Starlink CEO Elon Musk has revealed that he essentially halted a Ukrainian military attack on Russia by denying permission for Starlink to be utilised in the operation.
Musk stated that he made the decision so he wouldn’t be “complicit in a major act of war,” but his explanation raises issues about the influence of oligarchs regarding military matters.
CNN was the first to break the story, and they based it on information from Walter Isaacson’s impending biography of Musk. Musk presents a scenario in the book where Ukraine prepared to strike the Russian navy off the coast of Crimea in 2022.
Starlink was required for connectivity by the ships and marine drones that would have carried out this attack, although Musk maintained later on X/Twitter that the satellite internet service was not operational over the area. In response to an “emergency request” from the Ukrainian government, he refused to activate the system, at which point the drones “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” thus sparing the Russian ships.
Read also: Senegal arrests Starlink marketers, suspends internet connectivity
Musk withdrew Starlink support from Ukraine in a time of need
According to Techcrunch’s explanation, a government agency made a request to a private company for a service, but the head of the private company considered the request improper and so denied the request. Musk was effectively a mercenary or arms dealer, though not directly participating in violence, demonstrating the dangers of relying on a private service to conduct warfare. (The Wagner Group’s invasion of Moscow would provide Russia with its own demonstration of the same premise.)
But in a different, more worrying reading of events, a wealthy American made a military choice on behalf of a foreign ally without consulting with them. Surely, this has happened many times before, but rarely has a technology that is not part of the military-industrial system (and thus from outside its standards and expectations) elevated to popularity as quickly as Starlink has because, it must be stated to Musk’s own marketing of it for use by Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.
However, it’s hard not to wonder if it’s appropriate for Musk to supply a critical service to support Ukraine and then retract it as his sole choice, given the situation on the ground.
As a justification for his decision, Musk wrote, “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,”.
Others’ view on Musk’s decision
According to Mykhailo Podolyak, advisor to the Ukrainian prime minister’s office, who made a statement on X/Twitter after the story broke that it is simply unsustainable for Musk’s personal view of how a conflict ought to turn out is the only factor in the decision of how Starlink ought to be deployed in warfare.
https://twitter.com/Podolyak_M/status/1699820072418656331
“Sometimes a mistake is much more than just a mistake. By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via #Starlink interference, @elonmusk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities. As a result, civilians, children are being killed. This is the price of a cocktail of ignorance and big ego.”
Will Musk make the tough decision of weighing the cost of Ukrainian lives against the benefit of preventing an attack on Russian equipment because he has put himself in the position of determining who lives and who loses in a conflict on the other side of the globe?
It’s possible Musk believes he has the skills necessary to pull this out, but it wouldn’t be the first time he’s overstated his abilities. The issue is not whether he has the ability to make the decision but rather whether he or anyone in another capacity of civilian or commercial power should have the freedom to do so.
In summary, former world chess champion and prominent Advocate Garry Kasparov said:
“SpaceX & Starlink are marvelous, but if Musk’s delusional ‘anti-war’ agenda leads him to interfere with their services to Russia’s advantage, it’s a huge risk.”
The circumstance Musk found himself in was unusual and unprecedented, but it no longer is. Those who have experience with judgements of this magnitude are also inclined to devise strategies to avoid having a foreign oligarch meddle in their deliberations.