by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
In addition to littering the heavens with his Starlink satellite system, inciting panic on the streets with driverless Teslas, and claiming to be one of the top twenty computer-gamers in the world when it comes to "Diablo 4," rich guy Elon Musk also fancies himself to be a diplomat and seems always ready - and often eager - to interfere in the policies and political matters of nations. Musk bought his way into the halls of power in the United States by donating more that a quarter-of-a-billion dollars to a presidential candidate who is known for soliciting and accepting cash from people who have business dealings with the US government.
Musk's businesses, particularly SpaceX and its Starlink satellite system, have important ties to the US communications and defense industries, but his businesses also serve other nations as well, and X (formerly Twitter) is the most used social media platform on the planet. So Elon is definitely an international player, and if he wants to have a say in how other countries behave on the world stage, he certainly has the tools at his disposal with which to meddle on a grand scale.
Elon Musk has been almost physically attached to the next US President since his election to that office last November. Their working relationship appears to be so close that some observers have begun to mockingly refer to the duo as "co-Presidents." The incoming President, the real one, has appointed Musk as one of two people to run a new "department," one charged with finding ways to cut government spending and waste, a perch that could wield considerable power over the entirety of the federal government as well as much of society, and now, while actually maintaining living accommodations at Mar-a-Lago, Musk is also reportedly exerting his considerable influence over the President-Elect in matters ranging from selection of personnel to run the new administration to advising him on his potential land grab of places like Greenland.
Being a "first buddy" to a world leader is undoubtedly a very heady experience, even for a man whose net worth is rapidly approaching a trillion dollars. It is such a rush, in fact, that, like a drug addict, Elon is feeling a visceral need to expand the euphoria - so he is looking beyond the US borders for other national governments in which to interfere. Musk has been using X (Twitter) to promote far-right political candidates in Europe as well as to malign at least one foreign leader. He seems to be trying to replicate in other countries the success that he had at buying his way in the halls of power in the United States.
Musk has been using his social media platform (X) to promote a far-right political party in Germany, as well as to lambast the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Other European countries and leaders are taking note of Musk's aggressive use of his money and social media power to influence domestic politics, and some are attempting to launch preemptive strikes against the meddling billionaire.
This past Monday the leaders of four European countries - Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Norway - each individually issued statements denouncing the overt and outsized political influence of Elon Musk. Musk's willingness - eagerness - to use his money and influence create an authoritarian world that would benefit people like him while making the lives of the working poor even more miserable than they already are poses threats to basic human rights, democracy, and even the sustainability of life on the planet.
Those things are far too important to be left to the whimsy and conceits of a narcissistic computer gamer.
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