The evidence used to attribute a nation state in such a case should be solid enough that it would be both admissible and effective in a court of law. As it stands, I do not believe we are anywhere close to meeting that standard.[12]
So, sure, maybe North Korea did it. Hey, maybe Bureau 21 was coordinating a sophisticated computer attack with its network of saboteurs and assassins in the United States, with deadly real-world consequences. You know, like the United States did when it deployed malware that sabotaged nuclear fuel processing plants in Iran (threatening whole regions with radiation poisoning), in coordination with its ally Israel's campaign of methodically assassinating scientists. Now that's cyber-, et. al, warfare![Is it not astounding that, after that, and after the revelations about US cyber-snooping on China and everyone else, the US government can get all up in high dudgeon about alleged North Korean cyberjinx, not only demanding confessions of guilt from the North Koreans, but asking China to help discipline them? Is it not astounding that nobody in the media notices the irony?]Or maybe it was a bunch of wild and crazy kids from Ukraine or Portlandia. Or the Man from U.N.C.L.E. Fact is, at this point, nobody knows who hacked Sony Pictures. And anybody who tells you they do is lying.Me, I'm thinking Bureau 21 probably wasn't all into goofing around with "God'sApstls," the GOP [!], Salted Hash, and the Stephen King of children's books. I'm going with Marc Rogers in thinking that the whole Interview/North Korea meme is best understood as a "lulzy" Red Herring--or, more appropriately in the context, a McGuffin.Let's recognize what's going on here: Only North Korea, or some similar villainous enemy of the US, fills the whole frame nicely -- absolving Sony of any responsibility for avoidable security lapses and reinforcing the "terrorism" fear-mongering that is now the prime narrative of the US government and media. That's why the assumption of North Korea guilt will persist. That beast needs to be fed.It's just a comedy!Let's notice something else that hasn't been very well publicized: The Interview was a government-vetted cultural production and a tool to promote assassination. The nastiest version of the scene where Kim Jong-un is killed by blowing up his head was explicitly lauded by American intelligence professionals because it might inspire Kim's actual assassination.Really. According to a report in the Daily Beast, Sony screened a rough cut of the film for at least two government officials "before moving ahead." They loved it, seeing it as "useful propaganda against the North Korean regime." Beyond that, there was the specific question of the assassination ending.[13]Some Sony executives were skittish about showing the assassination of a sitting head of state, and they were eager for opinions on that ending. There was even a "creative battle" between the execs and Seth Rogen, who had agreed to compromise hisadolescent narcissismcreative integrity in the face of pressure from theadults in the room who were concerned about the politico-ethical implicationsPhilistine suits who had no respect for said creativity. Said Seth, in a painful compromise: "We will make it less gory. There are currently four burn marks on his face. We will take out three of them, leaving only one. We reduce the flaming hair by 50%."However, when Bruce Bennett, a senior RAND Corporation defense analyst, was shown the cut, he advised Sony CEO Michael Lynton that, since the disappearance of the North Korean regime was the desired outcome, and since:the assassination of Kim Jong-Un is the most likely path to a collapse of the North Korean government "a story that talks about the removal of the Kim family regime and the creation of a new government "will start some real thinking in South Korea and, I believe, in the North once the DVD leaks into the North (which it almost certainly will). So from a personal perspective, I would personally prefer to leave the ending alone.Later in the day, Lynton told Bennett that a U.S. government official endorsed his assessment of the film:Ah, the creative process!"Bruce -- Spoke to someone very senior in State (confidentially)," wrote Lynton. "He agreed with everything you have been saying. Everything."That is, prior government review to get advice about how best to tailor a film to the US government's foreign policy objective of promoting the "collapse" of the North Korea regime, and the assassination of the North Korean head of state as the best way to engender that collapse. Every self-regarded "independent, creative artist" in America--including every one associated with The Interview--would, I suggest, not hesitate to call such a production, coming from a disfavored country, "government propaganda."Substitute the United States for North Korea and Obama for Kim, and tell me how crazy the North Korean reaction to this film is. Tell me how crazy the GOP is for saying Sony is "harming the regional peace and security"for money." I don't think Americans are in a position to make too many high-handed judgments about who's crazy and who's not.The Interview is not "just" anything. It's a complicated cultural production, part adolescent comedy, part government propaganda, all potential profit. As with any other film, everything about it involves complicated political and economic calculation. As former Sony executive Mitch Singer remarked: "There's all kinds of censorship that goes on all the time. China being the number two box office country in the world now, I guarantee you big mega-hits are not going to be critical of China because they economically need that market."[14]Indeed, we won't see Li Keqiang's head exploding anytime soon, no matter how repressive his regime is or how funny Seth Rogen thinks the shot would be. Nor would Seth Rogen or Amy Pascal, who both signed on in support of the Israeli slaughter in Gaza last summer, ever think Benjamin Netanyahu's exploding head would make for good, clean American fun.The Interview is also another example of close Hollywood-intelligence-government cooperation in film production, the likes of which we have seen recently in Zero Dark Thirty and Argo--"just" entertainment that just happens to reinforce, through accidentally-on-purpose cooperation, the dominant US government narrative about who's crazy and what's funny.Of course, The Interview isn't going to change any regime. In my book the great crime of the GOP hackers is that they've turned what's probably stupid, adolescent trash into a focus of cultural discussion--because it is important that people not be threatened for seeing movies. It's only withholding the movie that makes it seem an object of cultural importance, and keeps us talking about it.Call me irresponsible, but considering everything soberly, and accepting the fears of the theater owners, I think, for all our sakes, that Ms. Pascal should make her wager and post the damn movie online, where everyone can properly ignore it--as god, if s/he existed, would surely intend.- See more at: click here(Article changed on December 29, 2014 at 22:15)
(Article changed on December 30, 2014 at 13:27)
(Article changed on December 30, 2014 at 13:49)
(Article changed on December 30, 2014 at 13:57)
(Article changed on December 30, 2014 at 17:36)
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Jim Kavanagh Social Media Pages: 
Former college professor, native and denizen of New York City. Blogging at www.thepolemicist.net, from a left-socialist perspective. Also publishing on Counterpunch, The Greanville Post, Medium, Dandelion Salad, and other sites around the net. (more...)
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