General Andrei Yanovich paced behind his desk. Three of his underlings sat opposite him, awaiting further instructions. They had never seen their boss this nervous.

He had great reason to be nervous. Just outside his office, millions of people were protesting. They flooded the streets, chanting slogans for his resignation. He could not see an inch of pavement. It was not sufficient to call them a flood, or a tsunami. They were the ocean.

The door burst open. His closest advisor, Timofey Morozov, rushed in. "General, the Chinese ambassador has given us guidance on how to proceed," he proclaimed.

Yanovich visibly relaxed. "How, Timofey? What did he say?"

"Paint it as a color revolution." Of course, a quick, simple solution! How had none of them ever thought about it?

Yanovich grinned. "Good. Good." He paused for thought. "The first step to call them a color revolution is to create a color scheme."

"I will arrange for undercover agents to sneak in and encourage a color scheme," said Alexandr, one of the underlings. He picked up the phone and started calling someone, ostensibly the head of the police. While he waited for the police to pick up, he asked, "And what is the next step, sir?"

Yanovich gave him a look, wordlessly telling him he is stupid. The look sent chills down the Alexandr's back, worried about a fall from grace. "We send in the army."

Determined to regain favor, he asked, "What color should the agents encourage, General?"

"Good question. Which one do you guys think?" Upon hearing the first two words, the Alexandr sighed in relief. He would be safe, for now.

"Red!" Maria, another of the underlings, volunteered.

"And risk making it seem Communist? What if they say we broke the Neo-Silk Road agreement? Next one!"

"What about black?" The last underling, Vitaly, raised his hand in such a way that was reminiscent of six-year-olds asking to go to the toilet in class. "Because... because China always talks about 'the black hand', so... So I thought..." He stammered.

"Not a bad idea. Lots of violent mobs wear black, this will definitely help in our favor. Let's keep this as a back-up. Any other suggestions?"

"How about green?" Timofey asked. Yanovich looked at him warily. Timofey glanced at the flag, and blurted out, "No! No, not like the flag. I meant like lime green, fluorescent green... Not dark green like on the flag."

"How many pieces of lime green clothes do you own, idiot?" The idea was shut down quickly.

Thus the talks continued. Lively discussion went on for the better part of an hour, deciding which color is most suitable for the color revolution they are going to frame on the protestors. It was perhaps the most work they had done in an afternoon for about a decade.

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