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It appeared to many observers that Musk was mocking the Russian propaganda, he then made the mockery explicit later. I don't understand the thesis that Musk is

It appeared to many observers that Musk was mocking the Russian propaganda, he then made the mockery explicit later. I don't understand the thesis that Musk is somehow pro-Russia. Generally his ventures are against Russia interests: SpaceX, launched in the aftermath of Russia being uninterested in selling a leftover rocket to Musk, now dominates the launch industry to the detriment of Russia, among other things halting the cash flow from NASA to Russia to carry astronauts to ISS. Tesla and former-SolarCity, reducing use of oil, while Russia is a major oil producer. Starlink provides communications capability to the country Russia is attacking. However, a likely macroeconomic slump in (electric and other) vehicle demand and Musk’s erratic way of running Twitter are real problems. I think these get the blame for stock issues, rather than the bizarre Russian thing.

cma 4y ago
4-5 hours later, possibly around the time his ambien was wearing off: https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/elon-musks-strange-strange-ambien-tweet/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/elon-musks-strange-s...
astrange 4y ago
Elon doesn't exactly tweet like a rational logical being at the moment. It seemed to me he was praising the tweet because it mentioned him and said he was going to be president of the US (or something like that) so he thought it was cool. Then he just snuck back in and denounced it later when he remembered he has a security clearance. He's already taken calls with Putin and randomly decided to announce Ukraine should negotiate peace with Russia, then lost interest and dropped it. (Note, the way Elon "talks" in tweets would be sarcastic if it was someone younger, but remember he's middle aged and still calls things epic unironically.)
- cokeandpepsi 4y ago
  Someone who's dependant on us goverment contracts defense/nasa really shouldn't be interacting with high ranking russian officals.. even if it's for the lulz espcially since the us has sanctions targeted at medvedev by name, it's no joke
  - astrange 4y ago
    To be fair that's one of the good(?) parts of Twitter. I'm not sure if he's personally sanctioned but the former president of Iran also strangely likes trolling American politicians and commenting on sports. Sometimes gets replies from their social media interns. https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/1037299264316166145 https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/10372992643161661... https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/1052178368072945668 https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/10521783680729456... Actually I'm surprised Iranians are allowed to have Twitter accounts, does that not count as "doing business"…?
    - elkos 4y ago
      I thought Ahmadinejad1956 was a parody account
  - 2devnull 4y ago
    One must do more than just denounce, they must denounce with precisely the correct language and tone. Providing support to Ukraine (via starlink) is not enough. Proper denunciation speech is paramount. (I am being sarcastic.)
- rsynnott 4y ago
  It all feels very Trumpian; once he’s outside his comfort zone (very visible with the software engineering and politics in particular, in Musk’s case) he tends to just take his lead from whoever flatters him most, and promote/repeat this complete nonsense. This is actually quite odd behaviour. Most high-profile people, confronted with something they don’t understand, will keep quiet; looking stupid is too much of a risk for these people. If the former PM of Russia drunkenly tweets about you, _you do not engage_, no matter how nice he is about you.
  - elkos 4y ago
    Considering how many Russians don't think so high about most of the presidents of the USA are we sure Medvedev is _nice_ to Elon?
- thordenmark 4y ago
  He thinks he's being funny, and his opponents and critics have no humor.
  - negamax 4y ago
    He mocked the Twitter staff he fired. Sorry but a CEO of Twitter a social network. Elon not having emotional intelligence is the most absurd joke. Only problem is that it is reality now.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    Maybe Elon doesn't think his stock dropping from $300 to $113 in less than six months is funny. Or maybe he doesn't have a sense of humor either...
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- jacquesm 4y ago
  I don't have a security clearance but one day in the middle of the night I accidentally ended up at the Belarus/Polish border due to a faulty bit of navigation software (Thanks, TomTom). I'm pretty sure that that had absolutely no effect whatsoever (I had no visum anyway and it's not like you just waltz across that border, nor did I want to) but at the same time if I would have a security clearance I'm fairly sure that there would have been some effect. When you are operating at that level you should be a lot more careful about who you are buddies with and where you visit lest someone decides that maybe it is time that you lost that clearance.
  - barnacled 4y ago
