Elon Musk has become a big headache for the administration of Joe Biden, relating to its efforts on the international geopolitical scene.
The billionaire entrepreneur has gained notoriety on the world stage in the context of the Russian war in Ukraine, for which he provides one of the most important communication tools.
This tool is Starlink, the satellite internet access service, developed by its aerospace company SpaceX. Starlink has become the communications system of the Ukrainian Armed Forces not only because Russia destroyed most of the telecommunications infrastructure in Ukraine, but also because the service is secure and independent. It thus guarantees the reliability of communications and protects against Russian espionage.
Warmongers at the State Department
While this aid was welcomed, despite some quibbles over funding last October, Musk's position is nuanced. The CEO of Tesla (TSLA) is whimsical and iconoclastic. He is unpredictable and does not hesitate to express his opinions without worrying about whom they will anger. Musk doesn't hold back and ignores diplomatic codes and the consequences his statements can have, experts say.
For several months, he has been insisting that the conflict between the Russians and the Ukrainians, which started on February 24, 2022 with the invasion of Ukraine by the Kremlin, must be resolved by a peace agreement.
For him, it is the only means of avoiding World War III, during which Russia will not hesitate to use a nuclear weapon. Musk also believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a hardliner who will not accept defeat. It is on the conviction of these beliefs that he pushes for a resolution of the conflict, including important concessions to Russia.
His calls for peace have so far been ignored or heavily criticized by Ukraine and its supporters. The Western camp, which presents this war as a fight between democracies and dictatorships, believes that it is up to Russia to put an end to this war, which has already claimed thousands of lives and caused the displacement of millions of others, by leaving Ukraine.
Russia considers that it is within its rights and intends to continue its military campaign. The two camps thus remain firm on their positions and the conflict has stagnated. It is entering its second year and no one can predict when and how it will end.
For Musk and his friends, a large part of the fault lies with American diplomacy, which, according to them, has not done a good job or has even failed, rendering the United States one of the biggest losers of this war.
For them, diplomats have turned into warmongers, forgetting that their role is to negotiate to avoid the worst. The fact that the war is continuing and that it could escalate further is therefore seen as a failure of US diplomacy. This failure has also resulted, they say, in the emergence of an unexpected alliance between Russia and China.
'Bronze Tier'
In his last tweet posted as a commentary on damning statements by tech investor David Sacks, a friend of Musk, about American diplomacy, the billionaire blasted U.S. diplomats.
"We have these crusaders at the State Department who just want to keep expanding NATO, and I don't know why they can't see that that is unacceptable to the Russians in the same way the Soviet Union trying to put nukes in Cuba was unacceptable to us in 1962," Sacks told conservative commentator Glenn Beck.
"It's like our spokespeople and diplomats are children here," Sacks continued, adding that the State Department's job is "to lessen conflict."
But "their actual objective here is regime change," he continued.
Musk seems to agree with this point of view and goes even further.
"US foreign policy is bronze tier on a good day!" the billionaire blasted out.
The State Department declined to comment.
Last month, Musk accused the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, of not advocating for a peaceful solution.
"Nobody is pushing this war more than Nuland," the billionaire said on Feb. 22.
Nuland on Feb. 24 spoke with the Washington Post in response to Musk:
I would start with a basic fact here .... which is if this war is to end, it could end tomorrow if Vladimir Putin chose to end it and to withdraw his troops" she said.
"So, this is not about us. This is about choices that Vladimir Putin has made to try to bite off pieces of his neighbor. And if we allow this as the United States, if we don't support the victim in this aggression, then this aggression will be replicated all over the planet in the years to come."
