Recently, it has become difficult to tell whether Elon Musk runs four companies, looking to finalize the acquisition of a fifth, or whether he is a diplomat.
The serial entrepreneur remains the CEO of Tesla (TSLA), which is due to release its third quarter results on Oct. 19.
He is also the CEO of SpaceX, is involved in The Boring Company and in Neuralink, the company specializing in Artificial Intelligence (AI). He has until Oct. 28 to complete the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter (TWTR).
But the richest man in the world seems preoccupied with something else. This thing has been consuming him for several weeks now, to the point that he can't sleep. The tech tycoon seems to have taken the Russian war in Ukraine to heart.
He seeks to find a resolution to this conflict which has already caused the death of thousands of people and displaced millions of others since its start on Feb. 24. The ramifications beyond Ukraine are also significant: it has helped fuel inflation that is currently threatening to derail Western economies.
The same war also poses the risk of severe energy shortages in certain European countries during the coming winter.
What Is the End Strategy?
This obsession has pushed him to commit blunders such as proposing a peace plan, largely rejected by the Ukrainians who said it was a capitulation. The Musk peace plan asked the Ukrainians to give up their region of Crimea to Russia, which annexed it in 2014.
Musk also proposed that Ukraine renounce its membership aspirations of NATO and the European Union, two organizations which Moscow considers threats to its sovereignty.
Faced with criticism from politicians and professional diplomats, he has just asked what the Biden administration's solution is to end this conflict, which could lead to a third world war.
It all started with a post by the journalist Matt Taibbi: "If the White House doesn’t think the war can be won, but refuses to open negotiations or 'nudge' others to do so, what exactly is the end strategy?" Taibbi wrote on Oct. 14.
"The right question to ask," Musk commented.
The White House did not respond to requests from TheStreet.
'Humiliating Defeat' or 'Nukes'?
President Joe Biden warned of "Armageddon" amid nuclear threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Oct. 6.
"We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since [president John] Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis,” Biden said during a fundraiser in New York.
"We’ve got a guy -- Russian President Vladimir Putin -- I know fairly well. He’s not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons," the president added.
Musk, who shares Biden's opinion on the threat of a nuclear war, continues to seek a solution even if it means sometimes irritating supporters of Ukraine. After his aborted peace plan, the billionaire has just declared that offering only two terrible options to Russia would be a mistake.
"Russia has been punched in the nose and forced to retreat many times by Ukraine," the billionaire said on Oct. 17. "But what you don’t want to do is give Russia a choice of total, humiliating defeat or nukes – then the probability of them using nukes is high."
"Don't be silly, they are not going to obliterate their world to save face," commented a Twitter user. "They will face a humiliating defeat and retreat, like Afghanistan, the challenges they will then face are internal, not external. Don't get suckered into the nonsense of histrionic outbursts."
"Wrong analogy," Musk replied. "America also had a humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan. No one in America sees that country as part of America."
He added that: "Crimea *is* seen as a crucial part of Russia by Russia, much as Hawaii is seen as a crucial part of America."
Crimea
Russia has made Kyiv's recognition of Crimea as Russian territory one of the conditions for a possible compromise.
Crimea is a peninsula south of Ukraine on the Black Sea. Shaped throughout its tumultuous history by different people, it was conquered in 1783 by Russia, which began deportations within the empire and exiled many people.
During the 19th century, it was recognized by the Russian elites as strategic for the empire, thanks to its access to warm seas via the deepwater port of Sevastopol.
In 1954, on the 300th anniversary of the 1654 Pereyaslav Peace Treaty between Russia and the Cossacks of Ukraine, Nikita Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine, a move Musk calls a mistake. For Russians that treaty symbolizes the friendship between the Russian and Ukrainian people.
The 1991 independence of Ukraine raised the question of Crimea's identity.
In 2001, during the last census, Crimeans declared themselves to be of Russian origin at 58.5%, Ukrainians at 24.4% and Tatars at 12.1%. This majority is one factor Putin uses to justify the 2014 annexation of Crimea. The international community does not recognize the annexation.
