6 mil indigeous died in Bolivia's Potosi silver mine during Spanish control?!?! Now lithium?

[bobbieinok]

And now international money men are taking lithium

Musk tweeted---I'll coup where I please!

[lunasun]

1. +Musk so bold yeah the US is usually more indirect about their coup involvements

According to the current Bolivian constitution, lithium can only be extracted and processed by Bolivians, but privateers are continuing to press for access to the country’s vast resources.
Efforts to obtain access to the precious metal, led by transnational mining companies based in the United States, Canada, South Korea and elsewhere, had failed prior to the ousting of Mr Morales.

He had instead struck deals with Chinese and Russian companies that would benefit Bolivia’s indigenous population.

Mr Morales branded the coup an “act of revenge by the United States, which never accepted the loss of control of the Bolivian lithium market in favour of Chinese and German companies.”
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/elon-musk-under-fire-after-expressing-support-bolivian-coup

[Miguelito Loveless]

5. Again

Tesla sources its lithium from China (for Chinese production), Canada and Australia, not Bolivia

https://www.fool.com/investing/2019/03/26/who-are-teslas-lithium-suppliers.aspx

[lunasun]

10. Ha Not yet. Did you read the link?

[Miguelito Loveless]

16. Yes, and I checked the source "Morning Star Online"

a UK-based web site, which links to no original sources. Tesla does source lithium from China, who are dealing with Bolivia, but according to the article this is supposedly something opposed by Musk and Washington. Given Musk's relationship with China, it makes little sense that he would do something to disrupt the deal, as it would endanger his VERY profitable venture with China.

And again, Tesla gets it's lithium from Australia, Canada, and China. Also, in the most recent earnings call, Musk called for increased nickel production, as nickel is now the constraining ingredient for EV batteries. Previously is was cobalt, but that metal is being phased out of the battery chemistry. In fact, Tesla is shifting to LFP (lithium iron-phosphate) for its Chinese batteries. Litium is not a constrained mineral at the moment. Heck, the rising price has resulted in American mines being re-opened, one is only 90 miles from my house.

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. Could you link to that tweet, please?

Also, Tesla buys its lithium from Australia, Canada, China, and the UK, not Bolivia.

This is a new attempt by Big Oil and Russian trolls to smear Tesla specifically, and EVs in general.

[USALiberal]

4. Simple google "tweet elon musk coup"

[Miguelito Loveless]

7. So, no, you don't have a link to the actual tweet,

I do find lots of people quoting the "tweet", two of them are RT and Sputnik, Russia's official news outlet, the rest are sketchy "news" sites.

[bobbieinok]

6. Sorry, I found it looking for who was claiming he was going to push a coup to get lithium

Don't remember where I read he tweeted this

[Miguelito Loveless]

8. I just did a search

https://www.google.com/search?q=tesla+coup+bolivia&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwidjs7vku7qAhUDd98KHddZCEUQ_AUoAXoECA4QAw&biw=1231&bih=677

The list of people quoting this tweet is a veritable "who's who" of Russian disinformation sites in numerous languages. I don't find a single mention on finance web sites, which is weird given how much Wall Street loathes Musk and Tesla. I would think they would be falling all over themselves to report this story.

[bobbieinok]

9. Thanks for taking time, trouble to check. Your info is troubling. Why are they posting that?

[Miguelito Loveless]

11. I am a green energy and EV advocate (unpaid, volunteer)

I have seen a constant, ongoing astroturf campaign by utility and FF companies against solar, wind and EVs. Tesla is a constant target, since it has the highest profile (and an outspoken CEO who is, at best, "outpoken", and at worst intellectually brilliant, while ethically questionable). Musk can be criticized for a lot of things, but he is not involved in coups in Bolivia.

As to why folks want to lie about Musk, Tesla, EV, and green energy, the answer is money. Even Michael Moore was somehow co-opted into backing an anti-solar/wind movie (Planet of the Humans). Tesla is the poster child for EVs, and thus the big target. Each EV sold means about 600-800 gallons of gasoline not sold/burned annually. Internal combustion engine (ICE) car sales are falling (and had started falling before the pandemic), while EV sales are rising. EVs represent a literal existential threat to the oil and legacy auto industries. Solar/Wind power are forcing utilities to change their very profitable business model. Oh, and Musk's other business ventures, SpaceX and StarLink, pose HUGE threats to the aerospace and major telecomms.

The list of industries with trillions in annual profits at stake is pretty long.

[bobbieinok]

14. Thank you for your informative reply. Do you regularly post in any particular DU forum?

I find your info clear, helpful

[Miguelito Loveless]

17. I pop in on any solar/wind/EV question

that catches my attention, as I have a solar powered him (since 2015) and drive EVs (since 2014).

I am a volunteer for Plug In NC, a non-profit EV education group, and until recently used to give talks at schools, civic groups, churches, etc. I also run our local EV club and post to Twitter (@emc_hp).

[malaise]

3. And yet they call us uncivilized

Talk about an inversion of reality

[Mosby]

12. This is russian psyops.

Please delete.

[bobbieinok]

15. I did not know this See posts 8,9,11,14. Question--how does average person recognize this as psy-ops

[George II]

13. Musk isn't getting lithium from Bolivia. Most of it is from Australia....

This is a kooky conspiracy theory.