    Reasonably politely pushing back on these has got my post not only downvoted to oblivion (after upvotes) but then flagged (!!) while of course the guy who was abusive in return, no problems. I know you have written eloquently about HN in the past, but I think that site is gone. And I remember because I've been on it for over a decade. I joined an early stage start up on it. Sadly, they give no means for deleting your account. But thought I'd flag to you anyway. Anyway, I will be abandoning this account, but it's maybe something for other HN old timers to think about. I had similar experiences suggesting covid had natural origins. I'm not sure the culture that HN possesses is the same as the one it alleges it desires. Anyway, last post from this account. I am sure this one will equally be nuked... :)
- philippejara 4y ago
  >(Note, the way Elon "talks" in tweets would be sarcastic if it was someone younger, but remember he's middle aged and still calls things epic unironically.) the way he tweets is pretty much distilled 2012-ish reddit
greenthrow 4y ago
This take does not track with reality. Musk pushed Russia propaganda about Ukrane and repeatedly defended his position.
- AzzieElbab 4y ago
  Examples?
  - scifibestfi 4y ago
    For a time it was considered propaganda to push for peace. It was truly bizarro. Then a few weeks later regime approved voices said we should consider peace and it was no longer considered propaganda.
    - coolbreezetft22 4y ago
      He pushed for Ukrainian territory to be formally ceded to Russia after they occupied it by force and violence. His "peace plan" was then enthusiastically praised by Kremlin propaganda. It seems his push for peace is always one sided in that all his ridiculous plans end with Russia being rewarded for aggression and Ukraine losing territory.
      - AzzieElbab 4y ago
        For some reasons many westerns believe that Russia will nuke the world before losing Crimea. I disagree but don’t see Musk being unique in believing this. Also and unfortunately, I do not see Ukraine taking back Crimea any time soon.
      - newZWhoDis 4y ago
        Except that isn’t what he said. He said the people in those regions should be able to decide which country they want to be part of and that the result should be enforced/respected by both sides. It’s a stupid opinion, but he didn’t say what you said he did.
fundad 4y ago
I think it’s because giving any “territory” to Russia justified see the pretense of ending war isn’t believable. If you don’t believe it condemns more people to be colonial subjects and the be redeployed to destroy Ukraine, I can see the confusion. A lot of tycoons aren’t commenting about the war at all if the fear how the judgement will affect business.
- awacs 4y ago
  I don't think he even cares about Ukraine one way or another. He's just trolling the U.S. gov to "own the libs" as part of his "engagement strategy" for Twitter, as ridiculous as that is. Yes, alienate the entire user base for the company you're completely leveraged on (Tesla), in exchange for people who make on average less per year than your average Tesla costs.
  - XorNot 4y ago
    I suspect it's both. Dude stays up late reading Twitter, gets a bit maudlin because he's alone and does the stoner "just thinking about the big questions maaan" thing. Then he eventually sleeps, gets a bunch of "we're getting hammered by the public" emails when he wakes up and says "ah, but it's all engagement you see. This is my business genius." Ignoring that the reason that sounds right to him is because it excuses him from the idea that he's ever done anything wrong.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  > If you don’t believe it condemns more people to be colonial subjects Assuming they live long enough. Look at what's left of the cities that Russia has withdrawn from.
dale_glass 4y ago
> I don't understand the thesis that Musk is somehow pro-Russia. There's a bit of a conspiracy theory going around that Musk was trying to get out of buying Twitter by publicly aligning with Russia/sabotaging Ukraine a bit. The idea would be being enough of a thorn in the US' backside that they might let him walk away from the deal. It's a funny one in that Musk has done enough bizarre stunts by now that I don't see this as completely implausible on his part, but given that the US government isn't a dictatorship and has separation of powers I don't think such a deal would be possible even if some part of the US government wanted to take it.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
d23 4y ago
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/elon-musk-sparks-criticism-with-ukraine-russia-peace-poll-on-twitter/2701813 https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/elon-musk-sparks-criticism-wi... https://www.vice.com/en/article/ake44z/elon-musk-vladimir-putin-ukraine https://www.vice.com/en/article/ake44z/elon-musk-vladimir-pu... https://www.businessinsider.com/musk-spotted-pro-putin-russian-tv-presenter-world-cup-2022-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/musk-spotted-pro-putin-russi... And of course, the one you're responding to: "Musk praised a truly insane Russian propaganda tweet, predicting the fall of the west"
_the_inflator 4y ago
Usual measure when you go verbally over the top: "It wasn't all meant that way, I was misunderstood," "It was meant ironically, and you didn't get it." In both cases, it's the "stupid" audience, but not the author. I disagree.
TheBlight 4y ago
[flagged]
- Taywee 4y ago
