SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk reportedly caused a geopolitical crisis last year, when Ukrainian forces—which have relied heavily on the company’s Starlink satellite communications—were on the verge of striking Russian naval vessels off the coast of Crimea with submersible drones. Concerned that the attack would provoke Russia into using nuclear weapons, Musk unilaterally opted to sever the submarines’ satellite connection, throwing a wrench in the entire assault.
The incident—shared by CNN based on an adapted excerpt from an upcoming book by Walter Isaacson—demonstrates Musk’s increasing unwillingness to lend his satellite network to offensive maneuvers waged by Ukraine. “How am I in this war?” “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”
After foiling the attack, Musk reportedly received a desperate text from a Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, who asked that Musk reinstate the Starlink connection to the drones. “I just want you—the person who is changing the world through technology—to know this,” Fedorov wrote. But Musk refused to reverse course, telling Fedorov that Ukraine “is now going too far and inviting strategic defeat.”
Apparently he was worried that the assault would provoke nuclear war. Musk showing actual thought for the first time in ever.
This arrogant and dismissive attitude toward Russia is exactly why this war is happening. Russia did not lie when it warned since 2007 to stop expanding NATO else the entire security situation in Europe would be destabilized. Russia did not lie when it warned that the horrific treatment of ethnic Russians in Ukraine since 2014 needed to stop else there would be serious consequences. People just like you were convinced that they did not need to take Russia's red lines seriously and that the Russians were just bluffing. And yet you continue to dismiss Russia even when they say with all seriousness that their official doctrine allows for use of nuclear weapons in case of an existential threat to the Russian state and nation. The fact that Russia so far has shown incredible restraint in responding to escalations by Ukraine and its western handlers does not mean that their patience is infinite. What exactly do you gain from gambling on nuclear apocalypse?
Christ, some of y'all are dense. People don't take Russia seriously because they're not serious. They're fucking clowns. Remember when they swore up and down that they weren't getting ready to invade Ukraine when they were lining up at the border? And then when they did invade it was to clear out Nazis or Ukrainian covid labs or some such nonsense. And then they continuously got their asses handed to them so badly that they had to resort to launching missiles at crowds of innocent people trying to evacuate their homes. Russia's "Red Lines" were bullshit because they never had a leg to stand on - and after the absolute shit show of the past couple of years, you're saying now we should take anything they say seriously.
Nukes are the last tool of diplomatic intimidation Russia has left - and if the past is any indication, their nukes are going to be like the 30 year old bottle rockets I found in the back of the garage as a kid. They'll be lucky if they don't blow their own country up trying to use the things.
Fuck Russia and fuck you for acting like they have any moral ground to stand on.
Sometimes i wonder how it could happen that the West with all its historically accumulated advantages has started losing so badly on every front against Russia and China...then i read things like this and immediately everything is clear.
Exceptionalism is a hell of a drug.