[Puke]

yeah, you could say something absurd like: the US cut off the petrolium supply to Japan, and isolated them from trade with other western nations, forcing their industry into the ground and provoking an attack against our conveniently placed obsoleet ships so that we would have an excuse to go to war.

is something like that what you were thinking about saying? it would not be too far off the mark, tho it was one of our more brilliant strategic moves. seriously, who declares war does not make a whole lot of difference. even with no treaty, or a NI treaty, one empire could be interdicting shipping or attacking things without ever declaring war.

you can do nasty things like raid a planet and claim its in your borders so its not an act of war. the person that declairs war is probably most often not even the agressor. and besides, why are agressors bad? just keep yourself informed of the political situation, and pick a side. nobody likes a person who sits on the fence.

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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)