  Not everything is a liberal vs conservative pissing match.
  - TheBlight 4y ago
    Yes but the media situation surrounding Musk is completely partisan.
    - bannedbybros 4y ago
      [dead]
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
awacs 4y ago
I would agree on this one, but his pro-Putin / anti-American policy towards Ukraine is the context here. Plus he loves to troll the U.S. Gov (particularly the Dems) who literally made his life as a billionaire possible by funding him with billion to create Tesla when he was still basically "poor". He would be nothing without liberals who created the electric car incentive programs and EV loan programs, yet he trashes them left and right.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- astrange 4y ago
  That was a reasonable strategy a while ago - if conservatives hate electric cars for tribal reasons, you've got to make an electric car they're allowed to like. At this point it just seems like he doesn't have any friends though.
- newZWhoDis 4y ago
  > but his pro-Putin / anti-American policy towards Ukraine What an absurd characterization. Don’t you have something better to do than wake up and post lies on the internet? He said they should negotiate an end to the war, that’s not “pro-putin”. It really bothers me when people like yourself post these blatantly false statements, and I can’t say I’m surprised this post is still up/not flagged.
  - vgt 4y ago
    He specifically proposed terms friendly to Russia
  - ModernMech 4y ago
    > He said they should negotiate an end to the war, that’s not “pro-putin”. People are trying to end this war and the next one. Anyone who believes Putin will back down after success in Ukraine isn't paying attention. Furthermore, the people who should be particularly quiet about what to do in Ukraine are those who swore that Russia would not invade in the first place, because they don't have a clue what makes Putin tick. The people who saw this war coming from a mile away are the ones who deserve attention now, and that's not Musk.
dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago
How does Musk posting that sort of stuff, which is difficult to get across in text at the best of times, benefit anyone, including Musk? It's a pattern of pointless provocative nonsense by Musk, befitting a teenager, not the CEO of multiple multi-billion dollar companies. I guess he's free to do what he wants, but people are free to read whatever they want into it as well. Dismissing it as humour is not a given.
- leereeves 4y ago
  Provocative nonsense has worked for Musk up till now. He got billions of dollars worth of free media coverage from his antics. And after all of it, here we are still talking about Elon, Tesla, and Twitter.
  - aaronbrethorst 4y ago
    Musk’s provocative nonsense was a major reason why I didn’t consider leasing a Tesla earlier this year when I was in the market for an EV. I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.
    - newZWhoDis 4y ago
      [flagged]
    - kortilla 4y ago
      What EV did you choose instead? They are all so terrible by comparison when it comes to range and charging infra that it’s hard to go elsewhere. I don’t like Tesla because of the lack of CarPlay, etc and the tight attachment to their central servers but can’t find a reasonable alternative yet.
      - aaronbrethorst 4y ago
        Kia Niro EV. It’s been totally fine, especially since I don’t have to commit to it for more than 3 years.
      - 4y ago
asfgionio2346 4y ago
>It appeared to many observers that Musk was mocking the Russian propaganda, he then made the mockery explicit later. "I think the President and a small group of people know exactly what he meant."
Waterluvian 4y ago
“It was just a prank, bro.” That’s the intellectual level we strive for?
barnacled 4y ago
[flagged]
- kylecordes 4y ago
  I'm not defending him - repeating an earlier comment: Musk's behaviour is harmful to his personal reputation, his businesses, his investors, and sometimes beyond. Also utterly unbecoming a CEO of companies which routinely have human life at risk, serve critical national security interests, etc. But I stand by the analysis that Musk's ventures are (so far) opposed to Russian interests. Who knows though? He's pretty erratic over the last couple years. Maybe next year's Tesla model will switch to gas, with a preference for Russia-supplied gas? Am I joking? Mostly, but not 100%.
- newZWhoDis 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - slaw 4y ago
    Poland bought for Ukraine more than half Starlink terminals. https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/ukraine-uses-over-11000-internet-links-bought-by-poland-33810 https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/ukraine-uses-over-11000...
    - Gwypaas 4y ago
      The expensive part is not the terminals, it is providing continuous reliable service in a hostile environment with a determined adversary.
      - jacquesm 4y ago
        These are satellite terminals, or are you suggesting that the Russians are threatening Starlink's satellites?
        Gwypaas 4y ago
zzleeper 4y ago
> It appeared to many observers that Musk was mocking the Russian propaganda, he then made the mockery explicit later. Saying "EPIC THREAD" is just his style of praising something, not mocking it. He had to add extra tweets to mock it five hours later because of the backslash.

