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Musk, Ukraine and Russia

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posted on 8/9/23

Must be how the guy who invented VAR feels

posted on 8/9/23

In many areas Ukraine is utterly dependant on StarLink to maintain comms. It should make everyone very uncomfortable that one man is making "tactical" decisions on behalf of the Ukraine, and with it the World in many ways. StarLink are "balls-deep" in the Ukraine, providing services at their own cost in many areas - so all the talk of “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars" is populist nonsense.

We have politicians for a reason and, for all the flak they get, this is the sort of thing they should be deciding, not someone like Musk. imho.

posted on 8/9/23

comment by Wonder Man (U11164)
posted 10 minutes ago
Must be how the guy who invented VAR feels
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posted on 8/9/23

I'd be more sympathetic toward Musk's arguments if two things were different:

1) If Musk had made that principle clear from the outset rather than making an arbitrary intervention after permitting military usage.

2) If the guy making these calls weren't also amplifying and explicitly agreeing with bad faith actors and disinformation sources that are serve to legitimise Russia's "grievances", if he hadn't called for Ukraine to cede sovereign territory to its invader, and if more generally Musk were not increasingly aligned with the conservative-authoritarian political forces that are sympathetic to Putin.

posted on 8/9/23

comment by HenrysCat (U3608)
posted 6 minutes ago
In many areas Ukraine is utterly dependant on StarLink to maintain comms. It should make everyone very uncomfortable that one man is making "tactical" decisions on behalf of the Ukraine, and with it the World in many ways. StarLink are "balls-deep" in the Ukraine, providing services at their own cost in many areas - so all the talk of “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars" is populist nonsense.

We have politicians for a reason and, for all the flak they get, this is the sort of thing they should be deciding, not someone like Musk. imho.
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That's a good, wider point about the dangers of having too much wealth, and therefore power, in the hands of individuals. Regulate and tax!

posted on 8/9/23

comment by HenrysCat (U3608)
posted 5 minutes ago
In many areas Ukraine is utterly dependant on StarLink to maintain comms. It should make everyone very uncomfortable that one man is making "tactical" decisions on behalf of the Ukraine, and with it the World in many ways. StarLink are "balls-deep" in the Ukraine, providing services at their own cost in many areas - so all the talk of “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars" is populist nonsense.

We have politicians for a reason and, for all the flak they get, this is the sort of thing they should be deciding, not someone like Musk. imho.
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Imagine having to choose between Musk and the Tories for such matters. As much as I despise the bloke I'd probably go with Musk.

posted on 8/9/23

How did Walter come up with that fantastic title for his book?

posted on 8/9/23

comment by Wonder Man (U11164)
posted 31 minutes ago
Must be how the guy who invented VAR feels
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was he the guy who said "Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds"?

posted on 8/9/23

comment by Don Draper's dandruff (U20155)
posted 21 minutes ago
comment by Wonder Man (U11164)
posted 31 minutes ago
Must be how the guy who invented VAR feels
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was he the guy who said "Now I Am Become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds"?
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That was Harry Maguire

posted on 8/9/23

This development has implications much closer to home.

"....It's been a year since OneWeb (a satellite company partly controlled by the U.K. government) announced a new partnership with SpaceX after being banned from using Russian rockets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine......."

".......OneWeb had to abandon its previous launch plan to send a batch of 36 satellites to space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket, after an ultimatum made by Dmitry Rogozin, the director of the Russian Space agency Roscosmos. Rogozin demanded that for the launch to take place, the British government should completely divest its $500 million stake from OneWeb and the company should provide a guarantee that its satellites would not be used for military purposes. OneWeb and the U.K. refused to accept the demands and suspended all further satellite launches from the Roscosmos launch site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. ....." (LiveScience.com)



How long before Musk decides he wants to have a say in how the British Government runs its national security policy?

We jumped out of the mouth of one snake and into the mouth of another.
https://twitter.com/Rogozin/status/1506158024716689408?s=20

posted on 8/9/23

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 50 minutes ago
I'd be more sympathetic toward Musk's arguments if two things were different:

1) If Musk had made that principle clear from the outset rather than making an arbitrary intervention after permitting military usage.

