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Settling wars through single combat has gone out of fashion since the end of the Middle Ages, but could 2022 see its comeback? Well, tech billionaire Elon Musk has challenged Vladimir Putin to single combat, in an apparent attempt to put an end to the invasion of Ukraine.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Musk challenged the Russian president through Twitter, a medium banned in Russia. To show he was serious, he wrote Putin's name and Ukraine in Russian.
In a follow-up tweet, he tagged the "President of Russia" account, adding "do you agree to this fight?"
While Musk might stand a better chance of victory given that Putin has recently been stripped of his black belt in Taekwondo (assuming this also strips him of all his abilities in the process), Ukraine may not be too happy with being "stakes" in single combat between Musk and Putin.
More usefully, Musk has delivered a truckload of Starlink satellite dishes to Ukraine, in case Ukrainian communications infrastructure is targeted and backup internet is needed. Admittedly, this doesn't sound as cool as ending the invasion of Ukraine by sending a random billionaire to defeat him in a duel, but might be a better role for a tech billionaire with only brief training in martial arts, as a child.
