Weaponizing anti-Chinese sentiment as hasbara deflection on Motorola and Lenovo

By now, you've probably heard about the weaponized pagers that killed several apparent Hezbollah members, and one child and counting.

You've probably heard the speculation that this was by Mossad, asserted by Hezbollah and not denied.

(Update: "Someone" blew up Hezbollah walkie-talkies Wednesday.)

You've probably heard that these all may have been Motorola pagers.

And, you may have heard that Motorola is owned by Lenovo.

And, you would have heard either ignorance or misinformation — possibly hasbara. Or whatever the Farsi equivalent of hasbara is. Or just laziness by US Twitter. Or some combination of all of the above.

That's because about all you've heard, from a Motorola ⇒  Lenovo connection claim at a lower level, to the idea that Motorola pagers were involved? It's all wrong.

Let's unpack, from lower to higher levels.

Motorola Solutions is one half of what emerged from a 2009 split of Motorola. The OTHER half, Motorola Mobility, which is NOT in the pagers business (AFAIK) was eventually acquired by Lenovo. Motorola Solutions includes the Motorola Solutions Israel Ltd., founded in 1964.

It took me a minute of Googling to find the background info on the Israeli company, confirm it was true, then go to the Wiki page for Motorola and see the split. The Wiki for the parent company adds that Motorola Solutions is the legal successor to the old Motorola, too.

And, a subpage on Motorola Solutions specifically documents their ties to Zionist settlements.

I don't know whether the Motorola ⇒  Lenovo was started purely out of ignorance or not. Even if it was, it soon became weaponized. Knowing Zionists could use it as deflection and knowing US Cold War 2.0 types could use it to bash China.

At the same time, just because wingers and  Nat-Sec Nutsacks™ bash China doesn't mean things like labor camps in Xinjiang aren't true.

And, this is why I identify as a skeptical leftist. And, if other leftists don't like being called out for not connecting the dots correctly here? I'm not sorry.

That said, Motorola almost certainly is involved in NO WAY.

(Update: Fortunately, we now have a detailed AP story with actual facts. The biggies? Hezbollah decided to go away from cellphones in February, giving Mossad [presumably] nearly 8 months of work time. Second? A British expert says explosive as small as a pencil eraser would be enough, and he also details how they were likely triggered.)

Now, if these were Motorola pagers, yes, then why did Hezbollah buy them? Mondoweiss says they were ditching cellphones due to security issues, so pagers, but why Motorola? Were they Motorola? Motorola laundered through another brand name? The Mondoweiss piece doesn't mention Motorola, so this whole issue may be a red herring.

Rolling Stone links to a Tweet and claims that they resemble Motorola pagers, when the Tweet says no such thing and respondents mention Gold Apollo. And, so says Wiki. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Command is claiming Motorola, but it has "good reason" to do so. 

Gold Apollo is also headquartered in Taiwan, not Lenovo's China.

Now, per a Google Images search, Motorola services can be and are provided over Gold Apollo pagers, it appears. But, that's by the US paging service company Metrotel. Somehow, I highly doubt that Motorola Solutions Israel Ltd provides either pagers or paging service in Lebanon. Or other countries in the Middle East, like Iran. 

What that, in turn, means, is that Mossad really did some infiltration work. And, in addition to the actual killings and maimings, the fear of what it could do next is the key. (Update: The "next" has dropped with the walkie-talkie explosions, obviously.)

And, were I Rolling Stone, I'd be editing that page ASAP. Ditto any other major media outlets. And, maybe talking to legal counsel.

As for cutting through rumors and innuendo? ALL of this took just an hour or so of off-and-on checking during what's normally my busiest work day of the week. And, getting more shit right than at least one major media outlet.

Beyond that, per the Mondoweiss link at top, if these were implanted explosives, it would have likely been timer-detonated, not wifi-triggered, I'd think. Getting back to Motorola Solutions, that might imply something in a factory, or at least in a packinghouse area.