That is a question, at the present time, that only Elon Musk himself can answer. The rest of the world is left with only outward appearances and speculation by which to judge his recent words and proposed actions with reference to the survival of Ukraine.

Today’s news reportage does not look favorable to Mr. Musk. After earlier deciding to step up and provide StarLink internet service to Ukraine in the face of its invasion by Russia, he was lauded as the ultimate good guy — the one whose SpaceX company had the resources, and who saw the need, and did the right thing to help save a country that continues to be the victim of an unspeakable, ongoing crime against humanity. The free world applauded him, and deservedly so. That internet service has been of incalculable value to the effort to keep Ukraine alive. Mr. Musk was a true hero.

But what has changed? Simply put — and according to current reporting — he had a conversation with Vladimir Putin.

Uh-oh!

Assuming reporter Joe Barnes of The Telegraph (UK) is correct, “Elon Musk pondered pulling Starlink satellite internet from Ukraine because he feared being perceived as a warmonger in Russia, a former Pentagon official has said.”

Further: “ . . . [Musk] expressed his concerns after Ukrainian forces reported network outages close to the front lines separating them from their Russian occupiers.”

And continuing: “‘Colin Kahl, a US undersecretary of defence [sic] for policy until last month, was charged with brokering a deal to prevent Mr. Musk from turning the system off altogether. . . . My inference was that he was getting nervous that Starlink’s involvement was increasingly seen in Russia as enabling the Ukrainian war effort, and was looking for a way to placate Russian concerns,’ the former US official added.”

Yes, there does seem to be a good deal of inference, supposition, interpretation, or whatever you choose to call it. And no, it has not happened as yet . . . mercifully. But the concern here is that this all came to light following contacts by Mr. Musk with the (apparently) irresistible Mr. Putin.

Mr. Barnes goes on to report that: “Last year, Mr. Musk was accused of publishing a Kremlin-friendly peace proposal, suggesting Ukraine should mirror sovereignty referendums organised by Russia in regions it occupied.”

And I find myself thinking that this sounds disturbingly like “deja vu all over again,” eerily reminding me of Donald Trump’s well-remembered presidential bromance with Vladimir Putin — who apparently can spot an outsized ego a mile away, and knows instinctively how to stroke it.

Then I read on and spotted a separate item by Sarah Jackson of Insider, wherein she quoted comments by LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, to the effect that Musk had “bought what Putin was selling, hook, line, and sinker” regarding the war in Ukraine.

Again, second- or third-hand information. But what is behind it? Is it all smoke and no fire? I certainly hope so, because the alternative would be terrifying.

*. *. *

I do not accuse Elon Musk, or anyone else, of anything at this time. I am merely trying to make sense of what is happening from day to day in the world, and hoping to find clarification of the reportage and inferences I see from other sources. Mr. Musk is a total enigma to me — a man who would pay $44 billion for a going concern named Twitter, and immediately lay off huge numbers of its employees, make radical changes to its theretofore successful operating formula, and inexplicably change its familiar and popular name to . . . what does it even stand for? . . . “X.” And so I’d very much like to know more about his thought processes; not so much with regard to his actions at Twitter, but about his views and intentions toward the current war . . . or “special military operation” . . . fomented by Russia against Ukraine, and threatening to spill over now into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

So, Mr. Musk, I ask you directly: What’s going on in your busy mind as regards Ukraine? The world would like to know.

No, I correct myself: the world needs to know.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/23/23