THE STATE DEPARTMENT'S INVOLVEMENT IN "THE INTERVIEW"
WAS THE US STATE DEPARTMENT BEHIND THE “INTERVIEW”?
When many audience members first saw clips of the Interview, they saw nothing more than a sophomoric comedy featuring two A List stoner-comedians as they embark in the ultimate fish out of water “adventure” to kill Kim Jong-un. But is The Interview really just a “high concept” comedy, or is it something much more complex in nature, with national security implications. I argue the latter, with the utmost conviction.
The Interview, while a middlebrow comedy on the surface, is the first movie that openly speaks of assassinating a sitting world leader in a live action format – a leader that just so happens to be one of our biggest enemies and roadblocks in the world stage. The fact that The Interview was a comedy, only served to mask its true intention: to launch a “media missile strike” against the North Korean regime, by embarrassing their leader and their regime on an international scale. Kim Jong-un is a weak, clownish and unproven world leader. He is the “real life Prince Joffrey”, the evil kid king from HBO’s Game of Thrones who we all love to hate. He does not command the respect of the North Korean people like his father, and everyone in the world can plainly see that. The dominoes are about to fall in North Korea, and this movie was to be the very hand that pushed them.
North Korea has been increasingly unstable since Kim Jong-un took over, and with each day his most loyal allies question his abilities to lead their failed state, especially when they witness the burgeoning economic success of fellow “communist” State China, and look across two seas to see the failure of their fellow communist hold out Cuba, whose streets are filled with cars from the 1950’s. The US has worked to exploit the both the weakness of Kim Jong-un, and the quiet desire of North Korea to break free from the economically bankrupt system of Communism.
The US has employed an adroit and stealthy strategy to infiltrate North Korea through the media. This strategy was boosted by a very well executed intelligence operation with the perfect cover: the filming of VICE’s “Dennis Rodman” episode in North Korea. It provided an extremely rare opportunity to go into North Korea, collect intelligence and exchange information with key defectors inside Kim Jong-un’s camp, while “dear leader” was temporarily distracted by his obsession with NBA Basketball’s Chicago Bulls. The appearance of former Bull Dennis Rodman, allowed them to circumvent the usual security protocols of the Hermit Kingdom so that they could set the pieces in motion for the regime change in North Korea. What better way to infiltrate a world leader than with a Trojan Horse of his favorite form of entertainment? That highly successful operation, began a dialogue that would eventually lead to the “quiet coup” that is currently going on in North Korea.
One would logically ask, how an “ultra-hip” news and entertainment outlet like VICE found itself involved with the complexities of geopolitical espionage? The answer is simple: VICE soon realized that in order to film “behind enemy lines” in Syria, Yemen and other hotbeds of sectarian conflict they needed to play ball with the State Department. Instead of reporting real news, VICE produces “war porn”, that advertises violence and destruction with a hip “indie rock” soundtrack to discourage their millennial fan base from asking too many questions about world events. In return for “playing by the rules” VICE has been rewarded in gold. NewsCorp paid $7 million for 5% of VICE in 2013, as a sign of “good faith” from The State Department. Why would ultra-hip rebel news reporter Shane Smith sell part of his company to Rupert Murdoch - the very embodiment of the corporate media machine? The answer is in the question: Shane Smith sold his company to Rupert Murdoch because he was the embodiment of the corporate media machine, and the first “inside man” that Shane would meet on his rise to the top. It is no secret that the cornerstone of Rupert Murdoch’s success in the media is intrinsically tied to his willingness to provide “state-friendly” news for Western governments to distract the public from the truth behind foreign wars, and domestic financial inequities. Vice revealed its true colors again in August of 2014, when the AETN networks bought a 10% stake in VICE for $250 million dollars, valuing VICE at $2.5 billion dollars. In a few short years, VICE has seen the value of doing business with the State Department, and judging by their inflated numbers, VICE isn’t likely to report the truth anytime soon.
Now let’s examine Sony’s involvement by starting with their CEO Michael Lynton. Mr. Lynton just so happens to be a board member of the Rand Corporation. The Rand Corporation is an unabashed CIA shell company that performs social engineering research on topics ranging from “Cell phone trends in the Russian Market” to “How to take over a South American country through non-conventional warfare.” Michael Lynton with his deep ties to the Rand Corporation, was their proxy agent in the operation, their “boots on the ground” man who would oversee the operation from start to finish. (It is important to note that current Rand employee Bruce Bennett did not hesitate to tell Deadline.com that The Interview would have damaged Kim Jong-Un internally) While Lynton was overseeing the operation from the Sony lot, VICE concurrently visited North Korea to embolden the defectors within Kim Jong-un’s camp, and prepare them for the destabilization that was about to erupt in their country due to the release of The Interview. The Interview was locked in July and as the film started to commence its marketing campaign, a curious thing happened in September and October of 2014, an event I have dubbed “the quiet coup.”