2) If the guy making these calls weren't also amplifying and explicitly agreeing with bad faith actors and disinformation sources that are serve to legitimise Russia's "grievances", if he hadn't called for Ukraine to cede sovereign territory to its invader, and if more generally Musk were not increasingly aligned with the conservative-authoritarian political forces that are sympathetic to Putin.
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Yeah, Musk was helping the Russians. The west needs to be very careful as Russia isn't gonna attack with missiles. They're already beating the west hands down through social media and disinformation. Trump, Boris, Brexit, rightwing wave in Europe are all borne out of this movement by Russia. They're actually winning not losing.

comment by Hector (U3606)

posted on 8/9/23

The fact that Starlink HAS been used by Ukraine in a military context means that Musk is now a defence contractor and those companies are subjected to a whole different set of rules that any non military company are. In theory the US government could take the entire operation off of him under National Security reasons.

comment by Busby (U19985)

posted on 8/9/23

Musk has been anti war and pushing for a truce since day 1. Shame the world leaders weren’t.

comment by Busby (U19985)

posted on 8/9/23

comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 1 hour, 38 minutes ago
I'd be more sympathetic toward Musk's arguments if two things were different:

1) If Musk had made that principle clear from the outset rather than making an arbitrary intervention after permitting military usage.

2) If the guy making these calls weren't also amplifying and explicitly agreeing with bad faith actors and disinformation sources that are serve to legitimise Russia's "grievances", if he hadn't called for Ukraine to cede sovereign territory to its invader, and if more generally Musk were not increasingly aligned with the conservative-authoritarian political forces that are sympathetic to Putin.
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Fair points

posted on 8/9/23

comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 1 minute ago
Musk has been anti war and pushing for a truce since day 1. Shame the world leaders weren’t.

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Is this a wind up? Musk said that Ukraine should hand over parts of its territory to Russia. You could say that is anti-war in a sense that each country allows another to forcefully take its land, without defending it. Or you could say it’s anti-war if he had said Russia shouldn’t have forcefully taken and continued to take Ukrainian land.

posted on 8/9/23

Also, only one world leader was intent on war.

No government, right or left leaning, wanted a sanctioned Russia just as the financial aftermath of covid was hitting.

This time, at least, they were forced into this proxy war.

posted on 8/9/23

Musk is turning into Trump v2. i wouldn't be surprised if he stands for president in four years. He's a cliched alpha male with a massive ego. Wo betide anyone who crosses/disagrees with him. His takeover of twitter has given him an incredible amount of power to get into people's minds, and that's why he's done it.

posted on 8/9/23

comment by There'sOne7-0Reds (U1721)
posted 13 minutes ago
comment by Busby (U19985)
posted 1 minute ago
Musk has been anti war and pushing for a truce since day 1. Shame the world leaders weren’t.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is this a wind up? Musk said that Ukraine should hand over parts of its territory to Russia. You could say that is anti-war in a sense that each country allows another to forcefully take its land, without defending it. Or you could say it’s anti-war if he had said Russia shouldn’t have forcefully taken and continued to take Ukrainian land.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

👍

posted on 8/9/23

comment by Ralf's Shrugging Shoulders (U13341)
posted 2 minutes ago
Musk is turning into Trump v2. i wouldn't be surprised if he stands for president in four years. He's a cliched alpha male with a massive ego. Wo betide anyone who crosses/disagrees with him. His takeover of twitter has given him an incredible amount of power to get into people's minds, and that's why he's done it.
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He legally can’t as far as I’m aware but with his things are going who knows what machinations are in place with him and his backers.

posted on 8/9/23

*with how things

comment by Ruiney (U1005)

posted on 8/9/23

Man radicalised by his own social media algorithm into believing the aggressor is the victim starts to dictate a war.

Black Mirror Season 7 - Coming Soon.

posted on 8/9/23

comment by Ralf's Shrugging Shoulders (U13341)
posted 52 minutes ago
Musk is turning into Trump v2. i wouldn't be surprised if he stands for president in four years. He's a cliched alpha male with a massive ego. Wo betide anyone who crosses/disagrees with him. His takeover of twitter has given him an incredible amount of power to get into people's minds, and that's why he's done it.
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He’s nothing like alpha to be fair.

Twitter is indeed an incredibly power tool and it wasn’t exactly in good hands previously (others of a different persuasion will disagree and hate current Twitter I expect). But he had an awful lot of power already.

He’s got over 3000 satellites lol. He’s like a Bond villain. He’s a bit of a kn0b but I don’t despise him like many do.

posted on 8/9/23

*powerful

posted on 8/9/23

Bond villains tend to want to destroy humanity or conduct a bit of genocide. If you compare Elon Musk to one and then don't despise him, then you might be one of the bad guys.

Maybe he'll let you be a henchman.

posted on 8/9/23

comment by Tamwolf (U17286)
posted 34 minutes ago
Bond villains tend to want to destroy humanity or conduct a bit of genocide. If you compare Elon Musk to one and then don't despise him, then you might be one of the bad guys.

Maybe he'll let you be a henchman.
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I’m hopeful that my application will be successful.

I can be like Homer with Hank Scorpio

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