My Take | Elon Musk talks sense on Ukraine and Taiwan
- The world’s richest man may be a privileged and egoistical loudmouth, but he is also smarter and more perceptive than the vast majority of self-serving pundits
Elon Musk has never been shy about speaking his overly active mind. Now the world’s richest man has ventured into the treacherous terrains of Ukraine and Taiwan. Most pundits simply dismiss him as a privileged and egoistical loudmouth. I am sure he is that but he is also a genius.
Most pundits take themselves far too seriously, believing they offer enlightenment rather than entertainment, if that. Not me. At least I realise what I do is not quantum mechanics or rocket science. And speaking of that, a physics major in university, Musk does know something about quantum mechanics. And he has pioneered commercialising space and rocket sciences, which have become an established business model for others to emulate.
So yeah, I listen to him.
He has proposed possible peace terms for the Russia-Ukraine war, then offered a poll on Twitter for people to choose from: redoing referendums in the four Ukrainian regions Russia recently annexed; formalising the Russian annexation of Crimea; and keeping Ukraine neutral between Nato and Russia.
No points for originality there. They are actually variants of the terms previously proposed by such luminaries as Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president. But since they lie outside the current Western public consensus, which borders on fantasy by seeking total victory for Ukraine and the downfall of Russian President Vladimir Putin, they have been mostly dismissed.
Meanwhile, commenting on Taiwan, Musk thinks the current trajectory means conflict is inevitable. He is not the only one who thinks so. In fact, among the most hawkish in the United States and China, that’s already taken for granted, so for them, it’s better to have a war at an advantageous time to themselves.