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Elon Musk says he withheld Starlink over Crimea to avoid escalation (www.bbc.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by little_cow@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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Elon Musk says he refused to give Kyiv access to his Starlink communications network over Crimea to avoid complicity in a "major act of war".

Kyiv had sent an emergency request to activate Starlink to Sevastopol, home to a major Russian navy port, he said.

His comments came after a book alleged he had switched off Starlink to thwart a drone attack on Russian ships.

A senior Ukrainian official says this enabled Russian attacks and accused him of "committing evil".

Russian naval vessels had since taken part in deadly attacks on civilians, he said.

"By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via Starlink interference, Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities," he said.

"Why do some people so desperately want to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realize that they are committing evil and encouraging evil?" he added.

The row follows the release of a biography of the billionaire by Walter Isaacson which alleges that Mr Musk switched off Ukraine's access to Starlink because he feared that an ambush of Russia's naval fleet in Crimea could provoke a nuclear response from the Kremlin.

Ukraine targeted Russian ships in Sevastopol with submarine drones carrying explosives but they lost connection to Starlink and "washed ashore harmlessly", Mr Isaacson wrote.

Starlink terminals connect to SpaceX satellites in orbit and have been crucial for maintaining internet connectivity and communication in Ukraine as the conflict has disrupted the country infrastructure.

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[-] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 193 points 1 year ago

Nationalize Starlink and SpaceX

[-] underisk@lemmy.ml 106 points 1 year ago

We already had a nationalized SpaceX. We defunded it and gave grants to private companies like uh… SpaceX.

[-] Chainweasel@lemmy.world 35 points 1 year ago

While I agree that NASA shouldn't have had any funding cut, supporting a privatized space industry isn't a bad thing on its own.
But giving Elon Musk a defense contract was a fucking stupid idea.

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[-] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 135 points 1 year ago

Elon Musk says he refused to give Kyiv access to his Starlink communications network over Crimea to avoid complicity in a "major act of war".

So, in the classic trolley problem, Elon's choice is to remove the track switch that his company produced so that no one else could use it to make a choice.

"Sorry, guys. Looks like those innocent civilians tied to the tracks are going to have to die so that I am not tangentially and tenuously responsible for your choice to save them in exchange for the deaths of Russian soldiers attacking your sovereign lands and people (cough and lose money from the Kremlin as a result cough)"

There's no "right" answer to the trolley problem. But there are definitely wrong ones.

[-] Rhaedas@kbin.social 43 points 1 year ago

Musk is the kid in the video that moves all the people to just one of the tracks, gets praised by everyone for thinking outside the box, and then proceeds to run the trolley down that track.

[-] radix@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

If you choose not to decide. You still have made a choice.

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[-] scarabic@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

His logic seems to be that Ukraine is to blame for all the bloodshed of the Russian invasion because they didn’t roll over and surrender without a fight.

Victim blaming. Classic asshole move.

Did Elon have a stroke at some point that we don’t know about? It’s amazing how consistently he makes a huge ass of himself now.

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[-] Endorkend@kbin.social 124 points 1 year ago

This is the same bullshit take propagandists and Musk himself are spreading.

Musk sabotaged an active military operation in an effort to save Russian assets and materials, by disabling access to Starlink in that area, to halt the operation. And then refused to undo what he did.

All to protect Russian assets in an illegal undeclared war of annexation where Russia is the aggressor.

Musks actions enabled the death of thousands of civilians in Ukraine and likely will cause far more through his actions which extend how long this illegal invasion will continue.

Musk should be stripped of his US citizenship and booted right back to South Africa. America stands by Ukraine, South Africa tries to pretend they are neutral but the agreements they have with Russia and the opinions of rich fuck South Africans like Musk make it clear they stand with Russia.

And anyone who keeps spreading these press releases with his propagandist take on the subject rather than saying how things actually happened, should be ashamed of themselves and monitored until all this is over.

[-] DarkWasp@lemmy.world 48 points 1 year ago

He should be charged with treason or something similar for doing this during wartime to a US ally. Enough of this narcissistic POS.

[-] mx_smith@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

Yeah the Logan Act is what they could charge him under.

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[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 71 points 1 year ago

Private citizens don't get to make those decisions.

It's time to nationalize Starlink & SpaceX.

[-] WhyYesZoidberg@lemmy.world 62 points 1 year ago

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[-] FarceMultiplier@lemmy.ca 38 points 1 year ago

He is responsible for the deaths of children.

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[-] chakan2@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago

Lol...he switched it off as a personal favor to Putin.

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[-] MrSqueezles@lemm.ee 35 points 1 year ago

Censorship is terrible. Except when I want to do it and pretend like I'm the best politician. Then it's great.

[-] BeautifulMind@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

LOL self-defense is escalation now

[-] Grant_M@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 year ago

Musk does what putler tells him to do.

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[-] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 27 points 1 year ago

Pretty sure putin owns musk.

[-] ItsaB3AR@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 year ago

Why ISPs need to be neutral. Musk was never elected or appoints be a general. Otis not his place to decide what strikes happen or not. The blood of the people those ships have attacked are now on his hands.

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[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 21 points 1 year ago

The escalation he was trying to avoid is shelling children. Elon Musk is why I hope hell is real.

[-] nbafantest@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

Musk is really speed running having his LEO satelites nationalized

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[-] FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Get fucked, you boot licking weasel.

[-] Lemmymyego@lemmynsfw.com 15 points 1 year ago

Anyone know how to filter out posts by keyword? Musk, trump, twitter

[-] viking@infosec.pub 18 points 1 year ago

Use Sync for Lemmy, keyword filter has been operational right from the beginning.

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this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023

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