Thursday, March 14, 2024

Tik Tok in the crosshairs - whose is the question. Trump henchman Mnuchin is poised for a buyout.

 Zerohedge, Thursday, March 14:

 The Israeli Lobby's Motive Promoting The TikTok Ban

While the prevailing narrative surrounding efforts to ban TikTok in the United States has echoed the same jingoistic appeal to preserve our "national security" that every landmark bill assaulting the civil liberties of Americans has used to veil its true intent, that initiative may be led by another sovereign nation whose perverse influence over American politics makes them much more qualified to be labeled a foreign adversary than anyone pushing the social media platform. Much like the Patriot Act and policy making both foreign and domestic that has shaped the US political landscape for the worst, Israel's ubiquitous influence over American politics shows that the Jewish state's fingerprints are unsurprisingly all over the TikTok ban as well. It's no secret that Israel is losing the information war over Gaza when it comes to Gen Z. By promoting a bill that divests existing parties from control over the app, the ban paves the way for a new consortium of ownership to come in and use the platform to usurp control of the narrative on the war in Gaza back in the hands of the pro-Israel lobby.

The bill itself defines a "foreign adversary" as those listed under 10 U.S. Code § 4872(d)(2) which in turn refers to these parties as "covered nation[s]". On that short list are the usual suspects when it comes to the eternal boogeymen that instill fear in the hearts of every simple minded NPC in the United States: North Korea, China, Iran, and of course RussiaRussiaRussia. [... Israel not listed.]

TikTok Bill Text:

“(g)(1) The term ‘controlled by a foreign adversary’ means … (C) a person subject to the DIRECTION OR CONTROL of a foreign person or entity described in subparagraph (A) or (B).” (all caps added)

The overtures categorizing Israel's war effort against Hamas in Gaza as something more akin to a genocide than a military operation put Israel on the outside looking in by losing favor with emerging foreign powers that are amalgamating the might to challenge the existing Zionist-led efforts to shape international sentiment on the war and the future of control over Palestinian territories. After the International Court Of Justice ruled in favor of a South African-led case to urge the UN impose measures on Israel to minimize civilian casualties, Beijing voiced its support for the ruling in an effort to implement what Israel and the United States have been so adamant against: a ceasefire.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin was the first Chinese official to remark on the ICJ ruling. “We hope that the ICJ’s provisional measures can be effectively implemented...We condemn all acts against civilians and oppose all moves that violate international law. China urges parties to the conflict to realize a comprehensive cease-fire at once, abide by the international humanitarian law,” he said. Less than one week before the US House Of Representatives voted to pass the ban on TikTok, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi echoed the sentiment made by his ministry shortly after the ICJ ruling in much sterner words. "It is a tragedy for humankind and a disgrace for civilization that today, in the 21st century, this humanitarian disaster cannot be stopped," Wang told journalists at a press conference during the annual meeting of China's  National People's Congress in Beijing. [...]

[...] With the bulk of its users being from Gen Z, Gaza is the first real war the largest demographic of its userbase has been able to take to social media to shape its views and express its opinion on. This change in popular support of Israel among Zoomers projects forward to has [sic] a tremendous impact on the shifting political landscape in the United States where younger voters who are normally born into the Democratic Party has [sic] chosen Gaza as their hill to die on, distancing themselves from the Biden administration given its pro-Israel policy making going into the 2024 Presidential Election.

[...]  it's no surprise that when calls to ban TikTok re-emerged late last year, the tried and true tactic of accusing the app of platforming antisemitism became a rallying cry of the shills in congress pushing the initiative to be sure they sustained their campaign contributions from the AIPAC.

[...]  Although proposed legislation has colloquialized the bill as a ban on TikTok, the measure would more likely urge divestment of ownership labeled as a "foreign adversary" within 180 days of it being signed into law.

Even though the TikTok ban has yet to reach Biden's desk or even pass the Senate, [...] a pro-Israel consortium has already emerged to buy out Chinese parent company ByteDance's ownership stake in TikTok should divesting from the app be the recourse they take. Former US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Mnuchin] seems to have taken pole position in the race to potentially buy TikTok, stating "I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold...It’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok," on CNBC's Squawk Box. According to CNBC, there is common ground between Mnuchin's Liberty Strategic Capital and ByteDance - as Masa Son's SoftBank Vision Fund invested in ByteDance in 2018, and is also a limited partner in Liberty Strategic, which may give Mnuchin's effort the inside track to purchasing the app.

[,,,]  However, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew expressed his reticence on any such sale. Regardless of that outcome, the concerted effort to ban TikTok from the US or coerce it into changing its ownership is representative of a coordinated government over reach to undermine the civil liberties of Americans, namely their freedom of speech. Like in previous instances such as the Patriot Act before it, this iteration of that tactic in inextricably tied to the preservation of the power of the US-Israel axis, highlighting how the majority of congress places its support of Israel ahead of its support for the rights of its own populous.

Contributor posts published on Zero Hedge do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Zero Hedge, and are not selected, edited or screened by Zero Hedge editors.

[bolding and links in original] The quote is long. The hope is all deletions to shorten have been duly marked; "[...]."

This is a theory. Correct or incorrect, it deserves attention and arguably hangs together. Otherwise, why Tik Tok? Why not Mastadon? Well that one is "well behaved" and used by cautious more mature folks than Tik Tok. Nor is it greatly favoring Gazans over Israelis.

Last, the Gaza citizen death tole is obscene, but it is not genocidal. 

30,000 war deaths out of 2.3 million people is not a genocidal scope. Punishing relocation and starvation of Gazans is cruel, but Israel is not eliminating anything like a majority of Gazans. 

Disproportionate unjustified wanton civilian killing is a proper term; calling it genocide is an overreach.

Posted by at