Elon Musk Seems Persona non Grata in Ukraine Because of Talking Without Thinking

By Matthew Gault

VICE

All Titles and Edit is always done by Adamfoxie.blogspot.com

 

The city of Odesa in southern Ukraine has covered up a photo of Elon Musk on a billboard following his comments on Twitter about a peace deal with Russia. 

“The advertising department removes the photo of Elon Musk from the billboards, which we used to thank for supporting Ukraine,” a Telegram channel linked to the Odesa city government said above of a video of a worker papering over the picture of the billionaire. The billboard sits above a road and shows off a few celebrities next to the words, “Thanks for the Support of Ukraine.” 

Musk ended up on the billboard in the first place because he donated Starlink terminals to Ukraine in an effort to keep them online during the war. Ukraine’s love for Musk began to turn last Monday when the billionaire tweeted his hair-brained scheme for bringing peace to the region: redo the elections in the annexed regions and keep Crimea in Russia. Ukrainian politicians and diplomats told him to fuck off.

Musk doubled down over the next few days, fighting with South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham about the issue and posting a decade-old map he claimed showed support for Russian rule. Around the same time, Ukrainian officials began to tell journalists they were having trouble with their Starlink terminals.

Odesa is an important part of Ukraine’s war. It’s a major Black Sea port in Ukraine, the place through which its grain shipments flow, and a constant target for Moscow’s assault. It has been the repeated target of missile strikes during the war. Just this morning, Ukraine’s military reported it had shot down a drone above the city. 

The billboard was a place for the city to celebrate celebrities it saw as heroes. Benedict Cumberbatch is there because he brought Ukrainian refugees into his home. Emilia Clarke is there because of her early support and fundraising efforts. Leonardo DiCaprio has also shown his support for the country and was the subject of a disproved rumor early in the war that he’d donated $10 million and that his family was from Odessa. Elon Musk was there too because of the Starlink terminals.

But now Musk is advocating the Kremlin’s position in public, commanders are complaining about the Starlink terminals not working, and the city of Odessa is covering up Musk’s visage on its celebratory billboard.

PS: by adamfoxie, Adam: The butcher in Moscow loved the idea. You know when your killer loves what you say you know you said too much. Would Elon be smart enough to understand that? Now we know he is just a billionaire with far-out space ideas which were going to happen with him or without. Since I was a boy that is all we talked about as we followed the Gemini Program. A humanist compared with others with ideas that made them money and work for peace and help humanity, not this person. What makes it interesting is that he thinks his words have no value or they have a lot of value. As it happens they have value because of his standing and his money. If he was broke, which could still happen nobody will listen but as it stands he should be careful because what he says can cost lives. What if someone told him his words cost a dozen Ukrainians lives? Would he change his song?