Billionaire Elon Musk warned that the United States is “sleepwalking into World War III” in a Spaces discussion this afternoon on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter. Musk claimed that “civilization itself may be at stake.”
The outspoken Musk said that a U.S. policy priority ought to be “avoiding World War 3” and not letting a situation emerge with “a regional conflict rapidly becoming a global conflict.”
The Tesla owner’s comments centered on the potential for a hard alignment between China and Russia, which he said would be disastrous for the U.S. Musk claimed that “U.S. policy has been forcing Russia to ally with Iran and China.” He said that Russia, with its abundance in raw materials, and China, with its phenomenal industrial capacity” are a formidable combination.
Musk called on the U.S. to “figure out” a way toward peace in Ukraine and “resume normal relations with Russia.” The entrepreneur cautioned the audience not to overestimate U.S. power and expectations for an end game in the Russia-Ukraine war.
In his Spaces discussion, Musk opined that there is no anti-Russian insurgency in Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia — insinuating that the present lines of control could be made into a ceasefire line or permanent border.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also joined the Tesla owner in the Spaces session hosted by venture capitalist David Sacks. Ramaswamy echoed Musk’s warnings about the potential for a global conflict, telling listeners that “If we do enter World War 3, the United States as we know it will cease to exist.”
Elon Musk’s Views on Russia
Elon Musk has well-established views on Russia. He’s argued for a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine.
Since the Russian invasion, Musk’s Starlink has provided vital satellite internet to Ukrainian civilians and its military. Last year, Starlink provided free terminals to Ukraine at a cost of roughly $100 million. He’s since signed a contract with the Pentagon, which will pay for Ukraine’s use of the service.
But in September, excerpts of a new biography of Musk by Walter Isaacson published in the Washington Post stated that the Starlink owner denied Ukraine access to Starlink to use it in an offensive against Russian forces in Crimea last year. Musk responded to the report on Twitter, stating, “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”
Musk has been apprehensive about Starlink’s use in Ukraine’s counter-offensive. He told Isaacson, “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”
Days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Musk as a “talented businessman.”
In the past, Tesla has purchased raw materials, including aluminum, copper, and nickel from Russian companies including Nornickel. Russia is an energy and minerals superpower. The Russian invasion and subsequent sanctions on Moscow sent global prices for commodities, including nickel, through the roof.
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2 Comments
Musk’s proposal boils down to one sentence – Putin can take and do whatever he wants, as long as he doesn’t shoot so loudly.
What he says is that there are “Untermensch”, like USA, China and russia – and they can kill anyone they want, and occupy the territories, and to avoid the 3d world war – everyone should tolerate that.
And he assumes people in Ukraine as “Übermensch” – for him it doesn’t matter how many people russia will kill in Ukraine, how many times russia will attack Ukraine, how much territories russia will occupy, how many civil buildings will be bombed – and according to him the evil should not be punished and isolated from the society. The relations with that evil should be recovered. Elon Musk’s ideas are actually the ideas of a Nazi. Did I get it right?