We’ve all noticed the richest man in the USA, Elon Musk’s becoming heavily involved in the GOP MAGA ex-president’s campaign to become the 47th US president. He’s been a major player in encouraging the ex-president to choose JD Vance, a strong backer of Project 2025, as his vice-presidential pick. Mr. Musk and other like thinking right-wingers have set up the Pro Trump America PAC where he’s donated almost $75 million dollars. His fingerprints are all over the ex-president’s outreach infrastructure from get-out-the-vote contacts in swing states to the widespread dissemination of the ex-president’s talking points, lies on his own social website X, formerly Twitter.
See: NYT Opinion | What Donald Trump Would Do, in His Own Words
Meanwhile the ex-president has taken an interest in Mr. Musk’s proposal to essentially audit the federal government as a way to cut back on government programs. But like all the other ultra-right political leaders, corporate executives, billionaires, Mr. Musk wants the US to be transformed into an autocracy where priorities would include the backing policies favorable to Russia versus Ukraine, the lowering of their tax burdens and the cutting of government regulations. Mr. Musk is looking to rid himself of the exact kinds of regulations that have made SpaceX, X and Tesla the subject of federal investigations, major recalls, lawsuits and fines, and that limits him from expanding his business ventures in countries, like Russia and China.
As The New York Times put it: “Instead of entering this new role as a neutral observer, Mr. Musk would be passing judgment on his own customers and regulators.”
And now, we’re discovering from the Wall Street Journal, that since 2022, Mr. Musk has been in frequent contact with Russian operatives including President Vladimir Putin. Remember that Elon Musk initiated his purchase of Twitter (X) around April 2022 with the final buyout date of the 27th of October in 2022. Almost immediately, Mr. Musk transformed Twitter from a public corporation into to his own private entity. What’s wrong with this picture?
As per the October 24, 2024 Wall Street Journal exposé via MSN by Thomas Grove, Warren P. Strobel, Aruna Viswanatha, Gordon Lubold, Sam Schechner, “Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations With Vladimir Putin:”
Excerpts:
“Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.”
“The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.”
“Musk has emerged this year as a crucial supporter of Donald Trump’s election campaign and could find a role in a Trump administration should he win. While the U.S. and its allies have isolated Putin in recent years, Musk’s dialogue could signal re-engagement with the Russian leader and reinforce Trump’s expressed desire to cut a deal over major fault lines such as the war in Ukraine.”
“At the same time, the contacts also raise potential national-security concerns among some in the current administration, given Putin’s role as one of America’s chief adversaries.”
“Musk has forged deep business ties with U.S. military and intelligence agencies, giving him unique visibility into some of America’s most sensitive space programs. SpaceX, which operates the Starlink service, won a $1.8 billion classified contract in 2021 and is the primary rocket launcher for the Pentagon and NASA. Musk has a security clearance that allows him access to certain classified information.”
“In October 2022, Musk said publicly that he had spoken only once to Putin. He said on X that the conversation was about space, and that it occurred around April 2021.”
“But more conversations have followed, including dialogues with other high-ranking Russian officials past 2022 and into this year. One of the officials was Sergei Kiriyenko, Putin’s first deputy chief of staff, two of the officials said. What the two talked about isn’t clear.”
“Last month, the U.S. Justice Department said in an affidavit that Kiriyenko had created some 30 internet domains to spread Russian disinformation, including on Musk’s X, where it was meant to erode support for Ukraine and manipulate American voters ahead of the presidential election.”
“After the Russian invasion in February 2022, Musk at first made strong public statements of support for Kyiv. He posted “Hold Strong Ukraine,” flanked by Ukrainian flags on what was then still known as Twitter. Shortly after, he jokingly challenged Putin to one-on-one combat over “Україна,” the Ukrainian language name for the country.”
“He followed up by donating several hundred Starlink terminals to Ukraine. By July some 15,000 terminals were providing free internet access to broad swaths of the country destroyed by the Russian attacks.”
“Later that year, Musk’s view of the conflict appeared to change. In September, Ukrainian military operatives weren’t able to use Starlink terminals to guide sea drones to attack a Russian naval base in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow had occupied since 2014. Ukraine tried to persuade Musk to activate the Starlink service in the area, but that didn’t happen, the Journal has reported.”
