Ever since billionaire Tesla Motors and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk proposed Oct. 4 a peace plan for Ukraine, he’s been vilified by the Kiev government led by 44-year-old Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Musk asked that the Sept. 23 Russian referendums be redone under U.N. supervision to confirm whether residents in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Crimea wanted to join the Russian Federation. Zelensky rejected Musk’s suggestions, inviting him to come to Kiev to see what’s really going on in Ukraine. Musk infuriated Kiev saying in his peace proposal that Kiev should recognize Crimean Peninsula as sovereign Russian territory. Musk uses historical Russian Empire ownership of Crime since 1783, only given to Ukraine while it was a loyal Soviet satellite by Premier Nikta Khrushchev in 1954. Zelensky rejected that plan claiming Crimea as sovereign Ukrainian territory.
World leaders haven’t stepped up like Musk to offer a peace plan, largely because Kiev takes billions in U.S. tax dollars to pay for government operations and the war. Zelensky refuses to give up his cash cow that’s made he and his cronies rich off the U.S. Treasury. Musk sees a bigger problem allowing the Ukraine War go unabated with no end in sight. Musk sees the possibility of wider escalation possibly to WW II on the European Continent, possibly nuclear war. Much of the Western press misinterpreted Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that if the Russian homeland were threatened, he reserved the right to use nuclear weapons. Biden said in response Oct. 7, that nuclear Armageddon was possible in Ukraine, prompting U.S. allies to show concern. Musk’s plan was designed to offer compromise as the basis for ending the nine-month old conflict, dragging into a cold, dark winter.
Musk was accused by Ukraine’s 40-year-old Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba of colluding with Russian President Vladimir Putin, insisting he’s a Russian asset. But with world leaders refusing to offer peace plans, the war rages on with all the claims of war crimes by Kiev. Putin offered in March to end the conflict if Zelensky recognized the independence of Donetsk, Luhansk and sovereignty of Crimea. Musk knows that Putin’s requirements were all rejected by Kiev, leaving the war escalating to the point that Biden talks of nuclear Armageddon. Kiev doesn’t want to hear about Russia’s past sovereignty over Crimea. When Putin annexed Crimea March 1, 2014, the CIA sponsored a pros-Western coup in Kiev that toppled the duly elected government of Kremlin-backed Viktor Yanukovych. Once Yanukovych was chased of Kiev, Putin had no choice but to protect his Sevastopol naval base.
No one in U.S. or EU acknowledges that a CIA-backed coup toppled Yanukovych and forced Putin to annex Crimea. Zelensky said Putin’s annexation of Crimea was a naked land grab, much like the entire Ukraine War. From the beginning Feb. 24, Kiev accused Putin of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Ukraine. President Joe Biden, 80, and his 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said Putin wanted to conquer all of Ukraine and erase the Ukrainian people. Putin said from the outset, that the Feb. 24 invasion was a “special military operation” designed to demilitarize Ukraine from the U.S. and NATO supplying Kiev unlimited cash and lethal weapons. Western officials reject Putin’s claim of U.S. and NATO encroachment in Ukraine, threatening Russian national security. No Western official until Musk has been willing to look at both sides of the conflict.
Musk polled his 93 million Twitter followers to ask whether or not his peace proposal would wind up the end point to any future ceasefire or peace plan. Musk insists that compromise with Kremlin is the only way to stop the carnage and infrastructure destruction in Ukraine, all called war crimes by Kiev. Musk said another outcome in Ukraine could be nuclear war, not something appealing to anyone. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised Musk for his peace proposal but disagreed on the need for the U.N. to redo annexation votes in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. “People have voiced their opinion and there could be nothing else,” Peskov said. But whatever the differences between Musk’s peace plan and the Kremlin, at least he offered to find a way to end the conflict. Kiev asked Musk in March to supply StarLink terminals to keep Ukraine’s Internet from going dark.
Musk continues to subsidize Ukraine’s StarLink Internet Satellite service, costing Musk over $100 million. Musk said he tried to get the Defense Department to pay for StarLink satellite Insternet service, a vital service to keep Ukraine online during the war. “Even though StarLink is still losing money other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine government for free,” Musk tweeted. Eurasia Group president and political analyst Ian Bremmer said Musk has been talking to Putin and the Kremlin about Ukraine. Musk told Bremmer that Putin was “prepared to negotiate” on a number of conditions. Musk denied Bremmer’s report that he is in regular contact with Putin. Musk said he hadn’t talked with Putin in over 18 months, showing the way the government labels Musk a Russian asset. Musk wants peace in Ukraine for all the right reasons.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnsit.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
