Elon Musk had been unusually silent in recent weeks on Ukraine.
The serial entrepreneur, who sees himself as a global CEO, had mentioned or weighed in on other global geopolitical issues, including the riots that broke out in Brazil.
Thousands of supporters of former right-wing president Jair Bolsanaro invaded the presidential palace, the Supreme Court and Congress in Brasilia on January 8, according to images posted on social media and reported by Brazilian media.
The attacks, which occurred a week after Lula took office, were designed to protest what they falsely claim was a stolen election. Lula defeated Bolsonaro on October 30 in a close election. Since then, Bolsanaro and his supporters have focused their attacks on the Brazilian electoral 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 become an unelected and unpopular world government.
As a result, he has made it his mission to stamp out this club of global economic political elites and civil society personalities, thus taking the lead from the anti-globalists. In doing so, Musk ironically finds himself in the same camp as the progressive left whose ideologies, however, he has denounced in recent months.
But nothing for weeks about the Russian war in the Ukraine, which has been going on for almost a year now. But the billionaire has just broken that silence by issuing a dire warning about this conflict.
This warning comes from a New York Times article which says the Biden administration is warming to the idea that Ukraine needs the power to attack Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Russia is currently using Crimea as a base to launch devastating attacks against Ukraine.
The Biden administration would now be more willing to accept the idea of Ukrainian authorities attacking this Russian sanctuary even if it means an escalation of the conflict, the NYT said, citing unnamed US officials.
The softening of the US position comes after months of wrangling between the administration and Ukrainian officials. The White House has always believed that Crimea belonged to Ukraine, a position repeated by the newspaper.
“We have said during the war that Crimea is Ukraine, and Ukraine has the right to defend itself and its sovereign territory at its internationally recognized borders,” Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, told the York Times.
But for Musk, giving Ukraine the necessary military power 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 January 21.
A controversial peace plan
This warning is in line with what Musk already said 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, which was annexed by the Russians in 2014.
Ukraine would also have had to forgo membership in NATO and the European Union, two organizations that Russian President Vladimir Putin views as 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 reflected Russia’s demands. Ukrainian authorities vehemently rejected the plan, often with harsh 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 the conflict could escalate into an all-out war with the possibility of a nuclear attack and potentially devastating consequences for Ukraine and the world.
“The probability of a nuclear war is increasing rapidly,” the billionaire explained last October.
In late December, Musk repeated that he was convinced that his peace plan would eventually be understood as defending Ukrainian interests.
“The peace plan I proposed was for the benefit of Ukraine. This will become completely obvious, if it isn’t already,” he tweeted on December 30.
One of Musk’s greatest achievements 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 founded by the billionaire.
The service has become the communication system for the Ukrainian forces on the front lines. It also allows Ukrainians to bypass Russian propaganda and tell their daily wartime stories.