In September and October of 2014, Kim Jong-un mysteriously went missing for 6 weeks. Interestingly enough, it was VICE who first reported that a coup was underway in North Korea on October 2nd, 2014 through a top defector Jang Jin-Sung, living in exile in Norway. Jang proclaimed that the OGD, or the Organization and Guidance Department, a powerful group of officials that once reported exclusively to Kim Jong-Il, had taken control of the government, and openly refused to take orders from Kim Jong Un. This event was so significant that even our own government-controlled media outlets like CNN, and USA Today could not ignore the possibility that a coup was afoot in North Korea. Then on October 29th Kim Jong-un’s absence was explained away due to “ankle surgery”. This explanation was laughable. When Dick Cheney had a heart attack he was back in action in two weeks as the Vice President of the most powerful nation in the free world, and the media expects us to believe that the leader of a nation whose sole power base depends on his ultimate authority was absent for 6 weeks without a word? The VICE article confirms my very contention that the defectors loyal to the US – both within North Korea and outside its borders – initiated a successful “quiet coup”, that would allow for a slow and dignified exit for Kim Jong-un so as not to rattle the North Korean public. The stage was set for The Interview, the media bomb that would finally decimate one of the US’ biggest enemies, and bolster our unilateral power in the world. The Interview, if successful, would embarrass Kim Jong-un in a manner that would justify his exit to the brainwashed North Korean masses, and allow for a transition of power with minimal casualties.
That plan went swimmingly until a rogue hacking operation took place on November 24, 2014, and derailed the wide release of the film. The operation was carried out to near perfection by painting Sony executives as racist, scaring employees, and threatening potential ticket buyers to scare off lawsuit-weary exhibitors like Cinemark. The hack bears the mark of a Nation State who stood to benefit from weakening The Interview. Once the hack took place, the State Department foolishly unmasked its role in the film without even knowing it. Deadline Hollywood’s own articles serve as evidence to prove my point.
The following articles drawn from Deadline.com inadvertently point to State Department involvement in The Interview. (Deadline.com is the "nerve center" for entertainment industry news in America, which is why these articles and press release carry so much weight.) Sony claimed it received the “blessing” of the State Department and President Obama to release the film. (Why would any studio need the blessing of the government to release a film?) Rand Department employee Bruce Bennett said The Interview would have likely damaged Kim Jong-un internally and pushed for it to be released through DVD. In that article, Mr. Bennett proves my point in full without mincing words: the film would have damaged Kim Jong Un. A guest column appeared from Hemanshu Nigam, a former Chief Security Officer for NewsCorp, asking for President Obama to create a “Cyber Czar” for the entertainment industry. Mr. Nigam’s involvement with “Media Czar” Rupert Murdoch calls his motives into question for proclaiming the need for a Hollywood-specific “Cyber Czar”. It also gives the impression that he is perhaps not voicing an opinion, but leaking a deep concern of his friends at the State Department and the CIA through official channels, that Hollywood isn’t game enough to conduct “contract work” for the US government on its own, and needs the official protection of the US government for future operations. Finally, Deadline reported that the US government asked North Korea to pay Sony $100 million dollars for the damages caused by their hacks. Why did the US Government ask North Korea to pay a mere Hollywood studio, and not ask Russia to pay a dime when Russian criminals carried out a cyber attack that infiltrated 1.2 billion US internet credentials in September 2014? It certainly makes one wonder what it was about The Interview that warranted such an “ask” from our government. Certainly it was not the desire to make sure Sony recoups their investment.
Whoever committed this hack knew the true purpose of The Interview, and carried out an attack large enough in scale to stop the film and its true intent in its tracks. This cyber attack could also be described as a large-scale intelligence operation based on the complexity of its execution. It began with threats to Sony employees, which soon sent Sony on an internal fools errand to scatter their resources. While Sony was distracted, the hack escalated with the pirated release of 5 Sony films. Investors were fleeing by the minute, as the hack continued in calculated succession. Soon after, the hackers divided their enemies at Sony again by leaking racist emails sent by Amy Pascal and top producer Scott Rudin, to diminish Sony’s credibility. The only thing worse than being a murderer in the American media is being a racist, and the hackers knew that well before they dropped the bomb. Once Sony was revealed to be “racist”, its statements of any kind had no credibility whatsoever. Then, the hackers dropped the ultimate nail in the coffin by threatening audience members, which scared away exhibitors who are terrified of lawsuits due to the Dark Knight shooting in Aurora. The threat was never real, but it didn’t have to be. It’s mere mention sent exhibitors flying out the door, and challenged the entertainment industry, everyday Americans and the US government to see how we would collectively react on the world stage.
The implications of this hack are profound. Not only did the hack derail one of the largest State Department operations in recent history, it also put our entire freedom of speech in check by letting the world know we will bow to anonymous terrorist threats. This was a hack against the American people, as much as it was a hack against Sony. Even when rectified, this cyber attack has created a permanent dent in our global media dominance. Whether the film was released through indie theaters and VOD matters not. The film did not get the wide release it intended, which renders it null and void, and makes its lesser release appear as a victory against US Media Imperialism in the eyes of Russia, China, North Korea and other nations who challenges America’s unilateral power and influence. More than a hack, this intelligence operation was a message sent to the American Media: you may be the most powerful voice in the world, but you can be silenced.
