In the latest development in the ongoing ‘The
Interview Demise’ saga, escalating even more the tension between the United
States and North Korea, the elite nation of the elite ‘Rogue League’ of the selected
world nations has proposed a joint investigation into the November 24 cyberattack,
popularly known as ‘Sony Hack’, a crippling attack on the global electronics giant
Sony with major presence in the entertainment industry with ‘Sony Pictures’, that
according to the estimates, can cost the company some half a billion US
dollars. ‘Sony Hack’ has become a prestige point for the US now.
Seeing the panic in the US, that forced even Barack
Obama to intervene and issue statement, as part of the ongoing damage control
exercise to look confronting the might of the North Korean cyber-warriors and
fans (hackers) of the regime and Kim Jong-un spread across the world and in
China, the elitists of the elite rogue nation have offered Uncle Sam a
proposition, an offer, a window of opportunity, that the US lawmakers would
feel trapped in accepting or rejecting.
A North Korean official yesterday proposed the
joint investigation. But it doesn’t mean it was like extending an olive branch.
It doesn’t mean the ‘Kim’ nation is adopting, of late, any soft or humanitarian
approach towards its detractor of decades.
Disguised brilliantly as ‘an offer to help’, the
offer comes with a rider – it is for the US to decide on and accept the offer
and carry on the investigation jointly with North Korea – if Uncle Sam has to
get results out of the damage control exercise – and that has to be done, the
decision, in time – and if the US doesn’t do so, the consequences will be
grave.
The Independent yesterday quoted statement of an
official of the North Korean Foreign Ministry that says: “As the United States is spreading groundless allegations and
slandering us, we propose a joint investigation with it into this incident. We
have a way to prove that we have nothing to do with the case without resorting
to torture, as what the CIA does. The US should bear in mind that it will face
serious consequences in case it rejects our proposal for joint investigation
and presses for what it called countermeasures while finding fault with.”
See, it is so direct and serious!
It seems the North Koreans have smelled an
opportunity here to launch the next crippling cyberattack on the US on this
pretext because they know the world has got the message that it was indeed the
North Korean cyber-expertise even if the official line says it was not. After
all, deception and lies have been the most important tools of North Korean government
under the ‘Kims’.
So, beware the world and the United States! The
problem is more serious for the US here, because the North Koreans chose to begin
with a US product, The Interview, a movie, caricaturizing the great, limping,
oversized Supreme Leader. Now, it was not new for North Korea and Kim Jong-un.
It happens with all great people initially. But, it certainly gave the North
Koreans an opportunity to test-launch their next ‘rogue’ tool and they cashed
it well.
But, for the US, the condition is of being in a
state of indecision, deep dilemma, hanging in the zone between Scylla and
Charybdis. They cannot accept the offer as the US cannot be seen working
jointly with North Korea in this ‘prestige war’ given its geopolitical stakes
in the world affairs and its long history with North Korea that is indeed a ‘history
of hostilities’. After all, extending a helping hand even to an enemy can only
be expected from the greats and the greats-in-making like Kim Jong-un. But
rejecting the offer has the rider of ‘grave consequences’ ready.
Sources say the top US leadership is meeting in the
White House at the earliest to discuss this latest and ‘dangerous’ twist in the
‘Sony Hack’ saga. But, at the time of writing this, there was no update on the
high-level meeting.
While the Kim’s wrath-making machinery is busy
curating its next step from the outcomes so far in the ‘Sony Hack’ opportunity.
God save America!