cma 4y ago

4-5 hours later, possibly around the time his ambien was wearing off: https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/elon-musks-strange-strange-ambien-tweet/ https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/elon-musks-strange-s...

astrange 4y ago

Elon doesn't exactly tweet like a rational logical being at the moment. It seemed to me he was praising the tweet because it mentioned him and said he was going to be president of the US (or something like that) so he thought it was cool. Then he just snuck back in and denounced it later when he remembered he has a security clearance. He's already taken calls with Putin and randomly decided to announce Ukraine should negotiate peace with Russia, then lost interest and dropped it. (Note, the way Elon "talks" in tweets would be sarcastic if it was someone younger, but remember he's middle aged and still calls things epic unironically.)

cokeandpepsi 4y ago
Someone who's dependant on us goverment contracts defense/nasa really shouldn't be interacting with high ranking russian officals.. even if it's for the lulz espcially since the us has sanctions targeted at medvedev by name, it's no joke
- astrange 4y ago
  To be fair that's one of the good(?) parts of Twitter. I'm not sure if he's personally sanctioned but the former president of Iran also strangely likes trolling American politicians and commenting on sports. Sometimes gets replies from their social media interns. https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/1037299264316166145 https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/10372992643161661... https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/1052178368072945668 https://twitter.com/Ahmadinejad1956/status/10521783680729456... Actually I'm surprised Iranians are allowed to have Twitter accounts, does that not count as "doing business"…?
  - elkos 4y ago
    I thought Ahmadinejad1956 was a parody account
- 2devnull 4y ago
  One must do more than just denounce, they must denounce with precisely the correct language and tone. Providing support to Ukraine (via starlink) is not enough. Proper denunciation speech is paramount. (I am being sarcastic.)
rsynnott 4y ago
It all feels very Trumpian; once he’s outside his comfort zone (very visible with the software engineering and politics in particular, in Musk’s case) he tends to just take his lead from whoever flatters him most, and promote/repeat this complete nonsense. This is actually quite odd behaviour. Most high-profile people, confronted with something they don’t understand, will keep quiet; looking stupid is too much of a risk for these people. If the former PM of Russia drunkenly tweets about you, _you do not engage_, no matter how nice he is about you.
- elkos 4y ago
  Considering how many Russians don't think so high about most of the presidents of the USA are we sure Medvedev is _nice_ to Elon?
thordenmark 4y ago
He thinks he's being funny, and his opponents and critics have no humor.
- negamax 4y ago
  He mocked the Twitter staff he fired. Sorry but a CEO of Twitter a social network. Elon not having emotional intelligence is the most absurd joke. Only problem is that it is reality now.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  Maybe Elon doesn't think his stock dropping from $300 to $113 in less than six months is funny. Or maybe he doesn't have a sense of humor either...
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
jacquesm 4y ago
I don't have a security clearance but one day in the middle of the night I accidentally ended up at the Belarus/Polish border due to a faulty bit of navigation software (Thanks, TomTom). I'm pretty sure that that had absolutely no effect whatsoever (I had no visum anyway and it's not like you just waltz across that border, nor did I want to) but at the same time if I would have a security clearance I'm fairly sure that there would have been some effect. When you are operating at that level you should be a lot more careful about who you are buddies with and where you visit lest someone decides that maybe it is time that you lost that clearance.
- barnacled 4y ago
  Reasonably politely pushing back on these has got my post not only downvoted to oblivion (after upvotes) but then flagged (!!) while of course the guy who was abusive in return, no problems. I know you have written eloquently about HN in the past, but I think that site is gone. And I remember because I've been on it for over a decade. I joined an early stage start up on it. Sadly, they give no means for deleting your account. But thought I'd flag to you anyway. Anyway, I will be abandoning this account, but it's maybe something for other HN old timers to think about. I had similar experiences suggesting covid had natural origins. I'm not sure the culture that HN possesses is the same as the one it alleges it desires. Anyway, last post from this account. I am sure this one will equally be nuked... :)
philippejara 4y ago
>(Note, the way Elon "talks" in tweets would be sarcastic if it was someone younger, but remember he's middle aged and still calls things epic unironically.) the way he tweets is pretty much distilled 2012-ish reddit

greenthrow 4y ago

This take does not track with reality. Musk pushed Russia propaganda about Ukrane and repeatedly defended his position.

