this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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クロスポスト: https://hexbear.net/post/539800

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.

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[–] redtea@lemmygrad.ml 39 points 1 year ago

Anyone else concerned for the Musk / NAFO fans confused as to how they're supposed to pick a side but none of it makes sense because that would require a nuanced view? Nah, me neither.

[–] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Always exercise critical skepticism when reading "news" like this. There is no telling how much if any of it is actually true or whether it's some kind of psyop bullshit. And i would certainly not take someone like Musk at their word as to their alleged motivation for doing what is claimed that they did.

[–] Shinhoshi@lemmygrad.ml 26 points 1 year ago

Agreed. A Hexbear user pointed this out in the comments:

https://nitter.net/nycsouthpaw/status/1699828939311452519

[–] Farmer_Heck@lemmygrad.ml 25 points 1 year ago (4 children)

This whole situation feels like copium for the failing CO.

Like fuck Musk, of course, but at this point it's hard to ignore that Ukraine's having a rough time. So Liberals are going to look for anything they can to make excuses, not unlike how Neo-Nazis make excuses for Germany's failure in WWII, by blaming the weather or pitting the blame for failure on one or two figures.

Starlink also sucks, it's genuinely horrid internet. It's only useful if you're far from cell signal and you want to access social media or streaming services, and at that, only if you're willing to accept buffering and snail-slow speeds. It's not something a military would want to exclusively use for coordination. Ukraine's military probably has its own internet, and its own secondary lines of communication. Blaming Starlink outages is simply illogical.

[–] redtea@lemmygrad.ml 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

One way of reading the 'news' is as a giant advert for Starlink. So powerful it can tip the scales of war. Now (a) do what the imperialists tell you to do, otherwise they'll turn their power against you and (b) don't forget to buy the platinum subscription package for course-of-history-changing results.

[–] kig_v2@lemmygrad.ml 17 points 1 year ago

"Blame the weather" it hit me like a brick realizing this is actually what these losers did 😭😭😭😭

[–] CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago

They were caught using discord so honestly I don't think we're dealing with a real army that knows about the niche software

[–] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Starlink internet is fine, in my experience. Fuck Musk tho.

[–] NothingButBits@lemmygrad.ml 23 points 1 year ago

Seems like another wonder weapon that would've fixed everything. There's been countless wonder weapons sent to Ukraine that ended up being useless.

[–] bennieandthez@lemmygrad.ml 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

why do they depend on starlink lol? are these "smart" drones that need to be connected to the internet? 😂

[–] Skankboot@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

The data has to get around somehow...

[–] OmniDeficient@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 1 year ago

The libs(?) are so thirsty for war, they'll even throw their own arch technopriest under the bus.

[–] Elric@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think he's a fascist in libertarian clothing.

[–] Shinhoshi@lemmygrad.ml 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He’s a capitalist acting in his own self-interest and happens to hold some US conservative views, simple as that.

[–] CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago

But he's also quite fascist too

[–] Vaggumon@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Fun fact: During World War II, those who aided and abetted the enemy, usually got 2 in the brain.

[–] CriticalResist8@lemmygrad.ml 25 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Unless you were a capitalist, then you got reparations for your destroyed factories in Nazi Germany

[–] ghost_of_faso2@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 year ago

d/w they helped balance those losses through operation paperclip

[–] redline@lemmygrad.ml 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is a fantasy... both General Motors and Ford profited off the nazi war machine and, as has been mentioned: these investments were protected by the U.S. government under pressure from business interests.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm

[–] LinkedinLenin@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago

Not US business financers tho

[–] ButtigiegMineralMap@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe I’m reading this wrong but did it happen last year? I thought it happened just a few days ago???

[–] Shinhoshi@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago

It happened last year

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