORT from actively exterminating the human race, but if you don't think the EMP that wipes out Humanity's man-made electrical capacity doesn't indirectly kill billions of people, well, think again.</div></div><br/>I have something in mind that is a little more complicated.<br/><br/>The Domino Theory was the lynchpin of American strategic thought in the sixties.  It held that if Vietnam fell, the geopolitical impact would result in the fall of other Southeast Asian nations, and that would lead to a true shift of the strategic balance in favor of the communist block.  It didn't turn out that way for a variety of reasons.<br/><br/><br/>But this time, the finger pushing the domino may not be human.<br/><br/>It is January of 1968.  The Tet cease fire until recently was holding other than heavy action around Khe Sanh. But a few days ago the North Vietnamese seem to have gone completely nuts, announcing at the UN that they would never accept the American ultimatum to withdraw from Laos.<br/><br/>What Ultimatum? the American ambassador responded blankly.<br/><br/>The North Vietnamese delegate produced a document - one of several identical copies that were found on the grounds of the Presidential Palace in Hanoi that was quite terse:<br/><br/>Withdraw all combat forces from within the borders of Laos.  You have 120 hours to comply.<br/><br/>And yet, when the document was produced a the UN, the wording was:  Withdraw all combat forces from within the borders of Laos.  You have 93 hours to comply.  While the Secretary General of the UN was holding the sheet in his hands, and it was not paper that was certain, the wording changed again:<br/><br/>Withdraw all combat forces from within the borders of Laos. You have 92 hours to comply.<br/><br/>When reporters asked President Johnson's press secretary if a similar ultimatum had been delivered to the White House, there was no comment given.<br/><br/>At the 72 hour point given of the countdown, a couple of amateur astronomers reported seeing something unusual, gently glowing objects that they lost track of.  One said they seemed to be slowing visibly in the hour or so he was able to observe them.  The other said that they seemed to be taking deliberate evasive action.  Both agreed that the objects were coming from, or perhaps from behind the sun. Crazy, eh?<br/><br/>There are now 24 hours left on the countdown.  The siege of Khe Sanh has more or less collapsed, the North Vietnamese Army has pulled back, NVA troops seem to be repositioning to defend Laos.  South Vietnamese and American forces are at full alert, all leaves have been canceled.<br/><br/>It is January 1968.  A time of social disruption, war, the promise of peace, hope for a new age.  But a new player has entered the game, and is holding very high cards in not at all human hands.<br/><br/>IC Thread:  http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=113972.0 (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=113972.0)