Think maybe it was a bad idea to create a system that allows billionaires to unaccountably make policy decisions on issues that have nothing to do with them
this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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I'm not a lawyer, but this has to have been illegal somehow, right?
This is insanity... Is there even any precedence for a private citizen from an uninvolved (not directly, anyway) nation interfering in a war? I'm really not sure that it's even been possible before... At least, not tothis degree...
If nothing else, I wonder if this admission could open him up to civil lawsuits from Ukraine itself - or individual Ukrainian citizens, if nothing else - as it appears his actions could be shown to be directly responsible for their death/injury?
The tech-genius of the 1920s was literally dining with Nazis during Kristallnacht. Charles Lindbergh, Spirit of St. Louis, airplane genius. First pilot to solo the Atlantic Ocean.
There's precedent of popular figures in USA culture working with our enemies. Its looked down upon heavily, and there's also a realpolitik angle (especially with someone as "heroic" as Lindbergh) where some people are kinda-sorta untouchable, due to being too popular with the American people. In either case, Lindbergh talking about (likely) American technology with the literal Nazis as they attacked Poland (well after they've taken over Austria, Czechoslavakia and re-militarized the Rhineland) is still worse than what Elon Musk has done here, IMO.
So its not unprecedented, but this is still bad obviously.
So I don't know. Its definitely not a good look, but Lindbergh himself stayed away from the spotlight as it became more-and-more obvious that the Nazis were the bad guys in that war. Elon Musk is enough of an idiot that he's doubling down on this, and the far right section of Republicans are anti-Ukraine to boot (top 3 contenders of Republican Party: Trump, DeSantis, and Ramaswamy are all anti-Ukraine). So Elon Musk has a lot more political cover than Lindbergh had.
EDIT: It probably should be noted that German-American Bund (Pro-Nazi political party) of WW2 era probably had the same amount of power as the Far-right Republicans do today, at least if we're talking 1939 Kristallnacht days. So maybe Lindbergh had about the same cover as Musk did. Either way, this "problem" existed back then as much as it did today.
EDIT: It probably should be noted that German-American Bund (Pro-Nazi political party) of WW2 era probably had the same amount of power as the Far-right Republicans do today,
Wait bruh WTF. Nazis were that popular?
Anti-immigrant, Antisemitism, pro-European (German) political groups were reasonably popular in the 1920s and 1930s.
Fringe? Yes. But so are the far-right "Jews will not Replace Us" marchers today.
Upon the onset of Republican Spain, the USA's official stance was to remain neutral and isolated despite the rise of Nationalist (aka: pro-Nazi) Spain in the Spanish Civil War of 1930s. It is against this backdrop that the German-Nazis were rising as a powerhouse (fighting in Spain, gaining valuable wartime experience), and spreading fascism across Europe.
While the German-American Bund never reached "mainstream", the more "neutral" Christian Front welcomed the German-American Bund and joined forces as a pro-German political group.
In any case, the Madison Square Garden pro-Nazi Rally (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_Nazi_rally_at_Madison_Square_Garden) had over 20,000 pro-Nazis join, which is far more than the modern "Unite the Right" rally achieved. And remember, there were far fewer people living in the USA back then than today (population growth is crazy)
This shit has been going on for fucking decades. Just don't underestimate the threat or undercurrent of antisemitism in our society.
Brother, this is a nation built on shipping slaves from African wars and toppling governments for Banana plantations. It is far from unprecedented for private citizens to do this shit. It's frankly expected.
In law circles this is known as "a dick move".
“The Pentagon had a $145 million check ready to hand to me, literally,” Isaacson quotes Shotwell as saying. “Then Elon succumbed to the bullshit on Twitter and to the haters at the Pentagon who leaked the story.”
Amazing quote. His shitposting habit is costing him millions left and right.
Shotwell is the main reason why SpaceX has been as successful as they have. Elon had the purse but she has the brains and has up until now been able to keep him reigned in.
I think you can only perform treason to your own country.
I'm still certain Elon has fucked over some sort of international law, I just don't know which one.
But the truly galaxy brain move is this:
After CNN’s reporting, Musk reversed course, tweeting “the hell with it … we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
Gwynne Shotwell, Musk’s president at SpaceX, was livid at Musk’s reversal, according to Isaacson.
“The Pentagon had a $145 million check ready to hand to me, literally,” Isaacson quotes Shotwell as saying. “Then Elon succumbed to the bullshit on Twitter and to the haters at the Pentagon who leaked the story.”
The best part is this move further cements how unstable Musk is, and probably makes the pentagon realize he has the ability to fuck with military applications
He very well could have caused the government to start discussing plans to nationalize Starlink
I've been seeing this a lot, but do they have a particular reason they would be able to nationalize starlink? Was there some sort of contract or investment that gives them stakes in it?
It'd be an extreme action. But during wartime, USA has the right to nationalize our companies in the name of defense.
I'm not particularly keen on the details, you'd probably have to ask a lawyer over these details. But USA nationalized companies like GM during the 2008 crisis, for an example. So we don't actually have to go back too far into history to see this kind of extreme action being taken. Single decades, not even multiple decades.
I dunno if nationalizing Starlink makes the best sense... yet. At a minimum, this has proven that Starlink is an unreliable partner as a wartime satellite internet provider however. Ideally, we can just rebuild our investments in other companies / alternative satellites and avoid SpaceX as a peg in our defense plan.
Is this the billionaire supervillain version of walking into a room, and just standing in the middle of it thinking "...why did I come in here?"
Dude is literally getting DoD and NASA contracts and getting a Top Secret clearance + Pentagon money, and suddenly finds himself in an antiwar stance after just a few minutes of personally talking with Putin.
I thank the Ukrainians for taking this one for the team. At least we learned that Musk is not to be trusted in a wartime environment. Sucks for the Ukrainians who need a reliable internet provider though, but I'm sure the Pentagon is thinking of a solution to this problem now.