Sony’s decision yesterday to cancel its release of The Interview after being hacked and threatened by a group that may or may not be tied with the North Korean government has been the top story in the media ever since. Decidedly less-covered, and almost completely obscured by the cancellation, is another revelation made yesterday about the movie that is actually far more important.
The Daily Beast reported yesterday on leaked emails from the Sony hack which show that the United States government was involved at high levels with the content development of The Interview, especially its controversial ending depicting the assassination of North Korean ruler Kim Jong-Un. As the report’s headline states, “Sony Emails Say State Department Blessed Kim Jong-Un Assassination in ‘The Interview.’” The emails also reveal that a RAND corporation senior defense analyst who consulted on the film went beyond “blessing” and outright influenced the end of the film, encouraging the CEO of Sony Entertainment to leave the assassination scene as it was (in spite of misgivings at Sony) for the sake of encouraging North Koreans to actually assassinate Kim Jong-Un and depose his regime when the movie eventually leaks into that country. According to the Sony CEO, a senior US State Department official emphatically and personally seconded that advice and reasoning in a separate correspondence. The emails also reveal that the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human-rights issues also consulted with Sony on the film.
While a tiny nation state possibly being involved in scuppering a movie premiere by hacking and threatening a Hollywood studio by proxy may be more novel and sensational than yet another psyop by the US Regime Change Machine, the latter is far more important. The United States, as part of its “Asian Pivot,” made an explicit push for assassination and regime change in yet another foreign country under the cover of art and commerce, and the North Korean regime and its ally China are both now 100% aware of it. That has huge implications for politics in the region, for US relations with those countries, for the character and integrity of American art and media, and for the mischievous, generally havoc-wreaking way our government is secretly using our tax dollars.
Imagine how the U.S. and its CIA would respond if a major movie studio anywhere in the world were to make a film centered around the assassination of a sitting U.S. President: especially if a foreign government was involved, pushing for just such an assassination. That North Korea, or any state, might respond with speech-suppressing attacks and threats is not to be excused, but it should be no surprise either. Yet the US was more than happy to help foment a predictable crisis like this, thereby putting its own people at risk. And it did so by surreptitiously penetrating Hollywood to steer it toward using “artistic” existential threats to taunt a nation-state that is such a basket-case that it would only be dangerous to Americans if made desperate by such existential threats. That shows what little regard our “security force” has for our actual security, as compared to pursuing global power politics.
On a side note, this makes one wonder if the State Department also pushed for this other memorable dictator-detonating scene from Charlie Sheen’s 1991 comedy Hot Shots, depicting regime-enemy Saddam Hussein catching a bomb in his lap while sipping a cocktail in his poolside lounge chair.
Here are the key passages from the Daily Beast report (emphasis added):
“The Daily Beast has unearthed several emails that reveal at least two U.S. government officials screened a rough cut of the Kim Jong-Un assassination comedy The Interview in late June and gave the film—including a final scene that sees the dictator’s head explode—their blessing. (…)
A series of leaked emails reveal that Sony enlisted the services of Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation who specializes in North Korea, to consult with them on The Interview. After he saw the film, including the gruesome ending where a giant missile hits Kim Jong-Un’s helicopter in slow-mo as Katy Perry’s “Firework” plays, and Kim’s head catches on fire and explodes, Bennett gave his assessment of it in a June 25 email to Lynton, just five days after North Korea’s initial threat.
“The North has never executed an artillery attack against the balloon launching areas. So it is very hard to tell what is pure bluster from North Korea, since they use the term ‘act of war’ so commonly,” wrote Bennett. “I also thought a bunch more about the ending. I have to admit that the only resolution I can see to the North Korean nuclear and other threats is for the North Korean regime to eventually go away.”
He added, “In fact, when I have briefed my book on ‘preparing for the possibility of a North Korean collapse’ [Sept 2013], I have been clear that the assassination of Kim Jong-Un is the most likely path to a collapse of the North Korean government. Thus while toning down the ending may reduce the North Korean response, I believe that a story that talks about the removal of the Kim family regime and the creation of a new government by the North Korean people (well, at least the elites) 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.”
That same day, Lynton responded saying that a U.S. government official completely backed Bennett’s assessment of the film.
“Bruce—Spoke to someone very senior in State (confidentially),” wrote Lynton. “He agreed with everything you have been saying. Everything. I will fill you in when we speak.”
The following day, June 26, an email from Bennett to Lynton—as well as several other forwarded emails—revealed that Robert King, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human-rights issues, was helping to consult on the film as well through Bennett and addressed the June 20 threat by North Korea.”
