Tech billionaire Elon Musk agreed on March 2 with a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the U.S. to exit NATO and the U.N.

“I agree,” he wrote in response to a post from a right-wing political commentator saying “it’s time” for the U.S. to leave NATO and the U.N.

The news comes after several Republican lawmakers submitted a bill on the U.S. exit from the U.N., claiming that the organization does not align with the Trump administration’s “America First” agenda.

The U.S. was among several countries, including Russia, Belarus, Israel, and Hungary, that voted against a U.N. resolution at the end of February condemning Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Both NATO and the U.N. were founded by the U.S. and other victors of World War II to promote diplomacy and cooperation between nations as well as to prevent another global war.

Musk, an unelected official, currently heads the so-called U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, which has cut significant amounts of government spending, including life-saving foreign aid.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized fellow NATO countries for their perceived lack of contributions to the military alliance and has called for a spending target of 5% of GDP for all members.

Kyiv sees NATO membership as a crucial safeguard against future Russian aggression, but Trump said in February that Ukraine “can forget” about joining the alliance, suggesting its bid was a trigger for the war—an argument echoed by Russian state propaganda.

  • Srh@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    Leaving the UN would mean giving up US veto power. This would be one of the stupidest decisions of all time. No wonder Elon wants to do it.

      • jj4211@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        For making an argument to appeal to musk, that’s besides the point. In fact because the veto power being used for bad it is probably is a more appealing point

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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          12 hours ago

          I don’t know if the EU/NATO can actually exist without US backing; those are fundamentally US projects created to serve US interests (not that the dumbass Trump regime understands this), without the US they’ll enter crisis.

          The last time Trump was President we had Brexit. How long until another Euro skeptic government forms? Germany saw AfD achieve its best result in the history of the party, and it’s only a month into Trump’s term.

          • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net
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            11 hours ago

            Totally agree. Hence the comment about WWIII. In the absence of US military hegemony, a heavily armed Europe will eventually turn on itself or its nearest neighbours, while China and Russia, freed by the absence of any possibility of police actions from the UN and hedging that US would rather not intervene, will be free to grab regions they see as lost possessions. It would be an outbreak of violence on a global scale not seen since the early 20th century. But this time with easy access to nuclear weapons. Wars will push up the cost of living for non-aligned countries even further and the massive uplift in heavy industry required by war economies will make progress on climate near impossible leading to an ecological collapse.

            But maybe a just doom spiralling.

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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              10 hours ago

              Another way to phrase this: In the absence of US hegemony, the endless wars inflicted on the Global South will finally come home to the imperial core. Millions can be slaughtered all over the world and it’s not world war, it’s only “world war” when it happens to white people.

              The chickens are coming home to roost.

              • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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                6 hours ago

                Not really. Oppression and civil unrest will come home, car bombs and Troubles style. Nuclear armaments preclude other things.

                But if the US goes and the EU does not step in, the era of soft power global diplomacy is over. People like Musk will take over the reins and we will have colonialism like never before.

                We already see what a power with unchecked power can do in Gaza. Imagine the US doing that, just to the whole of Latin America.

                The only people who will face your “just retribution” is the working class everywhere, but as an ML, you must be symphatising with them. Do you?

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
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                  3 hours ago

                  What even is soft power? Sanctions are siege warfare by other means, intended to inflict suffering in the population to destabilize the country. Meddling by USAID, World Bank, and the IMF are intended to subvert democratic power and prop up dictatorships and ensure continued underdevelopment for maximum exploitation and the generation of superprofits. Meanwhile, covert action by the State Department and intelligence apparatus leads to endless regime changes and coups and civil wars and mass slaughter.

                  “Soft power” is a myth. It only looks soft because it doesn’t involve US troops directly fighting and dying for the empire. Furthermore, colonialism was defeated by anticolonial resistance, not US soft power. Neocolonialism, too, will be defeated by resistance. Israel failed to defeat Hamas, and when the US does Operation Condor 2 and Monroe Doctrine 2 it will fail as well.

                  Have some revolutionary optimism. Stop being a doomer.

      • FenrirIII@lemmy.world
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        16 hours ago

        Maybe they used it to object to serving English food for lunch once. That’s probably the only time it’d be justified

      • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Mostly it’s just the USA vetoing anything including the word Palestine, except for this one time in March last year China vetoed something including the word Palestine so the USA didn’t even get the chance. Here’s a list of Vetoes with links to the documents HERE

        warning: some of them can be a little doom-foreboding so maybe don’t read it if you enjoy your sanity

        Given the only UN Vetoes since 1989 were from USA, Russia, or China they haven’t been used for much good in general, but there was this one time in January 1990 that they vetoed a denouncement by Nicaragua over the US invasion of Panama following the military general’s takeover and abuse of power to deal in drugs and human trafficking.

        Although there is the nuance that he, General Manuel Noriega, and other militant factions had ties to US Intelligence before that.

        Although there is the nuance that he murdered those other factions upon taking power.

        Although there is the nuance that he and others also had ties to multiple other intelligence agencies around the world.

        Although there is the nuance that the only reason Nicaragua had anything to do with any of this is that the USA ended up moving troops through the Nicaraguan Embassy in Panama and beating up Nicaraguan Envoys who tried to stop them.

        Although there is the nuance that the heavily armed US Troops in an active war zone showed great restraint in not seriously wounding or killing any of the men during the brawl.

        Although there is the nuance that the US Troops supposedly stole a bunch of stuff while they were there.

        Although there is the nuance that throughout all of this, the Nicaraguan envoy Ferrey spoke very favorably of Panama’s then brutal, newly formed, militarty dictatorship who, as I mentioned before, ran a lot of drugs and human trafficking operations. The military were probably searching for somebody that they didn’t find, assuming the Nicaraguan’s to be co-conspirators.

        Fun fact, the document LINK HERE still lists the full name of the USSR in 1990 lol.