CNN (CNN) published an exclusive report on October 13 that Musk's Space X company said in a letter to Pentagon in September that it could not further donate the " Starlink " terminal to Ukraine, nor could it pay the key satellite service fees in Ukraine, and asked the Pentagon to "pay the bill". It is said that the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Zaluzine, made a request to Musk in July to add nearly 8,000 more "Starlink" terminals, a direct request that no reports have been seen before.
If the above report of CNN is true, it may mean that Musk has indeed changed his position on the Ukrainian issue and has risen from verbal "political incorrectness" to actionless dissatisfaction, becoming an "outlier" among the Western elite group.
Previously, on October 3, Musk posted a vote on Twitter about the idea of "How to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine", asking his more than 100 million fans to vote for various proposals, including ceding territory to Russia. Musk also suggested that the world should formally recognize Crimea as part of Russia and warn that one of the consequences of the ongoing conflict could be the nuclear war . The Twitter evoked an angry response from Ukrainian . Ukrainian President Zelensky posted his own online vote, asking netizens that they prefer the world's richest man to support Ukraine or Russia. Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Melnik called out "Get out of Musk", "The only result is that no Ukrainian will buy your Tesla junk." And in Odessa , Ukrainians tore off Musk's face from billboards, which painted Western celebrities supporting Ukraine.
"Starlink" equipment in Ijium City, Kharkiv Prefecture, Ukraine.
It is worth noting that according to the British Financial Times report on the 7th, the interruption of the "Starlink" satellite communication system has caused the Ukrainian army to encounter "disastrous" loss of contact when fighting against the Russian army. The news of has raised concerns that Musk may have taken certain measures against the Ukrainian army in response to Ukraine's public condemnation of his proposed peace plan, but Musk called the Financial Times article "bad report." According to Bloomberg, Bremer, president of the political risk consulting firm Eurasian Group, mentioned in a weekly report released to clients on October 10 that Musk disclosed to him that he had recently spoken with Putin , and Musk responded on Twitter: "No one should believe Bremer."
Western media recently seem to have targeted Musk and published several reports and comments that are quite unfavorable to Musk. The reason for all this seems to be that Musk made remarks that violated the "political correctness" of the West.
Senior contributor to US media Politico, said Jack Shafer, has the symptoms of Musk's performance personality disorder gone out of control? And, should citizens interfere in foreign policy? We expect Musk’s future the same as before – providing more aid to Ukraine.
US Foreign Policy said that after years of fierce polarization, there are few problems that can unite the Democratic Party and the Republican Party again as if it were to support Ukraine in confrontation with Russia, but this consensus has cracks, Musk's tweets are worrying, and the propaganda of the Kremlin is quietly returning to the debate in the United States.
German Le Monde said that Musk suddenly fell in love with geopolitical recently. The British "Economist" pointed out that from a business perspective, Musk's development ability is understandable: "Starlink", SpaceX, Twitter have not yet constituted a monopoly, but all of them have a significant global influence. Musk's increasing technological superpower has given him geopolitical influence. In this regard, admiration is turning into concern.
Strangely, when Musk posted on Twitter in late February that he had launched the "Starlink" service over Ukraine, Western media did not criticize him for interfering in foreign policy, just because the activation of "Starlink" may give the Ukrainian army a clear advantage over the Russian army and change the course of the war. On March 14, when Musk made a duel with Putin on Twitter, Western media did not criticize him for "falling in love with geopolitics."
In short, the recent intensive and negative reports of Musk by Western media are quite unusual, which seems to verify the senior media person Hu Xijin comments on October 4: "This time Musk bumped into Biden President stolen EU to 'defeat Putin'. He challenges not only political correctness, but also Washington's strategic plan. He is very good at it. He may have overestimated his influence and underestimated the power of Western politics Iron Curtain . "He obviously believes too much in Western freedom of speech. If he doesn't brake, he may put his business empire in danger."
Musk's words and deeds make people easily reminded of another businessman who also does not talk about "political correctness" on issues such as Ukraine - former US President Trump . On October 13 local time, the U.S. House of Representatives' Special Investigation Committee voted to summon Trump to testify on the riots in the Capitol. Coincidentally, according to Xinhua News Agency , in a court document published on the 13th, US social media Twitter disclosed that Musk is under investigation by the US federal agency for the acquisition of Twitter.
At that time, Musk responded to Hu Xijin: "People who put their hands in their pockets as a whole are overconfident." But at this moment, I think Musk should take Hu Xijin's "advice" seriously and should not be overconfident. When he gradually drifts away from the "political correctness" of the West, more troubles may come to him. Even if it is just a concentrated attack from Western public opinion, it is enough for him to drink a pot of it. Of course, Musk does have a lot of money for gaming, such as the "Star Link" that requires the Pentagon to pay for it and the Twitter that wants to acquire it. If he is determined to compete with the "political correctness" of the West, it will be a good show.
Author丨Xiaoxiang Sanren, Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Special Editor
Editing丨Zhang Sinan, Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News Editor
Typeline丨Pan Siyi
