• Kittengineer@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    What against US policy? Escalating the war? We already are sending tons of military equipment, some used in counter offensives.

    Post the link and full article you got that from, I’d like to read but many of the links are pay walled.

    Here’s what I read from one of the links you referenced, I would think Musk would say it’s against US policy if that’s the reason he chose not to activate Starlink

    “There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol,” Musk wrote on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.

    “The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor. If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,” Musk wrote.

    An excerpt about the raid from American author and journalist Walter Isaacson’s upcoming biography on Musk, titled “Elon Musk,” was published by CNN. Ukrainian submarine drones loaded with explosives were approaching a Russian naval fleet in the Crimean city of Sevastopol when they lost connection and “washed ashore harmlessly,” according to Isaacson.

    Musk was concerned about Russia responding to the naval attack with a nuclear weapon, Isaacson wrote in the book, according to CNN. Ukrainian officials

    • jarfil@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      What against US policy?

      You can check the list of sanctions imposed on Ukraine/Russia, which regions, types of activity and subjects, along with the exceptions and licenses at:

      https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-programs-and-country-information/ukraine-russia-related-sanctions

      You may notice that US citizens have been forbidden from providing telecommunications services, including via satellite, in the conflict areas since early 2022, requiring a special license to operate.

      Starlink didn’t have such license, and only got a DoD agreement in mid 2023.

      In late 2022, Musk would’ve had to break that policy in order to allow the drones to be controlled into the conflict zone.

      As for him saying so… I don’t think he’s the type to paint himself as subservient to the government, even if he is; more like the megalomaniac type claiming to have stopped WW3 barehanded, even if he literally did nothing.

      • Kittengineer@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        So the only one saying Musk didn’t activate Starlink was because of US sanctions is you, and not even Musk himself.

        There’s not article, just you deducing from the US sanctions list.

          • Kittengineer@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It is a little incredulous that somehow only you have figured out the real reason Musk didn’t activate Starlink.

            With so many articles coming out, no officials making a statement, hell even a biographer shadowing Musk at the time. Even Musk gives alternate reasons and doesn’t say it, even if it would save him from a lot of bad press.

            • jarfil@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Indeed, quite incredible. Maybe I don’t get paid by the click, don’t have an agenda, and don’t blindly follow those who do? Guess only time will tell.