Elon Musk says he withheld Starlink over Crimea to avoid escalation
Elon Musk says he withheld Starlink over Crimea to avoid escalation
A senior Ukrainian official says this enabled Russian attacks and accuses him of "committing evil".
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.
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.
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.
Private citizens don't get to make those decisions.
It's time to nationalize Starlink & SpaceX.
Censorship is terrible. Except when I want to do it and pretend like I'm the best politician. Then it's great.
LOL self-defense is escalation now
Pretty sure putin owns musk.
The escalation he was trying to avoid is shelling children. Elon Musk is why I hope hell is real.
Get fucked, you boot licking weasel.
"Moral idiocy" is a great way to sum it up
Musk saw a bully go over and punch a kid. So Musk ran over and held the kidās hands behind him. Because punching back would have just escalated things.
Racist war criminal says what?
Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov said that plan displayed āmoral idiocyā
Musk: "Moral idiocy? Moral idiocy?! I'm not a moral idiot! I'm an immoral idiot! Besides, chess is a kid's game! 1v1 me in Polytopia, bitch! Bet you can't understand fog of war, noob!"
Kasparov: "...very well. Please show me how these pieces move."
[15 minutes later later]
Musk: "I can't BELIEVE I fell for that."Musk didnāt survive the emerald mine wars and spend six years at West Point for you to second guess his decisions. /s
By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet
I think this quote is where we all need to take a step back. People are essentially blaming him for not empowering one warring party's ability to attack another.
It doesn't matter which side you are on. He doesnt immediately become responsible for everything that the russians do with the soldiers and equipment that weren't killed/destroyed in the attack.
This is also assuming the drone attack would have been successful.
I wouldn't call it interference it was just refusal to play.
The type of attitude used here is a very childish "you are with me or you are against me" take that everyone publicly recognizes as wrong.
I would def prefer a ukrainian victory, but you guys treat musk like he is some sort of chaos god and all knowing entity or something.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
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".
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.
SpaceX, in which Mr Musk is the largest shareholder, began providing thousands of Starlink satellite dishes to Ukraine shortly after Russia launched its full-scale assault on its neighbour in February last year.
In the past, Mr Musk has said that while the system had "become the connectivity backbone of Ukraine all the way up to the front lines", "we are not allowing Starlink to be used for long-range drone strikes".
He also offered a personal opinion, calling for a truce and saying that Ukrainians and Russians were dying "to gain and lose small pieces of land" and this was not worth their lives.
The original article contains 558 words, the summary contains 197 words. Saved 65%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Are you all believing that UA military would depends that much on internet/Starlink, really? And it's not like it is the only satellite network.
Regarding OP, i don't defend RU but I don't support UA. None of my business if it was not my money which is flushed down in this proxy war and therefore, the money of my children!
