HALLE, Germany: US tech billionaire Elon Musk gave a video address to a campaign rally of Germany’s anti-immigration AfD party Saturday, his latest show of support ahead of the country’s election next month.
Musk told a gathering of thousands of AfD supporters in the eastern city of Halle that their party was “the best hope for the future of Germany.”
Musk has raised concern from some mainstream leaders who have accused him of interfering in European politics with comments on his social platform X about politicians in countries including Germany and Britain.
He also drew criticism this week for making a public hand gesture that was seen by some as resembling a straight-armed Nazi salute.
“The German people are really an ancient nation which goes back thousand of years,” he said in Saturday’s address.
“I even read Julius Caesar was very impressed (by) the German tribes,” he said, urging the supporters to “fight, fight, fight” for their country’s future.
He said the AfD wanted “more self-determination for Germany and for the countries in Europe and less from Brussels,” a reference to European Union authorities.
Musk is a close associate of US President Donald Trump, who has appointed him to head a new department of “government efficiency” in his administration.
Like Trump, the AfD opposes immigration, denies climate change, rails against gender politics and has declared war on a political establishment and mainstream media it condemns as censorious.
Ahead of Germany’s February 23 elections, it is polling at around 20 percent, a new record for a party that has already shattered a decades-old taboo against the far right in post-war Germany.
The mainstream conservative grouping CDU/CSU leads on about 30 percent.
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“The ghost fleets will not outrun justice. They will not hide under false claims of nationality,” Noem wrote on X, saying the Coast Guard carried out the seizure.
US Southern Command (Southcom), which is responsible for the country’s forces in the region, said US Marines and Navy personnel also took part in the operation, launching from the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
“Once again, our joint interagency forces sent a clear message this morning: ‘There is no safe haven for criminals,’” Southcom said in a post on X that included a video clip showing US forces roping down from a helicopter and taking control of the ship.
President Donald Trump later said the seizure was carried out in coordination with interim authorities in Venezuela after the ship departed the country without US approval.
“This tanker is now on its way back to Venezuela, and the oil will be sold,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said last month that he had ordered a “blockade” of sanctioned oil vessels heading to and from Venezuela, and American forces have taken control of five ships since then, including three this week.
Among them was a Russia-linked vessel that was seized in the North Atlantic on Wednesday in an operation condemned by Moscow, after being pursued by the United States from off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump told Fox News on Thursday that the tanker seized the previous day was being escorted by a Russian submarine and a destroyer.
“They both left very quickly when we arrived and we took over the ship,” the US president said, declining to specify if his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin called him after the seizure.
Elon Musk addresses German far-right rally by video link
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Elon Musk addresses German far-right rally by video link
- Musk told a gathering of thousands of AfD supporters in the eastern city of Halle that their party was “the best hope for the future of Germany“
- “The German people are really an ancient nation which goes back thousand of years“
US says it seized another tanker that tried to break Venezuela blockade
- The latest vessel seized was the Olina, which US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said was “another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ship”
- “The ghost fleets will not outrun justice,” Noem wrote on X
WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday it seized another tanker that tried to break an American naval blockade aimed at preventing sanctioned vessels from going to or departing Venezuela, the fifth ship apprehended in recent weeks.
Washington has deployed a huge naval force in the Caribbean, striking boats it says were used for drug trafficking, seizing tankers and carrying out a stunning operation to seize Venezuela’s leftist leader.
The latest vessel seized was the Olina, which US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said was “another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil” that “departed Venezuela attempting to evade US forces.”
“The ghost fleets will not outrun justice. They will not hide under false claims of nationality,” Noem wrote on X, saying the Coast Guard carried out the seizure.
US Southern Command (Southcom), which is responsible for the country’s forces in the region, said US Marines and Navy personnel also took part in the operation, launching from the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
“Once again, our joint interagency forces sent a clear message this morning: ‘There is no safe haven for criminals,’” Southcom said in a post on X that included a video clip showing US forces roping down from a helicopter and taking control of the ship.
President Donald Trump later said the seizure was carried out in coordination with interim authorities in Venezuela after the ship departed the country without US approval.
“This tanker is now on its way back to Venezuela, and the oil will be sold,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said last month that he had ordered a “blockade” of sanctioned oil vessels heading to and from Venezuela, and American forces have taken control of five ships since then, including three this week.
Among them was a Russia-linked vessel that was seized in the North Atlantic on Wednesday in an operation condemned by Moscow, after being pursued by the United States from off the coast of Venezuela.
Trump told Fox News on Thursday that the tanker seized the previous day was being escorted by a Russian submarine and a destroyer.
“They both left very quickly when we arrived and we took over the ship,” the US president said, declining to specify if his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin called him after the seizure.
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