The president of a key member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) confronted Elon Musk on Sunday about a false claim he made about the military alliance amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX who in 2022 purchased X, formerly Twitter, has offered mixed remarks about NATO and the Russia-Ukraine war, launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin in February 2022. While he provided Ukraine with Starlink satellites to improve communications toward the start of the war, he has also called for a peace deal that would potentially cede some Ukrainian territory to Russia and opposed aid for Ukraine, putting him at odds with many world leaders who support the Eastern European nation against Putin's invasion.
He sparked backlash on Saturday in an X post after writing that he "always wondered why NATO continued to exist even though its nemesis and reason to exist, The Warsaw Pact, had dissolved."
Critics quickly noted that the Warsaw Pact, a coalition of the Soviet Union and its allies, was founded six years after NATO as a response to the organization during the Cold War.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs was among those critics who slammed his comment.
"Dear @elonmusk, the reason NATO was founded, exists and will last is Russia and other enemies of the free world," he wrote on X.
Newsweek reached out to Musk's Tesla and SpaceX as well as Rinkēvičs' office for comment via email.
NATO is a military alliance between the United States, Canada and several European countries. Article 5 of NATO's charter states that "an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies," meaning an attack against a NATO state could draw a military response by all others.
It was founded in 1949 to provide collective security against the Soviet Union amid growing tensions as the Cold War began. NATO's first secretary-general, Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, said NATO existed to "keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down."
The Warsaw Pact, meanwhile, was formed in 1955 in response to NATO.
Others also weighed in on Musk's comments on X. Former Representative Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican, wrote: "Why is the US Government not reviewing @elonmusk's contractor status?"
"1) "NATO hostility" is Kremlin propaganda against a defensive alliance limiting its imperialist appetite. 2) Nations join NATO freely, for protection. 3) Putin himself has repeatedly refuted NATO as a motive for his invasion. 4) Ask the Baltics, Poland, new members Finland & Sweden—or ask Ukraine instead spreading BS," wrote Garry Kasparov, a Russian chess grandmaster.
"Yeah, it sure is strange that countries surrounding Russia all decided to voluntarily apply to join NATO. I wonder why," wrote Oliver Alexander, an open source intelligence analyst.
"Because collective defense is cost-effective and ensures deterrence. History proves it; the collective defense clause was invoked only once in 75 years of NATO's existence - in response to the 9/11 attack on the US," wrote Linas Kojala, CEO of the Eastern Europe Studies Centre think tank.
Musk was also hit by a community note on his X post that reads, "The Warsaw pact was a reaction to NATO, not the other way around. NATO is a collective security system, not aimed at a single opponent, and has been active in Europe, Africa and Asia."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Andrew Stanton is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in Maine. His role is reporting on U.S. politics and social issues. ... Read more
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