Why Putin opposed The Interview

It should be no surprise that Russian President Vladimir Putin opposed a film showing the assassination of a dictator. The Islamic State and Chechen rebels have threatened to kill him.

Associated Press quoted a top Russian official as saying North Korean President Kim Jung-Un’s opposition to the comedy film was “quite understandable.”

In fact, there has been speculation in Washington that Putin’s government supported the hacking that delayed the showing of the Sony film.

Putin’s government was widely believed to be responsible for a cyber attack of unprecedented proportions on the former Soviet Republic of Latvia.

Who knows if the so-called “Lizard Squad,” which claimed to be responsible for hacking Sony, was working alone. These kinds of events often involve multiple culprits.

In an episode of “The Good Wife” an investigator figured out that three people created BitCoin.

On top of that, Washington has enough problems with Moscow and was unlikely to suggest Putin’s involvement with Sen. John McCain considering it an “act of war.”
Pyongyang may have cut its own Internet off to protect what one Tweeter called “both of its computers.”

Putin is preparing new laws that will block Hollywood movies his government does not like. Though Hollywood was unlikely to make one about the killing of a Russian dictator.

Nor is Putin likely to consent to an interview with any serious Western journalist.

He has already shut down virtually all independent media in Russia. While claiming he was not building a new “Iron Curtain” he made it sound like the West built the Berlin Wall.

Although he has railed against the West for imposing sanctions because of his incursions into Ukraine, Putin has been unable to stop them from hurting his economy.

Combined with a dramatic fall in oil prices, Russian women are being asked to use beetroot instead of lipstick, forgo French perfumes and Putin has ordered that vodka prices be subsidized. He has stopped short of trying to prevent hookers from raising their rates to compensate for the falling ruble.

Analysts say the already contracting Russian economy may see a five percent declined next year, and 11 percent inflation.