I don't see how this would work, even as a conspiracy theory. (1) People who own Irish government bonds get interest on them, and can sell them whenever they l

I don't see how this would work, even as a conspiracy theory. (1) People who own Irish government bonds get interest on them, and can sell them whenever they like. $14bn isn't going to make any difference in that context. (2) Bond owners have no influence on the European Commission. It has no responsibility for whatever debts countries incur, and no reason to care. (3) It's not a shake-down by the Irish government because the Irish government is defending its sweetheart deal with Apple and says it doesn't want the money. (4) It's not a shake-down by the EC as the EC doesn't get the money either way. The reality is that Apple is running a legalized tax-avoidance scam. In the US Senate's earlier investigation, John McCain described it as “the epitome of tax creativity”.