> If I were trying to sink the project this way This should be re-written to say > If [i were not influencial enough to sink it internally, so i] were trying

> If I were trying to sink the project this way This should be re-written to say > If [i were not influencial enough to sink it internally, so i] were trying to sink the project [through bad publicity] Therefore, the answer to your question is "darn, it didn't work. that sucks but at least i tried". Also... > Never assume 4D chess when simple incompetence can do the job In this context, its very likely that a government is somewhat behind it. We know the FBI and apple didn't get along. We know apple has been doing things quid-pro-quo for china to stay on their good side. So it seems like we're already sitting at a 4d chess board, but no one is sure who's playing. If a government says you have to do X on the DL, and you don't want to because its bad, then a logical solution is to get general population + news media to say "X is bad! We really hope X doesn't happen." Because then its easy to show the government why you can't do X.