Early in the war, did Starlink rapidly supply free terminals to Ukraine, or to Russia?
Is Starlink continuing to providing civilian and defensive services to Ukraine, or to Russia?
Has Starshield historically provided offensive communications services to Ukraine, or to Russia?
Did Ukraine or Russia received tens of thousands of Starlink terminals from allied governments, with ongoing subscription costs funded by those allies?
When Starlink discovered that Russians were using smuggled Starlink terminals, did they work with the Ukrainian government to carefully whitelist all terminals operated by Ukrainians, disabling the ones operated by Russia? Or was it the other way around?
Which country's defence minister publicly thanked SpaceX for their rapid cooperation in countering their opponent's military use of Starlink?
Can you identify a single documented instance of SpaceX knowingly supplying equipment or communications services to the Russian military?
A SINGLE INSTANCE??
I think the only think you've been "following pretty closely" are anti-Musk propaganda spreaders. I'm personally very disappointed in Musk's rhetoric, but in terms of military matters his opinions are irrelevant, equivalent to any drunk idiot spouting opinions between beers. But it's pretty clear to me that without Starlink, Ukraine could have lost the whole war within months.
It's fun to see that one person decided to downvote me instead of replying with what should be the absolute easiest of challenges. I'll take that downvote as an explicit capitulation.
Remember, Musk would have been entirely within his right to explicitly refuse all military use of consumer Starlink. He didn't. No matter how much of a dick he is with his words, no matter how brain broken Twitter has made him, he cannot take away what he has done for Ukraine. By choosing to answer their call for help, he did more to save Ukraine than could ever be expected of any one person.
> Remember, Musk would have been entirely within his right to explicitly refuse all military use of consumer Starlink.
Sure, he could have - and then Biden would have invoked the DPA and forced him to do so anyways, removing him from SpaceX if required. Private individuals cannot meddle in US foreign policy and we have laws to prevent it.
> He didn't. No matter how much of a dick he is with his words, no matter how brain broken Twitter has made him, he cannot take away what he has done for Ukraine.
I won't deny that Starlink is vital for Ukraine, but Musk is on the record calling for Ukrainians to capitulate. He's been very consistent about that.
The fact that he provided Starlink terminals under duress does not make him a saint.
I didn't downvote you, but you are strawmanning with your question. Elon doesn't have to give Russians access to Starlink to tip the war one way or another or support his politics
The guy is in such close contact with Putin it made the news many times. To the point where he defended claims of being a Russian asset by saying they couldn't pay him enough. As if they had negotiated it lol. He's a slimy guy who cozies up to dictators and fascists.
Cutting U SAID was a big win for Russia and it was one of his most cherished political contributions so far via doge. Celebrating it with a chainsaw...
I know. Users can't downvote direct replies on HN.
Even if we accept the most favourable interpretations of the wacky conspiracies you've alleged, including the dodgy speculation in your linked articles, I would still argue that Musk's contribution to Ukraine's defence through Starlink vastly outweighs any actions that might have benefited Russia. In fact it's difficult to overstate how consequential Starlink has been to Ukraine's ability to defend itself. I think it's reasonable to hypothesise that Starlink is one (of many) but-for causes of Ukraine continuing to exist today.
Meanwhile, despite all this hypothetical love of Russia, Starlink (and Starshield) are still available to Ukraine and not Russia. As my favourite YouTube analyst William Spaniel is fond of saying: "Don't listen to what they say, watch what they do."
Literally the news right now is saying musk asked Trump to slow down Ukraine's Starlink. Go Google it. It's not a conspiracy and it tracks with all of the other stories about musk and Russia.
There are a lot of confused people reporting on this issue, leading to poor journalism. Starlink wasn't the service that got degraded; Starshield was. Starlink has never been allowed for offensive military use. Though Starshield shares some infrastructure with Starlink, the critical difference is that while Starlink is a commercial service, Starshield is owned and operated by the US military, not SpaceX.
Hence why Musk was supposedly "asking Trump".
Maybe that's true.
I'm reminded of the old adage: "If I told you to jump off a cliff..." Ultimately, Musk is a civilian - at most, he's a regular buffoon who should keep his nose out of such affairs. Whereas the very idea of a president taking military advice from the aforementioned buffoon isn't just further buffoonery, it's something far greater than that. It's probably not strictly treasonous, but it's got that kind of flavour.
No people aren't confused. You are just desperate to reconcile that which you can't.
Just like how meta is blocking no kings protests right now, musk asked the white house to slow down Starlink. This is the way things are now. Tech bro oligarchs decide politics with money. Just like how musk is pushing for the afd in Germany and meta is tooling with the Brazilian election. Why else did musk buy twitter? I'm done discussing with you. It's not worth anyone's oxygen.
