Both. They are not competent enough to figure out who really did what, but they are using the opportunity for political impact.
Same as with Iraq's WMDs, or Syria's chemical weapons.
From the latest reports it seems that the advanced torture, cough ahem enhanced interrogation, techniques were designed and used partially to craft evidence to support an Iraq invasion [1], which seems even more sinister than what you had mentioned.
I'll go with lying. Blaming NK serves their political agenda for now. It's still not outside the bounds of reason to believe Sony Pictures did it themselves.
It really doesn't make any sense to me that blaming North Korea serves a political agenda for the administration. They have a limited time left in office and they're trying to use it to accomplish something in foreign policy (so far, Cuba, a climate deal with China). This is particularly important since the President's domestic influence will be limited. This business with North Korea seems like a distraction. It's not serious enough that it's going to change anything in the relationship between the US and the DPRK. The DPRK is so unpredictable that starting a beef with them unnecessarily seems like a terrible idea. It's another item on the agenda with China, and I'm sure that there are a lot of other things that we would rather be discussing with the Chinese.
Whether NK is behind this hack or not, you cannot deny that the president's statement is a show of force. It is a clear message to any country that plans to use 'cyberwarfare' against the United States - we will retaliate proportionally.
The clear message the USA appears to be broadcasting by reacting swiftly on what appears to be very dubious information is that it is now providing the facility for trolls to SWAT entire countries, rather than just someone who had pissed them off on Counterstrike. I do not think this makes the world safer.
Agreed. I find this aspect worrying and underreported.
Please pardon my cynicism. Maybe Saddam Hussein had WMDs after all, and the Spanish sank the Maine.
I'm curious as to what exactly that agenda would be. Also, I think it is very much outside the realm of reason to think that Sony did this as a PR stunt. If they did... Well, Sony legal is probably not having a great Christmas.
It's called distraction. You should look up the word sometime.
What political agenda? No one is FORCING NK to threaten war against SK and US. All NK has to do is shut itself up but it can't do that.