Is Putin's 'nuclear' threats now coming to fruition?

It should not come as any surprise that Elon Musk,  

• who grew up in South Africa during the fascist 'apartheid' years,
• and whose father's wealth, the very bedrock of the the privileged life of a white South African that he lived well into his teenage years, was gained from his father's contracts with the then fascist apartheid South African regime ,
• should now spew out Putin's and Angela Merkel's Minks2 protocols of 2015 as the basis for ending Putin's war with Ukraine. 

Elon Musk's privileged upbringing during the fascist apartheid years in South has soaked him in the fascist totilitarian ideology of apartheid South Africa in much the same way as the Russian people are being soaked in the totalitarian fascist ideology of Putin. 

Are we therefore surprised that Elon Musk has a somewhat "soft spot" for Putin?

As Christina Wilkie reports, Andrij Melnyk (right), former Ukraine ambassador to Germany, rather aptly responded to Elon Musk's tweet.

“F--- off is my very diplomatic reply to you,” Ukraine’s outgoing ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, wrote in response to Musk’s tweet. “The only outcome is that now no Ukrainian will EVER buy your f…ing tesla crap. So good luck to you.” (CNBC : 3 October 2022) (my emphasis)

And whilst Elon Musk exposes his tacit support for Putin, the Ukrainian army continues with its relentless 'pushback' of Putin's army on Ukraine's soil.

As reported by Andrew E. Kramer, Carlotta Gall and Anton Troianovski,

"Russian forces in Ukraine were on the run Monday across a broad swath of the front line, as the Ukrainian military pressed its blitz offensive in the east and made gains in the south, belying President Vladimir Putin’s claims to have absorbed into Russia territories that his armies are steadily losing." (IndianExpress (article originally appeared in The New York Times)): 4 October 2022) (my emphasis)

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh : YouTube : 3 October 2022

As also reported by Edna Mohamed and Farah Najjar (left),

"Ukrainian forces are advancing into Kherson, one of the four regions Russia formally annexed days ago despite widespread condemnation.

The gains come after Kyiv’s forces recaptured Lyman over the weekend in Donetsk, another region annexed by Moscow.

Meanwhile, thousands of newly mobilised Russian troops have been sent home as they were deemed unfit for duty." (Aljazeera : 3 October 2022) (my emphasis)
 
Meanwhile, as reported by Frances D'Emilio (right),

"Pope Francis on Sunday appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin for a cease-fire, imploring him to “stop this spiral of violence and death” in Ukraine and denouncing the “absurd” risk of the “uncontrollable” consequences of nuclear attack as tensions sharply escalate over the war.

Francis uttered his strongest plea yet about the seventh-month-old conflict, which he denounced as an “error and a horror.” (AP News : 2 October ) (my emphasis)

Ominously, as reported by David Averre (left),

"A huge freight train moving specialist military equipment associated with a nuclear-arms wielding division of Russia's Defence Ministry has been spotted on the move, prompting fears of an escalation in Putin's war.
...
Military analyst Konrad Musyka claimed the deployment of such units could signal a coming escalation in the conflict from the warmongering Russian president or constitute a precursor to large scale nuclear drills.
...
But he did suggest it could be a 'signal to the West that Moscow is escalating' the conflict, adding that Russia's Strategic Rocket Forces (RVSN) are known to undergo extensive training drills in autumn." (Mail Online : 3 October 2022) (my emphasis)

 Halftone BTS : YouTube : 2 October 2022 (cf. also: Daily Mail : 3 October 2022)

 So the $64 question is, 

• Is the deployment of these specialist military equipment associated with nuclear-arms simply an autumnal Russian military drill OR
• Does this signal to the West that Moscow is escalating' the conflict.

As Russian forces in Ukraine are on the run across a broad swath of the front line, as the Ukrainian military presses its blitz offensive in the east and is making gains in the south, is Putin's 'nuclear' threats now coming to fruition?

STOP PRESS!!!

We now learn from Rozina Sabur, Verity Bowman and Josie Ensor that,

• "The Kremlin has thanked Elon Musk after the billionaire Tesla CEO for putting forward his own controversial peace plan to end the war in Ukraine, prompting a backlash from Ukrainian officials.

• Meanwhile, Mr Musk's input was welcomed by the Kremlin, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying it was “very positive that somebody like Elon Musk is looking for a peaceful way out of this situation".  

• Dmitry Medvedev, a key ally of Vladimir Putin who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, tweeted his: "kudos" to Mr Musk. 

• He predicted the billionaire’s next tweet would say that “Ukraine is an artificial state”. 

• In follow-up tweets, Mr Musk said Russia should leave the annexed regions “if that is the will of the people”. 

• He said he did not care if his proposal was unpopular, arguing that he did care "that millions of people may die needlessly for an essentially identical outcome". (Daily Telegraph : 4 October 2022) (my emphasis)

As I stated at the beginning of this blog, 

 

"Are we therefore surprised that Elon Musk has a somewhat "soft spot" for Putin?"

 (to be continued)