Big Red Car here. The Boss is still in the ‘Boat and I’m still hanging with the house sitter. Have to improve the weather, Mom Nature, cause it is too cold to put the top own. Come on, Momma.

So The Boss is ruminating about the entire Sony thing where some hackers — that would be North Korea perhaps assisted by China — tore Sony a new anal pore and took a look at all of Sony’s stuff. Publicly.

This was an act of international, digital terrorism executed by a sovereign nation — granted a truly wacky one — against the American subsidiary of a Japanese company. It was an attack and it was intended to harm, destroy and influence behavior by blackmail and threats. This is classic terrorism in the digital age.

This was an act of war

The act was conducted by a foreign nation against an American legal entity operating on American soil.

The President has said that the United States, also a sovereign nation, will respond at some future date and in a manner of its choosing:

“We will respond proportionally, and in a place and time that we choose.”

This utterance rightfully sets out the serious implications of a sovereign nation attacking an American company. It is an act of war and should be treated as such.

Interestingly enough, the North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations had previously described the movie in question, The Interview which portrays the leader of North Korea in an unflattering light, as an “act of war.” He was speaking at the United Nations when he said that.

One act of war perhaps begets another act of war.

Giving in to terrorists

Sony has pulled its release of The Interview thereby delivering to the terrorists exactly what they desired. In so doing, they have received the criticism of the President who said:

“We cannot have a society where some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States. That’s not who we are.”

Having decided not to release the film, the Chairman of Sony now says the release has only been “delayed.” We shall see. Nonetheless, this act of digital terrorism resulted in Sony kissing the North Korean’s ring or other anatomically indelicate body part.

The future

Make no mistake, the Chinese and the Russians and the Iranians and the North Koreans are carefully studying the American response.

Our actions will inform their future actions. If the North Koreans get away with this more formidable foes will be encouraged and emboldened.

Let me bottom line it for you — the North Koreans just fired the first shot of the first digital world war. This was a digital Pearl Harbor and the world is watching to see what the American digital fleet does next.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car. Merry Christmas, y’all!