Elon Musk Did Major Damage to a Ukrainian War Offensive Last Year: Report
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/09/elon-musk-ukrainian-war-offensive-last-year
The mercurial billionaire turned off Starlink communications just ahead of a submersible drone attack, thinking that the assault might unleash nuclear war, according to a forthcoming book.
クロスポスト: https://hexbear.net/post/539800
SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk reportedly caused a geopolitical crisis last year, when Ukrainian forces—which have relied heavily on the company’s Starlink satellite communications—were on the verge of striking Russian naval vessels off the coast of Crimea with submersible drones. Concerned that the attack would provoke Russia into using nuclear weapons, Musk unilaterally opted to sever the submarines’ satellite connection, throwing a wrench in the entire assault.
The incident—shared by CNN based on an adapted excerpt from an upcoming book by Walter Isaacson—demonstrates Musk’s increasing unwillingness to lend his satellite network to offensive maneuvers waged by Ukraine. “How am I in this war?” “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”
After foiling the attack, Musk reportedly received a desperate text from a Ukrainian deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, who asked that Musk reinstate the Starlink connection to the drones. “I just want you—the person who is changing the world through technology—to know this,” Fedorov wrote. But Musk refused to reverse course, telling Fedorov that Ukraine “is now going too far and inviting strategic defeat.”
Apparently he was worried that the assault would provoke nuclear war. Musk showing actual thought for the first time in ever.
i dunno man the last time someone attacked some dudes boats in dock - they ended getting nuked twice, i wouldn't say it's unjustifiable
That's not remotely comparable. They are at war. Are you saying Ukraine just can't attack Russian ships?
Using nukes is never justifiable. Anyone who even thinks of using nukes should be held far away from power and authority.
And what exactly does that mean in relation to what we are talking about? Are you sayin any future use is justified because it was done in the past? If thats the case then I'm just gonna have to strongly disagree.
This is not about justification but expectation. I do not think anyone here is trying to justify nuclear armageddon. The Japan bombs, along with numerous nuclear weaponry incidents in the past that humanity barely evaded, merely show that the patience of nuclear powers about such incidents is much, much shorter than commonly expected, and that crossing red lines said powers have long been making very explicit could reasonably turn out to have been a bad idea in hindsight
If it's about expectations, then anyone who even thinks of using nukes first should expect their nation to not exist afterward, and those personally responsible will go down in history (if there's still a world to record it) as the dumbest most evil pieces of shit to ever live.
Sorry but somehow I really don't think the people handling nuclear weapons are awfully concerned about the consequences such an action will have on their street cred
Then why do they greedily hang onto power. They could retire and live lives of luxury beyond what most could imagine. I don't really see any other explanation beyond insatiable egos.
The problem is, what if they don't? You do realise the enormity of the trust such an argument demands of the civilian population if you want them to be on board with military adventurism against nuclear powers? We don't know for sure what goes on in the mind behind the button, and at least if you ask me, the risk of them having other motivations such as blind national pride, belief in conspiracy theories, or mental illnesses seems already great enough to demerit any such ideas from the start
I'll tell Putin that School_Lunch@lemmy.world thinks that he and the entire Russian military command shouldn't be in charge. I'm sure they'll all resign within the hour.
We shouldn't look at the world as we would like it to be, but we need to look at it as it actually is. Russia has stated that they will use nukes if they deem it necessary for the preservation of their nation. Is this a good thing? Of course not. But it being an awful thing doesn't mean we can just wish it out of existence.
If even one nuke is used, it would be likely that everyone would use them. I'm sure you've heard of MAD. Anyone who threatens to use them should be immediately removed from power. That is a principle every citizen of every nation should hold. Unfortunately russians seems not to. There are too many people who support authoritarians. Any nation that uses nukes first will likely be obliterated in response. Putin has to know that, so when Russia says they will use nukes, I don't believe them.
I think you misunderstand me. I'm not saying that using nukes is a good thing, or that they should ever be used. I'm saying that it doesn't matter what you or I think about it, we aren't the ones making these decisions. So we instead should try to understand the positions of the people making these decisions instead of smugly dismissing them as "evil authoritarians."
Anyone who greedily holds onto power is an evil authoritarian in my book, and anyone who thinks nukes are an option is much much worse. There is nothing to understand. There is no position where nukes are justified. They were used when they were first made, and luckily they haven't been used since. As soon as they are it will give everyone else the excuse to use them too. Using even one nuke runs the risk of leading to the destruction of the world. No one willing to take that risk should be allowed power, and it should be the obligation of each nations citizens to enforce that.
Oh wow, a lib and insisting trying to understand things is a waste of time, what a shock. I thought I said this to you earlier, but it was someone else. So I'll say it to you as well. Go away, you're obviously not happy here and your refusal to understand things is not the strength you think it is, being proudly ignorant isn't a good thing. So shoo, go somewhere where you can spout nonsense and be praised for it instead of bothering us.
No I think I'll stay. I don't like to put myself in a reassuring bubble, and I never said I refuse to understand, just that there isn't anything to understand. There is no situation where risking the destruction of the world is a reasonable action.