- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday praised Elon Musk, calling the Tesla and SpaceX founder a “talented businessman.”
- Putin was discussing Russia’s space program after a failed moon landing last month.
- His comments come after Musk said last week that he refused an emergency request by the Ukrainian government to extend coverage of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to Sevastopol in Crimea.
Can we define Musk as a traitor now? He is actively interfering in a conflict in an active combat zone the USA has already picked sides in and sided with the enemy.
At the very least, all government contracts and grants should be pulled from SpaceX, Tesla, Starlink, and any other Musk run businesses.
Can we cut out the middle-part and just send him back to South Africa?
If he actually did tell his company to take an action that effectively contravened official US policy (and it looks like he did), he broke the law. Specifically, 18 U.S. Code § 953 - Private correspondence with foreign governments:
Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
I am willing to bet that someone in the Ukrainian foreign ministry was aware of this law, and then had some pointed questions for the US State Department on whether or not Elon’s refusal to share intelligence should be taken as an official US position on the matter, and if not, why Elon/SpaceX’s behavior is effectively contradicting official US policy.
This should get interesting, and it could put Elon in some real legal jeopardy on a matter that the US tends to not fuck around with.
Probably depends on who is in charge and if they’ll indict
You know you’re a bad human being when Putin praises you.
If you’ve got a murderous autocrat praising you, it should trigger an “I’ve made a huge mistake” response.
Not so for narcissists though - anything that boosts their ego is welcome, anything. Russia knows this, and plays the fuck out of it like a shit fiddle, Randy.
And useful idiots fall for it, like really powerful idiots. It makes me sad for humanity that such depraved sociopaths can still win out in this day and age.
I wonder how much Putin paid for Elon. I can’t help but imagine it was as little as a scratch behind the ear and telling him that “he’s a good boy, yes he is! Yes he is!”
Tankies who simp over Russia are going to have an existential crisis.
If you drive a Tesla you may have blood on your hands.
and? is it bad?
