UNDIPLOMATIC

Elon Musk Turns His Attention to Sabotaging NATO Alliance

The billionaire White House adviser has previously attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and USAID.

Senior White House adviser Elon Musk said on Saturday that he believes the United States should leave the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization—two of the world’s most important intergovernmental bodies.

Responding to a post by a conservative user on X who wrote, “It’s time to leave NATO and the UN,” Musk chimed in: “I agree.”

The billionaire magnate, whom President Donald Trump has tasked with overseeing a federal cost-cutting blitz, did not further explain his position.

Musk’s post came as another MAGA stalwart, Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, has in recent days repeatedly suggested that the U.S. should quit NATO.

Musk is the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, which Trump has charged with finding hundreds of billions in federal spending cuts by the middle of next year.

In a major shakeup to domestic agencies, DOGE has instituted purges of staff across the federal bureaucracy.

But Musk’s group has also been involved in the Trump administration’s realignment of U.S. foreign policy, assisting in its effort to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Musk called a “criminal organization.”

In its attack on USAID, the Trump administration has pulled funding for some U.N. programs, including a global HIV/AIDS initiative that is vital to several African countries.

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Musk, who recently welcomed his 14th known child, has also been vocal about the war in Ukraine.

Musk has repeatedly lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Trump clashed with in a testy Oval Office exchange on Friday in which Trump assailed Zelensky for being “ungrateful” for the U.S.‘s wartime support. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said he has encouraged Zelensky to mend fences.

Reuters reported last month that U.S. negotiators threatened to cut off Ukraine’s access to Musk’s Starlink satellite Internet provider, which is owned by his aerospace company SpaceX. Musk called the report “false” and accused the news agency, which cited three sources, of “lying.”

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Last week, the Trump administration sided with Russia on two votes at the U.N.—a move the Kremlin praised on Sunday—highlighting a thawing of relations between the two powers.

While the U.N., founded in the shadow of World War II to guard against future conflicts, has saved millions of lives through health and education programs, critics have argued it has been ineffective in preventing wars and has allowed states with poor human rights records to sit on key bodies.

NATO, a military alliance consisting of 30 European countries along with the U.S. and Canada, was also founded in the wake of World War II as a check on Soviet military power.

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In recent years, critics, including Trump, have expressed dismay at the unequal burden-sharing among members, with the U.S. military comprising a disproportionate balance of the alliance’s capabilities.

As of June 2024, 23 of 32 countries met the alliance’s defense spending target of 2 percent of gross domestic product, according to NATO estimates.

Martin Paasi, a member of the Finnish parliament, responded directly to Musk’s post on X, writing, “I don’t think anyone will trust the US government for the next few decades.”

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