AzzieElbab 4y ago
Examples?
- scifibestfi 4y ago
  For a time it was considered propaganda to push for peace. It was truly bizarro. Then a few weeks later regime approved voices said we should consider peace and it was no longer considered propaganda.
  - coolbreezetft22 4y ago
    He pushed for Ukrainian territory to be formally ceded to Russia after they occupied it by force and violence. His "peace plan" was then enthusiastically praised by Kremlin propaganda. It seems his push for peace is always one sided in that all his ridiculous plans end with Russia being rewarded for aggression and Ukraine losing territory.
    - AzzieElbab 4y ago
      For some reasons many westerns believe that Russia will nuke the world before losing Crimea. I disagree but don’t see Musk being unique in believing this. Also and unfortunately, I do not see Ukraine taking back Crimea any time soon.
    - newZWhoDis 4y ago
      Except that isn’t what he said. He said the people in those regions should be able to decide which country they want to be part of and that the result should be enforced/respected by both sides. It’s a stupid opinion, but he didn’t say what you said he did.

fundad 4y ago

I think it’s because giving any “territory” to Russia justified see the pretense of ending war isn’t believable. If you don’t believe it condemns more people to be colonial subjects and the be redeployed to destroy Ukraine, I can see the confusion. A lot of tycoons aren’t commenting about the war at all if the fear how the judgement will affect business.

awacs 4y ago
I don't think he even cares about Ukraine one way or another. He's just trolling the U.S. gov to "own the libs" as part of his "engagement strategy" for Twitter, as ridiculous as that is. Yes, alienate the entire user base for the company you're completely leveraged on (Tesla), in exchange for people who make on average less per year than your average Tesla costs.
- XorNot 4y ago
  I suspect it's both. Dude stays up late reading Twitter, gets a bit maudlin because he's alone and does the stoner "just thinking about the big questions maaan" thing. Then he eventually sleeps, gets a bunch of "we're getting hammered by the public" emails when he wakes up and says "ah, but it's all engagement you see. This is my business genius." Ignoring that the reason that sounds right to him is because it excuses him from the idea that he's ever done anything wrong.
jacquesm 4y ago
> If you don’t believe it condemns more people to be colonial subjects Assuming they live long enough. Look at what's left of the cities that Russia has withdrawn from.

dale_glass 4y ago

> I don't understand the thesis that Musk is somehow pro-Russia. There's a bit of a conspiracy theory going around that Musk was trying to get out of buying Twitter by publicly aligning with Russia/sabotaging Ukraine a bit. The idea would be being enough of a thorn in the US' backside that they might let him walk away from the deal. It's a funny one in that Musk has done enough bizarre stunts by now that I don't see this as completely implausible on his part, but given that the US government isn't a dictatorship and has separation of powers I don't think such a deal would be possible even if some part of the US government wanted to take it.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

d23 4y ago

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/elon-musk-sparks-criticism-with-ukraine-russia-peace-poll-on-twitter/2701813 https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/elon-musk-sparks-criticism-wi... https://www.vice.com/en/article/ake44z/elon-musk-vladimir-putin-ukraine https://www.vice.com/en/article/ake44z/elon-musk-vladimir-pu... https://www.businessinsider.com/musk-spotted-pro-putin-russian-tv-presenter-world-cup-2022-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/musk-spotted-pro-putin-russi... And of course, the one you're responding to: "Musk praised a truly insane Russian propaganda tweet, predicting the fall of the west"

_the_inflator 4y ago

Usual measure when you go verbally over the top: "It wasn't all meant that way, I was misunderstood," "It was meant ironically, and you didn't get it." In both cases, it's the "stupid" audience, but not the author. I disagree.

