by Edward Steen, Vienna, September 19, 2023
The Medicis would have felt at home in this strange century. Money and power remain central. But the electronic wizardry of all kinds available to today’s megalomaniacs and troublemakers would go beyond their wildeast dreams.
What are we supposed to make of Elon Musk becoming so powerful that he even claims the right to give/ withold defence gadgetry in the sky from the Ukrainians?
Am I alone in being struck by this counter-attack from historian Prof Tim Snyder, stout defender of Ukraine?
Elon Musk, supposedly afraid of Putin plunging us into Armaggedon, has in fact brought it closer, Snyder wrote, and by giving into Russia’s nuclear blackmail the X boss can only encourage more threats from Putin.
Or was the whole Starlink story not quite like that at all? See Le Monde, 16/09/23: critique of new Musk biography by Walter Isaacson.
Maybe we do need boring old journalism to look at what really happened? Probably. And when and how and why?
- NEW Guardian, 26/09/23: X has record amount of disinformation. Elon Musk warned by Vera Jourova
- BBC 20/09/23: Contrarian Musk has unquestioned access to world leaders. Why? And what is he doing with such power?
- Kyiv Independent, 16/09/23 Snyder interview
- MSNBC 15/09/23 Snyder on Kim Jong Un visit to Putin
- Ukrainska Pravda, 11/09/23 Snyder: Putin, like Stalin, Commits Genocide by Defining Who Gets Food…