Tech billionaire Elon Musk says liberals love war after US President Joe Biden authorised deep strikes into Russia World War III on the horizon
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, a close confidant of US President-elect Donald Trump, has weighed in on President Joe Biden’s apparent decision to officially sanction the use of American missiles on targets deep within Russian territory, agreeing with a post stating “libs love war.”
With just two months left in office, Biden reportedly gave in to one of Ukraine’s long-standing demands on Sunday afternoon, authorizing Kiev to use its American-provided Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) in strikes on Russia’s Kursk Region. The decision was simultaneously reported by multiple US media outlets.
Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, Reuters reported, citing “two US officials and a source familiar with the decision.”
© Sputnik/Valery Melnikov
Biden’s decision marks a significant escalation in the conflict. While Ukraine has possessed ATACMS missiles since April, the US president did not at that time give Kiev permission to use them on internationally recognized Russian territory. To date, they have been used in strikes on Russia’s Crimea, Donetsk, and Lugansk regions, which Washington considers Ukrainian.
Responding to the news on X, Utah Senator Mike Lee, a Republican, declared that “Libs [liberals] love war,” adding: “war facilitates bigger government.”
“True,” Musk replied.
While SpaceX has provided the Ukrainian military with Starlink internet terminals, Musk has long argued that Kiev cannot hope to defeat Russian forces on the battlefield, and that the conflict must end in a negotiated settlement. The tech tycoon endorsed Donald Trump – who has vowed to bring a swift end to the fighting – earlier this summer, and following Trump’s defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris last week, he has emerged as one of the president-elect’s closest advisers.
Musk is not the only figure in Trump’s orbit to condemn Biden’s decision. Richard Grenell, a close adviser to the president-elect who served as acting director of national intelligence in 2020, accused Biden of “escalating the wars before he leaves office.”
Elon Musk listens during a House Republicans Conference meeting in Washington DC, November 13, 2024 © Getty Images / Allison Robbert-Pool
“The Military Industrial Complex seems to want to make sure they get World War 3 going before my father has a chance to create peace and save lives,” Trump’s son, Donald Jr., wrote on X. “Gotta lock in those $Trillions. Life be damned!!! Imbeciles!”
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has issued a thinly veiled threat to use US-supplied long-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia.
The statement came after multiple Western news organizations reported that outgoing President Joe Biden’s White House had reversed its long-standing policy of not allowing Kiev to use the ATACMS missiles to hit targets on Russia’s internationally recognized territory.
“The plan to strengthen Ukraine is the Victory Plan, which I presented to our partners. One of its key points is long-range capabilities for our army. Today, there’s a lot of talk in the media about us receiving permission for respective actions,”Zelensky said at the very end of his video address released on Sunday evening.
“But strikes are not carried out with words. Such things are not announced. Missiles will speak for themselves. They certainly will,” he added, without elaborating.
Ukraine has already been using the ATACMS and Franco-British SCALP-EG/Storm Shadow missiles to hit targets in Crimea and other four former Ukrainian regions that joined Russia after 2014.
Trump has vowed to bring the conflict to a speedy conclusion, and is expected to push Moscow and Kiev to agree to peace talks. Musk reportedly joined Trump on a phone call to Vladimir Zelensky last week, speaking directly to the Ukrainian leader at one point, according to reports in the US media.
Musk has not acknowledged taking part in the call, but wrote on X shortly afterwards that “the senseless killing will end soon. Time is up for the warmonger profiteers.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that Moscow would view any attacks on Russia’s internationally recognized territory with American-supplied weaponry as NATO entering the conflict directly. Such actions, he has suggested, would have severe repercussions, including retaliation against Western interests.
Source X/Reuters/NYT/AP/RT