Elon Musk had remained uncharacteristically silent in recent weeks on Ukraine.
The serial entrepreneur, who sees himself as a global CEO, had mentioned or intervened on other global geopolitical issues, including the riots that broke out in Brazil.
Thousands of supporters of right-wing former President Jair Bolsanaro on Jan. 8 invaded the presidential palace, the Supreme Court and the Congress in Brasilia, according to images broadcast on social networks and broadcast by Brazilian media.
The attacks, coming a week after Lula was inaugurated, were designed to protest what they falsely claim was a stolen election. Lula defeated Bolsonaro on Oct. 30 in a close election. Since then, Bolsanaro and his supporters have focused their attacks on the Brazilian voting system.
Musk Breaks Silence on Ukraine
In addition, the billionaire has been active in recent days to denounce the World Economic Forum (WEF), which he accuses of having turned into an unelected and unpopular world government.
As a result, he has made it his mission to take down this club of world economic political elites and civil society personalities, thus taking the lead of the anti-globalists. In doing so, Musk ironically finds himself in the same camp as the the progressive left whose ideologies he has nevertheless denounced in recent months.
But nothing for weeks on the Russian war in Ukraine, which has now been going on for almost a year. But the billionaire has just broken that silence by issuing a dire warning about this conflict.
This warning stems from a New York Times article that says the Biden administration is warming to the idea that Ukraine needs the power to strike at Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Russia is currently using Crimea as a base to launch devastating strikes against Ukraine.
The Biden administration would now be more willing to embrace the idea of Ukrainian authorities hitting this Russian sanctuary even if it means an escalation of the conflict, the NYT said, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
The softening of the American position comes after months of discussions between the administration and Ukrainian officials. The White House has always believed that Crimea belonged to Ukraine, a position repeated to the newspaper.
“We have said throughout the war that Crimea is Ukraine, and Ukraine has the right to defend themselves and their sovereign territory in their internationally recognized borders,” Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, told the York Times.
But for Musk, giving the necessary military power to Ukraine to bomb Russian bases would be a mistake that risks costing not only the country but also the world.
“I am super pro Ukraine, but relentless escalation is very risky for Ukraine and the world,” the billionaire warned on Jan. 21.
A Controversial Peace Plan
This warning is in line with what Musk was already saying last October and which had earned him harsh criticism. At the time Musk had proposed a controversial peace plan to end this war. Under the terms the Ukrainians would have ceded Crimea to Russia, annexed by the Russians in 2014.
Ukraine also would’ve had to renounce becoming a member of NATO and the European Union, two organizations that Russian President Vladimir Putin considers threats to his country’s sovereignty.
The Ukrainians saw it as a proposal to capitulate.
The plan gave the impression that Musk was pro-Russian, as it mirrored Russia’s demands. The Ukrainian authorities vehemently rejected the plan, often with strong words. Andrij Melnyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, even said “F— off” to Musk’s diplomatic efforts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Musk of being pro-Russian.
Faced with such strong reactions, the billionaire explained that his plan was realistic. Musk said he feared that the conflict would escalate into all-out war with the possibility of a nuclear attack and potentially devastating consequences for Ukraine and the world.
“Nuclear war probability is rising rapidly,” the billionaire explained last October.
At the end of December, Musk repeated that he was convinced that over time it would be understood that his peace plan defended Ukrainian interests.
“The peace plan I proposed was for the benefit of Ukraine. This will become utterly obvious, if it isn’t already,” he tweeted on Dec. 30.
One of Musk’s biggest accomplishments on the international stage has been the supply of Starlink to Ukraine. Starlink is a secure and independent satellite internet access service developed by SpaceX, a rocket company the billionaire founded.
The service has become the communication system for the Ukrainian forces at the front lines. It also enables Ukrainians to bypass Russian propaganda and tell their daily stories in time of war.
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