Musk to become candidate for US presidency - Institute of World Policy

He said this on Espreso TV. 

"Elon Musk is aiming for the political establishment. Starting with the purchase of Twitter, Musk is building a platform. That is, Musk is starting to do what Donald Trump once did. In the next US presidential election, it is beneficial for Musk to support Trump now. But I do not rule out that in the next decade we will see Elon Musk as a candidate for the US presidency," Shlinchak emphasized.

• American billionaire Elon Musk has announced a new reason for shutting down Starlink in the temporarily occupied Crimea: he said that since the US has imposed sanctions on Russia, he is prohibited from turning on satellite communications on the peninsula.

What happened before

Earlier, Elon Musk's SpaceX company took steps to prevent the Ukrainian military from using Starlink satellite internet to control drones. SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said that the Starlink satellite Internet, which provided broadband to the Ukrainian military, was never intended to be used as a weapon.

American astronaut Scott Kelly called on Elon Musk to return full access to Starlink to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The businessman refused the request and justified it by saying that he will not allow an escalation of the conflict that could lead to World War III.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US government has had a number of conversations with Musk about the use of Starlink satellite internet in Ukraine.

Writer Walter Isaacson wrote about the Starlink shutdown in his biography of Elon Musk. According to him, the businessman was afraid that the Armed Forces of Ukraine would use the technology to strike at the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Musk, in turn, said that he did not disconnect Starlink in Crimea, but rejected Ukraine's request to reconnect it.

"SpaceX did not deactivate anything. There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation," the businessman explained.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, called Musk's actions a mixture of ignorance and a big ego, which resulted in numerous human casualties.

Later, Musk said that he did not consider himself a traitor for shutting down Starlink satellite internet in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

"I am a citizen of the United States and have only that passport. No matter what happens, I will fight for and die in America. The United States Congress did not declare war on Russia. If anyone is treasonous, it is those who call me such," the billionaire said.

The US Senate demands an investigation into American billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX company after he admitted that he blocked Ukraine's Starlink satellite Internet service in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

It is worth noting that this is not the first scandal involving Musk. Last year, his SpaceX company informed the Pentagon that it refused to finance Starlink satellite communications services in Ukraine. Eventually, the US took over the costs.