When Billionaires Betray Allies

Billionaires are wildly out-of-control in America. It has come to the point where one in particular is forming and executing foreign policy that is against the set course announced by America’s elected officials. I will return to the overall theme of billionaires and their influence tomorrow. Today we will just focus on the fact unveiled in an upcoming biography Walter Isaacson that Elon Musk switched off his Starlink satellite communications network in 2022 to help his buddy Putin’s navy escape an attack by Ukrainian drones. The only real question is: why did he do it? Musk says that he did it to save the world from a nuclear disaster. Balls. Here’s the background: Last year Ukrainian submarine drones loaded with explosives approached the Russian fleet. At that point Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast. The drones “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” Isaacson writes. It left Ukrainian officials begging The Master to turn the satellites back on. This is not new news. What is new is that American media are finally opening their eyes to the enormity of what Musk has done. Last year I wrote a piece on <a href="https://medium.com/p/d491f58a220d" rel="noopener">Musk, Starlink and Ukraine</a>. Starlink initially wrapped itself in the flag when it announced that it was offering satellite service to Ukraine. “I’m proud that we were able to provide the terminals to folks in Ukraine,” said SpaceX president <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/08/us-quietly-paying-millions-send-starlink-terminals-ukraine-contrary-spacexs-claims/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Gwynne Shotwell</a>, “I don’t think the U.S. has given us any money to give terminals to the Ukraine.” <a href="https://barry-gander.medium.com/when-billionaires-betray-allies-ad2bfbebf552">Website</a>