Elon Musk’s financial interests put him in a position of having his own personal foreign policy, but new reporting shows that whether it’s manufacturing in China or the Starlink network being used in Ukraine, Musk’s decisions can run counter to stated US policy.
Elon Musk is a US interest. The US is a bunch of business interests in a trench coat, and they don’t always agree on everything. Some want to do business with China, some want the Chinese competition destroyed, and some want to create tension so they can sell more weapons.
The idea that Musk is “counter” to US interests is wrong, he just represents a faction of the ruling class that’s not on board with the (trade) war on China. Since it’s not in the interest of the working class to have a US-China (trade) war, neither in the US nor anywhere really, he is inadvertently aligned with the interests of the majority of humanity on this one.
I see, so it’s not in the working class interest to have a trade war with, checks notes… A genocidal authoritarian government whose stated aim is to subjugate a smaller Democratic neighbor. That same China who is allied with a war mongering mafia state and has aggressively targeted whole industries with intellectual theft, product dumping, and unfair trade practices which has hollowed out whole domestic industries and has been one of the leading causes of low wage growth.
It is now a terrible thing for workers, that the US is in a low intensity trade war which is decoupling it’s economy from said genocidal power and rebuilding the industrial plant in North America. Reshoring millions of jobs and keeping the unemployment rate at historic lows despite increased interest rates.
It was a lot to unpack, I just wanted to make sure I understood that correctly.
You’re just thinking of the worker aristocracy in the West, not the global working class, clearly. China has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. And it’s neat how you blame China for something done by your own ruling class. Furthermore, this trade war (not to mention a war war) will be terrible for workers everywhere. Do you think the billionaires are going to bail you out? No, they’re going to squeeze workers even more to finance this conflict, and they’ll tell you suffering is your patriotic duty.
And imagine thinking China is the genocidal one out of those two. The US has had a hand in so many genocides and has directly and indirectly killed millions in the last decades. If you compare this to what China has done recently they look like angels.
Less Evil, is still evil.
Besides, it is not like people can’t multitask, this isn’t a zero sum game.
I can hate the fact that Americans don’t have paid family leave, or sick leave, but we send billions to Israel because we are scared of other religions.
I can also hate China’s policies on Uyghurs basically enslaving them and putting them in concentration camps.
The fact you choose to compare “Americans don’t have paid family leave, or sick leave” or “scared of other religions” as one of its worst qualities already screams your biases. Why not include its actual atrocities? Why not evaulate the US on at least the same terms?
That doesn’t really change the point.
I can hate the US for running Guantanamo Bay and how the Chinese run their concentration camps.
I can hate the US for invading sovereign nations and setting up puppet states while also hating Russia for invading sovereign nations and blasting the world with propaganda.
It is not because the US is evil, that Russia or China aren’t.
It’s absolutely terrible what the genocidal US regime is doing to Cuba, but the rest of your comment doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Actually I personally think it is wrong what the US is doing to Cuba… you throwing the argument into an non related discussion about Ukraine is whataboutism on the other hand.
oh no, not the dreaded WhAtAbOuTisM