RUSSIA PERSPECTIVE

RT selects an angle no one else dares: the headline 'Trump recalls ass-kiss in Tim Apple tribute' turns the succession into a Trump spectacle. The article details how Trump boasts that Cook called him to 'kiss his ass' and obtain favors. TASS, more sober, factually reports that Cook will step down in September.

But RT's framing is most revealing. The article notes that 'the exchange points to a well-established pattern of close contact between Silicon Valley and political power' and cites the Wall Street Journal on Cook's direct lobbying of the White House for tariff exemptions during the trade war with China. RT adds that Trump 'publicly clashed with Cook over Apple's refusal to scrap diversity policies.'

Why does Russia frame it this way? Because Moscow has a strategic interest in showing that American tech serves political power, not innovation. If Cook 'kisses his ass' for tariffs, then American Big Tech is a state instrument disguised as a private enterprise. This is exactly the narrative Moscow uses to justify state control over the Russian tech sector. For RT, the Apple succession is proof of the system.