“His space company extended restrictions on the use of Starlink in offensive operations by Ukraine. Musk said later that he made the move because Starlink is meant for civilian uses and that he believed any Ukrainian attack on Crimea could spark a nuclear war.”
“His moves coincided with public and private pressure from the Kremlin. In May 2022, Russia’s space chief said in a post on Telegram that Musk would “answer like an adult” for supplying Starlink to Ukraine’s Azov battalion, which the Kremlin had singled out for the ultraright ideology espoused by some members.”
“Later in 2022, Musk was having regular conversations with “high-level Russians,” according to a person familiar with the interactions. At the time, there was pressure from the Kremlin on Musk’s businesses and “implicit threats against him,” the person said.”
“At the same time, Musk increasingly took to Twitter, for which he was completing the purchase, to say SpaceX was losing money by funding the operation of the terminals.”
“In October 2022, he asked his tens of millions of followers on X to vote on a pathway to peace that mirrored some aspects of the Kremlin’s offer to Ukraine at the time.”
“Those conditions included continued Russian occupation of Crimea and Ukrainian neutrality outside of NATO. He also specified that Ukraine should continue allowing the supply of water to Crimea, an issue that had been an important concern of the Kremlin before the war.”
“One current and one former intelligence source said that Musk and Putin have continued to have contact since then and into this year as Musk began stepping up his criticism of the U.S. military aid to Ukraine and became involved in Trump’s election campaign.”
‘Red lines’
“In the fall of 2022, political scientist Ian Bremmer, founder of New York-based consulting firm Eurasia Group, wrote on Twitter that Musk had told him he had spoken with Putin and Kremlin officials about Ukraine. “He also told me what the Kremlin’s red lines were,” he wrote.”
“Bremmer wrote in a newsletter to subscribers that Musk had relayed to him a message from Putin that Russia would secure Crimea and Ukrainian neutrality “no matter what,” and that it would respond to a Ukrainian invasion of Crimea with a nuclear strike. Musk said that “everything needed to be done to avoid that outcome,” Bremmer wrote.”
“Musk has publicly denied he said any of those things to Bremmer.”
“In the past year, Musk and Russia’s interests have increasingly overlapped. Apart from Russia’s use of X for disinformation and Musk’s outspoken opposition to aid to Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said earlier this year that Russian forces occupying the country’s eastern and southern swaths had started using Starlink to enable secure communications and extend the range of their drones.”
“Russian troops also began using Starlink terminals, brought in through third countries, at a massive scale, undermining one of Ukraine’s few battlefield advantages. Musk has said on X that to the best of his knowledge, no terminals had been sold directly or indirectly to Russia, and that the terminals wouldn’t work inside Russia.”
“Pentagon officials have said the military was working with Ukraine and Starlink to address the issue and described SpaceX as a great partner in those efforts. People familiar with the situation have said controlling who is using Starlink in Ukraine is difficult.”
“Starlink has said on X that when SpaceX learns of claims that unauthorized parties are using the service, it investigates and can cut off access.”
“Earlier this year, Musk gave airtime to Putin and his views on the U.S. and Ukraine when X carried Tucker Carlson’s two-hour interview with the Russian leader inside the Kremlin. In that interview, Putin said he was sure Musk “was a smart person.”
“Late last year (2023), the Kremlin first made the request of Musk to not activate Starlink over Taiwan, said a former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the situation. The request was done as a favor to China whom Russia was increasingly relying on for trade and to get around sanctions. A representative of the Chinese embassy in Washington said they weren’t aware of the specifics and couldn’t comment.”
“Starlink has never secured permission to offer internet service in Taiwan, whose government places restrictions on non-Taiwanese satellite operators.”
“Taiwan is currently listed as “coming soon” on a Starlink map of where it provides service.”
“As the year progressed, Musk became more preoccupied with the presidential election.”
“Through the first months of the year, Musk said he would refrain from backing any presidential candidate while at the same time holding private conversations discussing how he could get Trump elected. Musk publicly endorsed him in July. The businessman said he planned to commit as much as $45 million a month to a new super political-action committee in part to get it done, according to people familiar with the matter. The effort included hiring armies of canvassers to scour battleground states for voters.”
“Since then, Trump has said he intends to make Musk the head of a “government efficiency commission.”
Gronda Morin 