Syria using chemical weapons, meh. Russia invading Crimea, eh, oh well. Iran developing nuclear weapons, meh2.0. But a faux controversy about a possible cyber attack in Hollywood, which has controversial footprints looing more like an inside job at Sony, and watch out, here comes the xo pen – now things are serious…
WASHINGTON DC – The Obama administration on Friday imposed a wave of sanctions against members of the North Korean government, amounting to the U.S. government’s first official response to the cyber-attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Despite lingering questions from private security analysts over whether North Korea was responsible for the hack — as the FBI has alleged — the White House described the new sanctions as retaliation against Pyongyang.
“We take seriously North Korea’s attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. “As the president has said, our response to North Korea’s attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment will be proportional, and will take place at a time and in a manner of our choosing. Today’s actions are the first aspect of our response.” (more…)

Denis McDonough fires back, “oh yeah, well you’re the bananas”….

WASHINGTON DC – North Korea called President Barack Obama “a monkey” and blamed the US on Saturday for shutting down its internet services amid the hacking row over The Interview.
North Korea has denied involvement in a crippling cyberattack on Sony Pictures but has expressed fury over the comedy depicting an assassination of its leader Kim Jong-un. After Sony Pictures initially called off the release in a decision criticised by Obama, the movie has opened this week.
On Saturday, the North’s powerful National Defence Commission, the country’s top governing body led by Kim, said that Obama was behind the release of The Interview. It described the movie as illegal, dishonest and reactionary.
“Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest,” an unidentified spokesman at the commission’s policy department said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. (more…)

It became almost guaranteed that N Korea was not involved when President Obama began pontificating his assurances that N Korea was to blame.  Almost everything Obama proclaims is, actually, inverse to the truth.
However, now that Stompy has planted his presidential flag the concentric circles surrounding the Presidency will have to protect the office from embarrassment. Don’t look for the media to embarrass him either; Obama’s not a Bush – he’s one of their own.

(Daily Mail) The FBI just last week confirmed what many Americans already assumed to be a forgone conclusion when they revealed there was conclusive evidence that North Korea’s government was behind the hacking of Sony, an attack the government bureau said was carried out as a way ‘to inflict significant harm on a U.S. business and suppress the right of American citizens to express themselves.’
Then, in a press conference on Friday, President Obama not only attacked North Korea and leader Kim Jong-un for their attempts to ‘intimidate’ Americans through their actions, but went so far as to warn the country that America would retaliate in response their actions.
Almost immediately the North Korean leader issued a statement denying involvement and demanding an apology from the United States for their ‘evil doings.’ (more…)

Says the President who calls U.S. media and tells then what they can and cannot say about his policies; while his Attorney General, Eric Holder, labels U.S. journalists as terrorist co-conspirators (James Rosen).
Via BUZZFEED – President Obama criticized Sony for pulling “The Interview” at his end-of-year news conference Friday.
“I think they made a mistake,” Obama said.
“We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” he added.
Sony pulled “The Interview” after threats of terrorist attacks at screenings of the film. Obama contrasted the move with the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, when the city decided to continue the annual event despite the terror threat.
“We can’t start changing our patterns of behavior any more than we stop going to football games because there might be the possibility of a terrorist attack,” he said. (read more)

Russia invading Ukraine;  North and South Korea exchanging missile fire;  Hey, it’s like we’re back in the 1950’s.

(Via CNN) — A day after raising the possibility of further nuclear tests, North Korea has engaged in provocative live-fire exercises near the South Korean maritime border, leading to an exchange of fire between the two neighbors.

Semi-official South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Monday that the North had begun the drill just after noon (local time). The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirmed that some North Korean ordnance landed in South Korean waters, and that the South responded with fire.

The JCS confirmed that the North Korean offshore military exercise began around 12:15 pm (local time) Monday, and said that “a part of North Korea’s shelling reached South Korean side of the NLL (Northern Limit Line) and we (South Korea) responded with K-9 self-propelled guns into the North Korean waters above NLL.” (more…)

President Obama looks at North Korea’s Elections and thinks to himself: “if only”..

PYONGYANG (AP) — With no one else on the ballot, state media reported Monday that supreme leader Kim Jong Un was not only elected to the highest legislative body in North Korea, he won with the unanimous approval of his district, which had 100 percent turnout.

To show Dear Leader magnificence and appreciation; and to show love for all his people, Kim Jong Un announces every family in North Korea with more than 8 people will receive a brand new potato.

North Koreans went to the polls on Sunday to approve the new roster of deputies for the Supreme People’s Assembly, the country’s legislature. The vote, more a political ritual than an election by Western standards, is generally held once every five years.
Though results for the other seats in the assembly had not yet been announced, North Korea’s media quickly reported Kim had won in his district — located on the symbolic Mount Paekdu — without a single dissenting ballot. (more…)

The Weekly Standard has some excellent analysis of a VERY insightful interview given by President Obama to  Jeff Goldberg of Bloomberg Media. 

The Full Obama foreign policy interview is HERE.  (A must read for those who tackle understanding of what motivates the current administration at the core.)  

Weekly Standard – On the eve of the Netanyahu visit to Washington, President Obama gave a lengthy interview to Jeffrey Goldberg that shows a chief executive who has learned next to nothing about the world in his five years in office.

First, kudos to Goldberg: he pressed Obama repeatedly, challenging vague formulations and seeking clarity. Goldberg pushed Obama hard, especially on Iran and Syria.

Obama isn’t good off the cuff, especially when challenged; he is far better with a prepared speech. And what emerged is an awful portrait of the president and his conception of the world.

Take Syria. Here’s what Obama said: (more…)

To actually understand what Jesse Jackson’s primary point was – we turn to the South African Interpreter Guy (more…)