The billionaire and big Ukraine supporter says the conflict has fostered an alliance between Russia and China, while US diplomacy has shown its limits.
Global CEO Elon Musk is not surprised.
The billionaire has gained global geopolitical power and influence thanks to Starlink, the satellite Internet access service his SpaceX company provides to an increasing number of places around the world, including Ukraine.
Last month, Musk made a big prediction.
The serial entrepreneur, who has been advocating for a peaceful solution to the Russia-Ukraine war for several months, warned that this conflict would have unimaginable consequences for the world order.
But their pleas have been ignored, especially in the western countryside, where supporters of Ukraine say not defeating Russia would send a message to other dictatorships that it is possible to invade a country with impunity.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This unprovoked invasion created a strong wave of support for kyiv from NATO and its partners.
a new cold war
The conflict was presented as the clash between autocracies and democracies. Russia and President Vladimir Putin were the autocrats, while Ukraine and its allies symbolized the democracies.
The idea, according to the Ukrainian camp and its supporters, was to avoid signaling to autocrats that they could invade a free and independent country without consequences.
For Putin, the war had to be fast. What he called a “special military operation” in Ukraine was aimed at bringing about regime change in kyiv and the “denazification” and demilitarization of the country. The objective of the war would evolve towards the “liberation” of the entire Donbass and finally the annexation of the occupied regions.
But this offensive, which was expected to last a few days, faced strong resistance from the Ukrainian army. The Russian army advanced rapidly in the first weeks, but a year later it occupies only one sixth (16.7%) of Ukrainian territory (of which 6.45% had already been occupied since 2014, the year in which Russia occupied Crimea, according to official data).
The exact number of victims on both sides of the conflict is extremely difficult to assess. There are no official figures available. But without a doubt, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions. Ukraine claims to have killed more than 150,000 Russian soldiers. He does not publish accounts of his own deaths.
The conflict has clearly split the world in two, in a repeat of the cold war. The West with those who support Ukraine and the East with Russia. There are some non-aligned countries, but you mostly hear about the two “new” blocs.
Musk believes that the conflict has already left winners and losers. That’s what he just suggested in a thread on Twitter. And the big winner is the emergence of a new Russia-China alliance. The big loser is American diplomacy, whose actions have led to the new Russian-Chinese axis, the king of techno seems to say.
His comments come as Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Moscow with Vladimir Putin.
‘US diplomatic skill is bronze level’
“While everyone is distracted by Trump’s impending arrest, President Xi just called Putin his ‘dear friend,'” one Twitter user posted on March 20. “Thanks to Joe Biden, America is divided while our two strongest adversaries are now united.”
Musk did not hesitate to comment and for him this rapprochement was “inevitable”.
“Inevitable. The skill of American diplomacy is bronze level,” exclaimed the billionaire.
The serial entrepreneur seems to be repeating criticisms he has made in the past. For him, US diplomats have lost their power of persuasion and have become warmongers.
It suggests that the isolation of Russia has had rather the opposite effect: it pushed China, America’s great rival, to embrace Putin.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk had already predicted last month that the US position on the conflict would lead to an alliance between Russia and China, as Putin becomes increasingly isolated on the international stage.
Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on March 20, where he is expected to stay until March 22. This three-day state visit comes as China wants to appear as a mediator in the war in Ukraine.
In an article published in the Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Xi introduced his visit as a “journey of friendship, cooperation and peace.”
This trip comes a few days after the announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that an arrest warrant had been issued for Putin and a Russian official for war crimes. The ICC said the Russian president bears individual criminal responsibility for the abduction and “illegal” deportation of Ukrainian children since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Xi’s trip to Moscow is therefore a clear endorsement of Putin. Beijing has never condemned the Russian invasion and has strong economic ties with Russia.
According to the Chinese authorities, the volume of trade between the two countries reached “an all-time high” in 2022. The West imposed sanctions on Russia.