TheBlight 4y ago

[flagged]

Taywee 4y ago
Not everything is a liberal vs conservative pissing match.
- TheBlight 4y ago
  Yes but the media situation surrounding Musk is completely partisan.
  - bannedbybros 4y ago
    [dead]
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

awacs 4y ago

I would agree on this one, but his pro-Putin / anti-American policy towards Ukraine is the context here. Plus he loves to troll the U.S. Gov (particularly the Dems) who literally made his life as a billionaire possible by funding him with billion to create Tesla when he was still basically "poor". He would be nothing without liberals who created the electric car incentive programs and EV loan programs, yet he trashes them left and right.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
astrange 4y ago
That was a reasonable strategy a while ago - if conservatives hate electric cars for tribal reasons, you've got to make an electric car they're allowed to like. At this point it just seems like he doesn't have any friends though.
newZWhoDis 4y ago
> but his pro-Putin / anti-American policy towards Ukraine What an absurd characterization. Don’t you have something better to do than wake up and post lies on the internet? He said they should negotiate an end to the war, that’s not “pro-putin”. It really bothers me when people like yourself post these blatantly false statements, and I can’t say I’m surprised this post is still up/not flagged.
- vgt 4y ago
  He specifically proposed terms friendly to Russia
- ModernMech 4y ago
  > He said they should negotiate an end to the war, that’s not “pro-putin”. People are trying to end this war and the next one. Anyone who believes Putin will back down after success in Ukraine isn't paying attention. Furthermore, the people who should be particularly quiet about what to do in Ukraine are those who swore that Russia would not invade in the first place, because they don't have a clue what makes Putin tick. The people who saw this war coming from a mile away are the ones who deserve attention now, and that's not Musk.

dkjaudyeqooe 4y ago

How does Musk posting that sort of stuff, which is difficult to get across in text at the best of times, benefit anyone, including Musk? It's a pattern of pointless provocative nonsense by Musk, befitting a teenager, not the CEO of multiple multi-billion dollar companies. I guess he's free to do what he wants, but people are free to read whatever they want into it as well. Dismissing it as humour is not a given.

leereeves 4y ago
Provocative nonsense has worked for Musk up till now. He got billions of dollars worth of free media coverage from his antics. And after all of it, here we are still talking about Elon, Tesla, and Twitter.
- aaronbrethorst 4y ago
  Musk’s provocative nonsense was a major reason why I didn’t consider leasing a Tesla earlier this year when I was in the market for an EV. I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way.
  - newZWhoDis 4y ago
    [flagged]
  - kortilla 4y ago
    What EV did you choose instead? They are all so terrible by comparison when it comes to range and charging infra that it’s hard to go elsewhere. I don’t like Tesla because of the lack of CarPlay, etc and the tight attachment to their central servers but can’t find a reasonable alternative yet.
    - aaronbrethorst 4y ago
      Kia Niro EV. It’s been totally fine, especially since I don’t have to commit to it for more than 3 years.
    - 4y ago

asfgionio2346 4y ago

>It appeared to many observers that Musk was mocking the Russian propaganda, he then made the mockery explicit later. "I think the President and a small group of people know exactly what he meant."

Waterluvian 4y ago

“It was just a prank, bro.” That’s the intellectual level we strive for?

barnacled 4y ago

[flagged]

kylecordes 4y ago
I'm not defending him - repeating an earlier comment: Musk's behaviour is harmful to his personal reputation, his businesses, his investors, and sometimes beyond. Also utterly unbecoming a CEO of companies which routinely have human life at risk, serve critical national security interests, etc. But I stand by the analysis that Musk's ventures are (so far) opposed to Russian interests. Who knows though? He's pretty erratic over the last couple years. Maybe next year's Tesla model will switch to gas, with a preference for Russia-supplied gas? Am I joking? Mostly, but not 100%.
newZWhoDis 4y ago
[flagged]
- slaw 4y ago
  Poland bought for Ukraine more than half Starlink terminals. https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/ukraine-uses-over-11000-internet-links-bought-by-poland-33810 https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/ukraine-uses-over-11000...
  - Gwypaas 4y ago
    The expensive part is not the terminals, it is providing continuous reliable service in a hostile environment with a determined adversary.
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      These are satellite terminals, or are you suggesting that the Russians are threatening Starlink's satellites?
      - Gwypaas 4y ago

zzleeper 4y ago

> It appeared to many observers that Musk was mocking the Russian propaganda, he then made the mockery explicit later. Saying "EPIC THREAD" is just his style of praising something, not mocking it. He had to add extra tweets to mock it five hours later because of the backslash.