With the world being the way it is these days, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised to see the story of the ongoing war in Ukraine intersecting so often with a billionaire who builds electric vehicles and launches payloads into orbit. But we are once again seeing Twitter honcho Elon Musk wrapped up in the ongoing Russian invasion. This week, Musk became concerned that his Starlink internet satellite service was becoming “weaponized” by the Ukrainian military forces. Expressing fears that the situation could escalate into World War III, Musk made the decision to restrict access to the service by the Ukrainian military so as not to be partly responsible for such an outcome. This, of course, immediately made him a target of people who support feeding into this conflict interminably. (NY Post)
Elon Musk has confirmed that he would restrict the Ukraine military’s use of his Starlink satellite internet service so that it could not be used in a way that would lead to the “escalation of a conflict that may lead to” World War III.
The space pioneer raised the alarm after former-NASA astronaut Scott Kelly challenged him over reports that Starlink would limit access to the war-torn nation’s military amid fears it was being “weaponized.”
“Ukraine desperately needs your continued support,” Kelly tweeted Musk.
Strangely, one of the first to come out and appeal to Musk to reverse his decision was NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, the brother of Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. And, of course, he did it on Musk’s own social media platform.
.@elonmusk Ukraine desperately needs your continued support. Please restore the full functionality of your Starlink satellites. Defense from a genocidal invasion is not an offensive capability. It’s survival. Innocent lives will be lost. You can help. Thank you.
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— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) February 11, 2023
Musk responded quickly, telling Kelly that he was “smart enough not to swallow media & other propaganda bs.” He pointed out that Starlink is the “backbone” of communications in Ukraine, where most other web access has been destroyed. So Starlink will not “enable escalation” of a conflict that could lead to World War III.
What Elon Musk does with his constellation of satellites is, of course, up to him. But it’s worth remembering that if Musk is legitimately concerned about bearing some of the responsibility for a possible escalation of the war, that’s not the only thing he’s bearing. He’s also covering the cost of the entire Ukrainian communications system out of his own pocket. At one point, he asked the Biden administration to kick in some of that Ukraine aid money to help defray the costs, but the White House told him to go pound sand. He briefly thought about terminating the service then, but later decided to just keep paying for it himself.
While we can’t be certain, it seems possible that if the federal government was paying the cost of the service in Ukraine, then it would be an “American program” rather than resting solely on Musk’s shoulders. Might he not be more willing to keep providing service to his “customer” under those circumstances? Perhaps someone from the White House should pick up the phone and find out.
We’re already seeing some commentary from people who find it ridiculous that Musk would feel responsible for what happens in Ukraine. He’s just some guy that provides internet access, right? But that’s not true at all. Under combat conditions, reliable communications are a vital element of an army’s ability to exchange intelligence and coordinate movements and equipment deployment. A reliable communication system is every bit as important as an adequate supply of guns and ammunition. It’s no exaggeration to suggest that without Starlink, Ukraine may have already been fully overrun by the Russians.
In the end, if the Biden administration wanted to ensure that the Ukrainian forces had reliable communications “for as long as it takes,” they should have either built a communications system for them or at least paid for Musk to provide one. Now it may be too late unless the war can somehow be brought to a rapid close or at least a lasting ceasefire.