The USA would hack into another country's files if anyone there wrote a book or made a movie about overthrowing a US president especially "W" or his father. "The Interview" should not be released. "Hot Shots" should not have been released either. Charlie Sheen wouldn't like it if someone made a movie about what a nut he is.
W's parents are a test tube an a pair of tweezers
Jesus Christ Grow a pair. Charlie Sheen is to fucked up to give a shit about any movie about him.
North Koreans are taught tons of songs decrying America; they're shown tons of scenes of our downfall–including that cheesy scene of the White House being blown up, etc. A comedy is just satire–freedom of expression. If I was in NK, I'd WANT to be nuked. Anything that might lead to regime change is a good thing, even if it's a stupid movie.
Your mama wishes her uterus had been nuked.
That is politic
We must defend our self to this situation
I just bookmarking this website as my study reference
So who was in on the movie where Bush was assassinated? Was that also "regime-change?"
If the emails are valid, the entire State Department chain of command should be sacked, including the ketchup-blooded zombie. The movie should be released with a "US government propaganda" disclaimer.
harga tv led
If the emails are valid, the entire State Department chain of command should be sacked, including the ketchup-blooded zombie. The movie should be released with a "US government propaganda" disclaimer.
bet those emails are legit. nothing will happen to state dept… this type of thing is standard for the us gov… in fact, relatively mild
Amateurs. It should concern the American people that our government and its foreign policy is being run by friggin' ideological amateurs. Just like the government agencies in Atlas Shrugged run by political appointees and empty-suit lackeys, our government will be the entity that brings the US down. We've been invaded from the inside.
I think it might be a good thing if ALL political candidates submit to psychological and psychiatric examinations and profiling before being allowed to represent the American people. Might be a way to weed out all the halfwits and wingnuts that have infiltrated our government. But then again, they'd probably infiltrate the testers and buy the process there too.
"Psychological and Psychiatric Testing"; Ok, but who will test the testers? Why not just enlist the help of those "Psychologists" that did that superb job on those inmates at Gitmo. Indeed, a very professional job. We shall see how ALL political candidates like that forced-feeding technique endorsed by Cheney et. al. Come to think of it, maybe Cheney should be forced-fed using that technique, before his next appearance on Fox "News". As usual, right on target by Vermont Curmudgeon.
I thought initially that this was a BS ploy to get extra hype for a movie that was suspected to be very stupid. Then I thought maybe the USG did not want it to come out and cause unnecessary issues with DPRK and didn't want to look like Big Brother while canning it.
Now I see that the sayanim skum infesting the State Dept. (big surprise) are behind it. Real heroes, tirelessly working for the security of US citizens, even if it looks like they are always undermining it.
When they did the Red Dawn remake the enemy was initially supposed to be China but they switched it at the last minute to North Korea. Guess we didn't want to offend our largest creditor?
Oh please. Do you believe all that? No way 'hacked' emails can be fake, right?
The "hacked" emails aren't fake; they simply were not hacked by North Korea.
A lot of doxed stars and their lawyers do not agree that these are "fake".
movie made about George W Bush assassination, by South Korea, while he was still President; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0853096/?ref_=fn_al_t…
Did North Korea Make the movie? Did the North Korean government give the go ahead to make the movie?
Washington is pure evil. The world does not need you and it will never be controlled by you.
This article helps clear up some of the hysteria about the DPRK's "involvement" in the hacking and the US government's response. Good, thorough coverage, something we don't see much in the media. Thanks Dan.
Folks there is far more to this story than meets the eye. IMHO this is blow back for a propaganda effort on our part that backfired.
Let's review: the writer of "The Interview" says he used a fictitious name for the character.
Sterling: "It never occurred to me that we would be allowed to use the real leader’s name. I wrote the script without any instructions from anybody, with a fake name. At the time, Kim Jong-il was the leader of North Korea. I wrote a name called Kim Il-hwan, and that was the version that the studio green-lit. "
"A series of leaked emails reveal that Sony enlisted the services of Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation who specializes in North Korea, to consult with them on The Interview."
Bennett specializes in "War Games", "Preparing for the possibility of a North Korean collapse," nuclear deterrence and other stuff like that.
Here is Rand Research by Mr. Bennet on limited nuclear war: http://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R2218.html
Now I don't know about you but bringing in the Rand Corporation (CIA front) North Korean defense and military expert to consult on a broad comedy is a little weird.
Bennet: “In fact, when I have briefed my book on ‘preparing for the possibility of a North Korean collapse’ [Sept 2013], I have been clear that the assassination of Kim Jong-Un is the most likely path to a collapse of the North Korean government. Thus while toning down the ending may reduce the North Korean response, I believe that a story that talks about the removal of the Kim family regime and the creation of a new government by the North Korean people (well, at least the elites) 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.”
