Tag Archives: The Interview

Foreign Policy, International, Politics, US

Obama Sanctions North Korea, Citing Discredited Sony Allegation

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White House Says Sanctions ‘First Aspect’ of Retaliation

by Jason Ditz, January 02, 2015

Even though the FBI’s allegations that North Korea was behind the hacking of Sony Pictures have long since been discredited, with cybersecurity experts pointing the finger at a group of hackers centered around a disgruntled former employee, President Obama today announced a new round of sanctions against North Korea explicitly in retaliation for this.

White House officials termed the sanctions the “first aspect” of the president’s promised “proportional” retaliation against North Korea for cancelling the release of Sony movie The Interview, a movie which was released at any rate.

The timing of the sanctions suggests there’s more than just a botched FBI investigation behind them, however, as the sanctions were announced just one day after both North and South Korea began talking up a summit designed to improve ties between the two.

Whenever North Korea has suggested any sort of rapprochement with the US, it has been dismissed by President Obama out of hand, and this move may be designed to sabotage any South Korean talks, or to at least send the signal that no matter what the Park government decides, the US will remains hostile to North Korea.

Featured, US

Breaking: Sony WILL Release “The Interview” on Christmas Day After All

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UPDATE: Sony has announced as of Tuesday night that at least 200 theaters will be part of the Christmas Day release of “The Interview”.

After all the discussions, debates, soundbites and all around noise surrounding “The Interview”, Tuesday, Sony Pictures Inc. announced that it will in fact, release “The Interview” on Christmas Day. This should raise the question… “Was the public and especially the media being played?” For more on that, watch the video at the bottom of this story, but as of today, “The Interview” is moving forward.

After announcing they would not distribute the film following the reluctance of many theaters to run the picture in the aftermath of a terrorist threat from hacking organization Guardians of Peace, Sony has now decided to allow the film to play in selected theaters.

This according to the Alamo Drafthouse, headquartered in Texas which tweeted “Victory” on Tuesday.

Other small theaters, including the Plaza, Atlanta have announced that they will be screening the Seth Rogan/James Franco comedy as well.

Just a few days ago, Ben Swann interviewed Tyrel Ventura and Tabetha Wallace about this issue and at the time predicted that media was being played. Ventura and Wallace predicted that Sony would release “The Interview” despite its insistence that it would not.

International, Technology, US

Obama says Sony made a ‘mistake’ after canceling film release

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President Obama, in his final press release for 2014, has said the cancellation of the film “The Interview” by Sony Pictures was a “mistake,” and the company should have talked to him before moving forward with their plans.

The president said he was sympathetic towards Sony, and all the employees who were threatened after the recent cyber attacks against the company, and understands their desire for safety.  However, he then went on to say, according to ABC News, “I think they made a mistake,” with concern to the companies decision to cancel the release of the comedy movie.

Afterwards, the president stated, according to RT, “I wish they would’ve spoken with me first. I would have told them: do not get into a pattern in which you’re intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks.”

The Sony hacks and cancellation of the film though, were also said to be an example of how the U.S. needs to pass a cybersecurity bill by Congress.

“In this interconnected digital world, there are going to be opportunities for hackers to engage in cyber-assaults both in the private sector and in the public sector… We need more rules about how the internet should operate,” the president said according to Boing Boing.

Representative Mike Rogers (R-Michigan) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) echoed the president’s for more regulation over the internet.

“This is only the latest example of the need for serious legislation to improve the sharing of information between the private sector and the government to help companies strengthen cybersecurity,” said Sen. Feinstein.  “We must pass an information sharing bill as quickly as possible next .”