In September, Ukrainian troops advanced into an area previously captured by the Russians. Suddenly they lost their internet connection to Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite service. According to The New York Times some military officials believed that Musk deliberately cut the connection because he didn’t want Ukraine to gain too much ground.
The matter was never cleared up, but drew attention to an inconvenient truth. For their crucial communication, the Ukrainians rely heavily on one man, Elon Musk, until recently the richest in the world, a man who in the past year showed himself to be a whimsical egomaniac who rubbed shoulders with the far right, took over Twitter and gave way to conspiracy theories and disinformation.
The discomfort deepened when Musk launched his “peace plan” in October. The war might end if Ukraine gave up its claims to Crimea and did not join NATO, Musk said. A referendum on joining Russia had to be organized in the Donbas. The Kremlin called the proposal a “very positive signal.” According to American political scientist Ian Bremmer, Musk had even spoken to Russian President Putin beforehand, something Musk denies.
Creator of political chaos
Anyway, Elon Musk emerged as a “creator of geopolitical chaos” as the The New York Times wrote. He advocated appeasement with Putin, while the US government was right behind Ukraine. According to The Washington Post Washington was concerned regarding how Musk’s political activities interfered with US policy. The Ukrainians were also angry. “Fuck off is my very diplomatic response to you, @elonmusk,” tweeted diplomat Andrij Melnik.
The danger that Musk will deploy his satellites over Ukraine does not seem too great. His services to Ukraine are now largely funded by the United States and other Western countries. It is likely that Musk will recoil from the international outcry that cutting the connection would provoke. But still: with Elon Musk you never know and his power has become great.
The rockets and satellites of his company SpaceX helped American space travel out of the doldrums, allowing Musk to penetrate the heart of the military-industrial complex. Starlink has 3,000 satellites in orbit, more than any other country. Not only Ukraine depends on this, the US military cannot do without Elon Musk either.
Colony on Mars
America has always worked with defense companies, but Musk is no ordinary industrialist, like the CEO of Boeing or Lockheed. He is a man with a mission, someone who believes he can give humanity a new future. He even wants to establish a colony on Mars, so that a chosen elite can leave the decrepit Earth behind. It seems like a childish fantasy, but according to his biographer Ashlee Vance, Musk is deadly serious.
“He believes he’s such a gift to humanity that he doesn’t need guardrails, he knows better,” an unnamed White House official said in a statement. The Washington Post. The newspaper spoke to more than twenty top officials from President Biden’s circle. Musk is as whimsical and arrogant as he is brilliant, was their almost unanimous opinion.
Musk is not the first American tycoon to believe he has a role to play on the world stage. The steel king Andrew Carnegie visited the German Emperor Wilhelm II in an attempt to prevent World War I. In 1915 the car magnate Henry Ford unsuccessfully sailed to Europe with a peace ship to end that war. Then he bought a local newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. For example, the newspaper ‘proved’ that Columbus’ voyage to America in 1492 was a Jewish plot to conquer the New World.
Cult of the genius entrepreneur
The pretensions of industrialists like Ford and Musk fit into the American cult of the genius entrepreneur. The world is moved forward by the genius few, the Russian-American philosopher Ayn Rand believed. Hard-core capitalists like Thomas Edison (electric light) and Henry Ford have done more for the common man than the warmest idealist, Rand believed.
Their wealth and technological successes give these industrialists the allure of prophets who have a solution to all world problems, even those that lie far beyond their expertise. In the international arena, they often strive for appeasement. While war can be good business, they generally prefer a predictable world where trade can continue undisturbed. In October, Musk proposed resolving tensions over Taiwan by making the island a “special administrative zone” within China. “I would like to thank @elonmusk for calling for peace in the Taiwan Straits,” the Chinese ambassador to Washington tweeted. The US government was less pleased with the proposal with which Musk once once more thwarted its policy. Critics say this intervention was inseparable from Musk’s economic interests in China, where regarding half of Teslas are produced. Incidentally, Starlink does not work in China, at the request of the Chinese authorities, who do not appreciate a satellite connection with which internet censorship can be circumvented.
In Iran, on the other hand, Musk positions himself as a friend of freedom. About a hundred Starlink connections are now available for the opposition to the regime. In October, Iranian tech expert Amir Rashidi called Musk’s action well-intentioned but “irresponsible.” Regime hackers trapped activists by offering fake Starlink connections. In addition, the compounds are easy to trace through the regimen, Rashidi said in The New York Times.
In the cult of the genius entrepreneur, nothing should stand in the way of the brilliant individual, certainly not high taxes. Like many wealthy Americans, Musk believes his interests, such as low taxes and deregulation, are best served by the populist right. He once dined with President Obama and voted for the Democrats. But he resents President Biden, especially following Tesla was not invited to a conference on electric cars at the White House. Today, Musk votes Republican. He gave Trump his account back following buying Twitter and visited the World Cup final with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The relationship between Trump and Musk is also tense. The former president called Musk a bullshit artist, while Musk wants to vote for Trump rival Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential election.
Aversion to woke
Musk hates meddling government and all things woke. On Twitter he indulges in ferocious populist lashes. For example, he advocated the prosecution of epidemiologist Anthony Fauci, the architect of American corona policy. He also questioned the veracity of the attack on the husband of Democratic politician Nancy Pelosi. Henry Ford had a newspaper, but Elon Musk has a global network at his disposal to serve his political and economic interests. “A danger to democracy,” said Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.
His tweets are a game, he said during a lunch with the Financial Times. “I go crazy on Twitter and often shoot myself in the foot,” he said. “I find it vaguely therapeutic to express myself on Twitter.” He seems to have shot himself in the foot a little too often in the past year. Critics are concerned regarding the way he mixes egopolitics and geopolitics. The US Congress wants to give competitors such as Boeing and Blue Origin (from that other tech billionaire, Jeff Bezos) more orders to stop being so dependent on the wild man Musk. Ukraine is also looking at alternatives to Starlink, said Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stephanishyna. Wisely, technology expert Andrew Cavalier argued in Foreign Policy: “Because they can go completely black if Elon Musk decides on a whim that he no longer wants to provide connections to Ukraine.”