Okay so Bennet is hoping the film leads to regime change by causing the N. Koreans rise up and assassinate their leader. Provocative?
Read about the infamous Rand Corp here by the brilliant Chalmers Johnson: http://www.alternet.org/story/83910/the_rand_corp…
So Lynton speaks to an unnamed "U.S. government official."
Way back in June.
Lynton: "Spoke to someone very senior in State (confidentially). He agreed with everything you have been saying. Everything."
Now we have the State Department, an Ambassador and the Rand Corporation involved in the development of this broad slapstick comedy.
But then the State Department admits that Daniel Russel is involved: Assist. Sec of State. He was also advising Sony. Russell say he also designated a point person in the State department to deal with the development of the broad slapstick comedy.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/17/sony-cy…
But wait, there's more!
Ambassador Robert King, U.S. envoy for N. Korea is also hired as a consultant on the film. (This goes way back before the summer.)
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/17/…
http://www.vulture.com/2014/12/dan-sterling-scree…
The phony baloney US of Everything Is Rigged, Illegal (or pending)
Our tax dollars pay for highly trained and specially selected experts to engage in staging “false-flag” events. That is not in any doubt.
Whether this is one of their exploits is another matter, and should be considered separately.
Search on “Smith-Mundt”, please.
I live in Wisconsin, where the state public radio network has had military connections since day one and the news director position was held open for two years until they could get a guy from VOICE OF AMERICA.
It’s a simple fact that when the covert world of intel, organized crime and weird but powerful “covert NGOs” wants to control the output of out mainstream media, they can.
Bait and switch! It wasn't a government official who seemed to make favorable noises regarding the Kim assassination but a member of the Rand Corporation. The fact that somebody at Sony claim that they spoke to some unnamed person at the State Dept. who agreed with "everything" the Rand Corp. official says means absolutely nothing unless we know exactly who it was and what they said. Its disgraceful that antiwar.com is lending its name to this hysterical rumour mongering. One can only hope that the North Korean are able to read more than headlines.
If the US Government was serious, they would broadcast the film into North Korea themselves over Voice of America or whatever it is called now. Since Sony won't release the film, the USG should buy it from Sony and broadcast it everywhere.
saw the RAND corp guy on tv. he said hoped movie would cause 'elites' in NK to rebel.
this is the year I understood America and our New World Order. this is the year I finally understood our arrogance and desire to create chaos….. not sure where the US Constitution mentions we ought be king of the world.
A movie has been made about the assassination of a sitting United States president.
"Death of a President is a 2006 British high concept docudrama political thriller film about the fictional assassination of George W. Bush, the 43rd U.S. President, on 19 October 2007 in Chicago, Illinois. The film is presented as a future history docudrama and uses actors, archival video footage as well as computer-generated special effects to present the hypothetical aftermath the event had on civil liberties, racial profiling, journalistic sensationalism and foreign policy." Wikipedia
Damn it, Dan Sanchez, you should have prefaced your second paragraph with "spoiler alert." Now ,there's no sense seeing this probably awful movie since you told us how it ended. Thanks for saving me 10 bucks, Dan. LOL. I wasn't planning on seeing it anyway, though it will make a fortune when it is released. And it will be. Big Money can only be slowed down. It cannot be stopped.
Go back and look at "Wag the Dog" movie about U.S. govt input into a movie about the Balkan war, inspired by real life incident where a young woman claimed atrocities later proved to be a hoax.
Actually, "Wag the Dog" was inspired by (based on) the novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart. Great novel, in which the Gulf War was revealed as a produced-for-television event. Not a very good movie, though, mainly because they changed it so much.
Except that Americans already made a film about a fictious assassination of a sitting American president. It was called Death of a President released in 2006.
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Folks there is far more to this story than meets the eye. IMHO this is blow back for a propaganda effort on our part that backfired.
I benefited of this article
Emails Reveal US State Department Influenced Sony’s “The Interview” so as to Encourage Assassination and Regime Change in North Korea
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If the US Government was serious, they would broadcast the film into North Korea themselves over Voice of America or whatever it is called now. Since Sony won't release the film, the USG should buy it from Sony and broadcast it everywhere.
It wasn't a government official who seemed to make favorable noises regarding the Kim assassination but a member of the Rand Corporation. The fact that somebody at Sony claim that they spoke to some unnamed person at the State Dept
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If the US Government was serious, they would broadcast the film into North Korea themselves over Voice of America or whatever it is called now. Since Sony won't release the film, the USG should buy it from Sony and broadcast it everywhere.
It wasn't a government official who seemed to make favorable noises regarding the Kim assassination but a member of the Rand Corporation. The fact that somebody at Sony claim that they spoke to some unnamed person at the State Dept
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