The businessman turned geopolitical influencer embraces the Russian version of a major political event in Ukraine.
Elon Musk lives up to his reputation as a maverick.
The CEO of Tesla (TSLA) – Get a free reportand SpaceX cultivates its uniqueness in the world of business and that of leaders with monumental influence.
He does not hesitate, for example, to get involved in everything and give his opinion on almost everything. Musk, who has taken the pulse of our time and era, seeks to influence debates on guns, immigration, the budget deficit, war and culture. He has completely changed the playbook for the conduct expected of business leaders in the face of social problems in the United States.
The billionaire businessman does not take off his gloves when it comes to giving his opinion, regardless of the consequences on the geopolitical scene as well.
The Russian war in the Ukraine is a perfect example. This conflict, which has just entered its second year, has propelled the king of techno to new heights across the globe. This popularity and influence is due to Starlink, a satellite internet access service, developed by his company SpaceX. Musk offered Starlink to Russia-invaded Ukraine when the communications infrastructure was completely destroyed by Russian bombing. These terminals have allowed Ukrainians to stay connected to the world and have provided Ukrainian forces with a secure and independent communication tool.
‘Suddenly’
Despite this support, the billionaire believes that peace is the best option to get out of this conflict that has already displaced millions of people and caused thousands of deaths. These repeated calls for peace have so far been met with rejection by Ukraine and its Western allies.
They have also led him to missteps, such as when he proposed a controversial peace plan last October. This proposal adopted most of the Russian demands to end the war. So it came as no surprise that the Ukrainians and their allies violently criticized and rejected him. This episode left an open wound in the relationship between Musk and Ukraine. The billionaire, who had appeared as a hero, was suddenly criticized at times with very strong words, such as the “f ** k off” used by the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany.
New tensions have recently arisen between Musk and the Ukrainian authorities, as the billionaire does not want to allow the country’s military to use Starlink to control its drones and attack Russian bases.
Musk has just made a new statement that could undoubtedly further deteriorate relations with Ukraine. In a thread on Twitter, the billionaire claims that the February 2014 removal by the Ukrainian parliament of pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was a coup. This differs from the opinion of the majority of Ukrainians.
“That election was possibly dubious, but there’s no doubt there was a coup,” Musk said on February 25, in a comment to a post by a Twitter user, citing a 2014 Foreign Affairs article by John Mearsheimer. , professor of political science. at the University of Chicago.
In this article, Mearsheimer developed the thesis that Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea in May 2014 was “the fault of the West.”
“For Putin, the illegal overthrow of Ukraine’s democratically elected and pro-Russian president, which he correctly called a ‘coup,’ was the last straw,” wrote Mearsheimer, who has since written other articles explaining “Why The West bears the main responsibility for the Ukraine crisis.”
‘How was he chosen?’
Viktor Yanukovych, a native speaker of Russian rather than Ukrainian, was elected Ukraine’s president in 2010 after an apparently legitimate victory. It was the second time, as he had won the 2004 presidential election, but he was unable to be sworn in after his victory was followed by mass protests amid widespread suspicions of fraud.
These protests are known as the “Orange Revolution.” Unlike in 2004, Yanukovych took office in 2010 but quickly alienated a large section of Ukrainians, including his own supporters, due to his mismanagement of the economy and his crackdown on “Euromaidan” protests.
Euromaidan is the name given to the anti-government protests that took place in Ukraine on November 21, 2013. They focused on Europe and took place in Kiev’s Independence Square or Maidan Nezalezhnosti. Protesters believed Yanukovych, who they said was corrupt and autocratic, had sold his country to Russia by refusing a $15 billion bailout from the European Union.
Consequently, they demanded his resignation. Yanukovych reacted by trying to quell the protests and passing a series of laws that limit the rights of assembly and freedom of expression of Ukrainians. But by January 2014, the movement had spread to several Ukrainian cities, prompting parliament in February to withdraw all powers from Yanukovych and vote to remove him immediately.
Yanukovych fled to Russia where he is in exile.
A Twitter user and Musk fan also tried to point out that Yanukovych was not the victim of a coup but that parliament had used its powers to impeach him.
“Russia was able to put its puppet at the head of Ukraine. Yanukovych was an enemy of the people and Ukraine and step by step led our country to the abyss. The Ukrainian people united to get rid of this criminal. This is the essence of what What happened,” said the user.
“How was he chosen?” Musk responded.
Comments from Twitter users to Musk’s tweets about this episode in Ukrainian history were generally negative.
“The question is not how he was chosen,” chimed in a Twitter user. “The question is, why was he overthrown? And the answer is because he was leading the country down a path that was not chosen by his people.”
