Musk calls for snap UK election in attack on Starmer

The US-based tech billionaire has lashed out at the British prime minister in a string of tweets

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has slammed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and called for early parliamentary elections in the UK, in an attack on the Labour government. The US-based tech billionaire, who has recently emerged as a close adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump, expressed support for the Reform UK party and called for the release of jailed right-wing activist Tommy Robinson in a series of posts on X overnight.

In his posts, Musk questioned Starmer’s record as the head of the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service from 2008 to 2013 and accused him of failing to investigate “rape gangs” in Britain.

He also pointed to a recent YouGov poll suggesting an “absolutely stunning” decline in support for the Labour government. According to the poll published this week, only 12% of respondents said Labour have been successful so far, while more than half described it as ‘incompetent’ and ‘dishonest’.

“A new election should be called in Britain,” Musk wrote in a post on X, sharing the poll results. Starmer’s government currently enjoys a 163-seat majority following a landslide victory in July. The next parliamentary elections in the UK are scheduled to take place in 2029. London has not reacted to Musk’s latest statements so far.

The tech entrepreneur also shared a post agreeing with the statement that Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform UK party is “the only way to save” Britain.

Musk earlier met with Farage at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, with some media outlets claiming he had pledged as much as $100 million in support for the British party. Musk, however, denied the reports.

In a series of posts, he also called for the release of British right-wing activist Tommy Robinson. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was sentenced to 18 months behind bars in late October for publishing a documentary containing libelous claims about a Syrian refugee. The activist calls himself a “political prisoner” and claimed he was jailed for “speaking the truth.”

This is not the first time the US-based billionaire has harshly criticized the Labour government. In August, he said that a “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, prompting London to hit back, calling his words “totally unjustified.” In November, he supported a petition for early elections in the UK, which was backed by over 2 million signatures, and called Britain under Starmer a “tyrannical police state.”

Musk has also recently lashed out at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, predicting that he will lose snap elections in February, and expressing support for the right-wing Alternative for Germany party. Berlin reacted by warning that Musk’s statements could strain relations between Germany and the US.

https://www.rt.com/news/610359-musk-snap-election-uk-starmer/

Cybertruck explosion suspect wore Ukrainian neo-Nazi shirt

Matthew Livelsberger was a veteran US special forces operative

The US Army veteran suspected of detonating a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas was a supporter of the Ukrainian nationalist cause, according to a photo posted on Facebook.

Thirty-seven-year-old Matthew Livelsberger was killed and seven bystanders injured when the Cybertruck he was driving exploded outside the hotel on Wednesday. Tesla CEO Elon Musk attributed the blast to explosive materials transported in the truck’s bed, and the FBI is investigating the incident as a potential act of terrorism due to its proximity to the Trump International Hotel and a similar attack in New Orleans earlier that day.

In a photo purportedly shared by Liveslberger’s wife on Facebook in 2016, the former soldier can be seen wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a Ukrainian coat of arms and the slogan “Slava Ukraini,” or “Glory to Ukraine.”

Coined by Ukrainian nationalists in the early 20th century, the phrase was popularized by Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera’s wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). It was declared the official rallying cry of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 2018 by President Pyotr Poroshenko, who came to power after the US-backed Maidan coup in 2014.

Since the conflict with Russia escalated in 2022, “Slava Ukraini” has become an internationally recognized slogan used by Kiev’s supporters. Before, however, it was predominantly used by neo-Nazis and other Ukrainian right-wing extremists.

At the time the photo was posted, Livelsberger was serving as an intelligence and operations specialist with the US Army’s elite Green Berets, according to his LinkedIn profile. An Army spokesman told CBS News that Livelsberger served for 19 years, and was stationed near Stuttgart in Germany before he took leave and returned to the US last month.

It is unclear whether Livelsberger had ever been to Ukraine, although the Army has confirmed that he completed multiple deployments in Afghanistan.

In one comment on LinkedIn, Livelsberger responded to an offer of work in Ukraine by saying that he knew a “top” special forces medical sergeant who had been “looking for just this opportunity.”

As a Green Beret, Livelsberger was based at Fort Liberty (formerly known as Fort Bragg) in North Carolina. Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who killed 14 people in the vehicle attack in New Orleans on Wednesday morning, was also stationed at Fort Liberty, and deployed to Afghanistan. The Army is currently investigating whether the men knew each other, a spokesperson told AP.

Livelsberger and Jabbar both rented the vehicles used in their attacks via the car-sharing company Turo, a company spokesperson has confirmed. The spokesperson said that neither suspect “had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.”

https://www.rt.com/news/610363-vegas-cybertruck-suspect-ukraine/