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absurdity in zelensky's sky..........Elon Musk’s SpaceX has blocked the Ukrainian government and its military from using Starlink technology to fly and control drones, after earlier in the war SpaceX gifted thousands of Starlink dishes to Ukraine to help the population stay connected to the internet. SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell in a statement asserted that Starlink technology was “never meant to be weaponized”. According to BBC, “She made reference to Ukraine’s alleged use of Starlink to control drones, and stressed that the equipment had been provided for humanitarian use.”
By Tyler Durden Shotwell confirmed that the “surprise decision” was taken due to it never being the company’s intent to allow Starlink to be used “for offensive purposes” in remarks given before a conference in Washington DC. Shotwell further said Ukraine had utilized the technology— “in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement,” according to Reuters. After Musk provided the Starlink systems, the Ukrainian military quickly became dependent on them given the extreme battlefield conditions, including damage to existent communications infrastructure and frequent power outages. Additionally the Russians would often jam signals, thus Starlink allowed Ukrainian troops to circumvent these factors. The Wednesday announcement from SpaceX was met with anger in Kiev, after already there’s been an avalanche of Ukrainian government criticism aimed at Musk personally over his ‘Russia-Ukraine peace poll’ offered in October. As Bloomberg observed during that prior spat and tensions, Musk’s tweets were “drawing the wrath of Ukrainians” merely for his proposing a negotiated solution which involved territorial concessions for the sake of lasting peace. Zelensky’s office issued a denunciation on Thursday, complaining that Musk’s company has failed to understand or acknowledge Ukraine’s right of self-defense in making the decision. Presidential spokesman Mykhailo Podolyak suggested Musk is playing into Putin’s hands, stating SpaceX must decide whether it’s “on the side of the right to freedom” or “on the Russian Federation’s side and its ‘right’ to kill and seize territories”. It must be remembered that soon after last year’s Russian invasion, Ukrainian officials essentially begged Musk to come to the rescue. A direct plea by Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, at the time resulted in confirmation from Musk himself: “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine,” Musk affirmed in reply. But when tensions arose after Musk expressed ‘unpopular’ opinions regarding the war, including a plea for both sides to reach compromise rather than see the world spiral into WW3, the US-based billionaire asserted that he is ‘obviously’ pro-Ukraine given SpaceX had spent $80 million on Starlink in the country, or essentially a massive wartime donation. Musk recently pointed out he’s “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” when it comes to SpaceX policy in Ukraine… From there, a debate ensued over whether the Pentagon would foot the bill for further Starlink development and maintenance in the country. The systems were increasingly seen as essential to the Ukrainian military’s effective operations if it hoped to push back Russia. However, Musk acknowledged that his company couldn’t just keep picking up the tab ‘indefinitely’. But after all of this, Ukrainian officials alongside pundits in the West echoed tired old Russiagate-style smears of Musk somehow being “Putin’s puppet”. Some mainstream publications went so far as to claim Musk was receiving orders from the Kremlin, at a moment the controversy reached the height of absurdity. A low point was reached in the October saga when Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany told Musk to “fuck off” in a reply on Twitter. And yet, awkwardly despite these intense public attacks the Ukrainian government has of necessity remained heavily reliant on the services Musk provides. It goes without saying that Ukraine’s government might want to be careful about biting the hand that feeds it. Without doubt, SpaceX has the capability to further reduce Kiev’s military reliance on the technology, which again the company has stressed was only meant for humanitarian purposes. After all, Starlink + armed drones?…
Source: ZeroHedge
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bad for business......
by Andrei Martyanov
Elon Musk is a cynical and heartless businessman, and when he does something, it's not out of charity.
« SpaceX has reduced the Ukrainian military's ability to use Starlink satellite internet service to control drones in its conflict with Russia, company president Gwynne Shotwell has said. SpaceX was "really happy to be able to provide connectivity to Ukraine", but the technology "was never intended to be weaponized", Shotwell said at the FAA's 25th Annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference, held Wednesday in Washington. “The Ukrainians operated [Starlink] unintentionally and not part of any deal. So we have to work on that [with] Starlink,” she added. Shotwell later clarified to reporters that she was talking about Kyiv forces relying on Starlink to control drones in surveillance and attack operations. “There are things we can do to limit their ability to do that,” she explained, referring to Ukraine's use of Starlink with the drones, as quoted by Reuters. “There are things we can do, and have done,” Shotwell added, without identifying the exact measures that have been implemented. »
Bullshit, Starlink has ALWAYS been considered a military asset for Comm and Recon, period. And “leverage” was exactly what Starlink was created for. Even 4th graders know this. The reason for limiting the use of Starlink is entirely different, and embarrassing for the United States and SpaceX. The name of the reason is that of a herb from the Caucasus, aka in Russia: Borschevik. Here is :
This is Russia's electronic warfare complex specifically designed to detect and emit targets to Starlink terminals. Its range is 10 kilometers in a sector of 180 degrees and its accuracy is between 5 and 60 meters (in Russian). And here is the result of using this complex since December 2022:
« About the problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with satellite and radio communications, which leads to the loss of operational control of the troops and disrupts the coordination of actions, a representative of the People's Militia of the LPR, Andrey Marochko said said: “This fact is leading to increased casualties of Ukrainian units, panic among soldiers and officers,” he said. Communication was almost completely lost, for example, in Artyomovsk (Bakhmut), where they continue to resist the advance of the Wagner assault groups. Radio communications and cell phones are clearly jammed by Russian electronic warfare stations, but they cannot disable Starlink. These complexes can be destroyed by fire, but they are inconspicuous and quite mobile. The mobile direction-finding complex (MCP) “Borshchevik”, with which you can detect the work of Starlink satellite communication systems, is a new development of Russian scientists. Its creation was carried out by the private company “Sestroretsk Arms Plant” under the leadership of the candidate of technical sciences Alexei Tsarkov. By the way, he also oversaw the development of a portable radar station for detecting ultra-small Burdock targets. »
In addition, a single Borschevik can detect up to 50 terminals in its sector. It is obvious that the Russian army will not use expensive Krasnopols or Iskanders to blow up Starlink terminals, but those who use them are of great interest, sometimes a single artillery raid on known coordinates is enough to annihilate both the endpoints and those who use them, who are the real targets. So, like all US-made weapons systems supplied to the FAU, Starlink faces the same discredit and embarrassment as all weapons the US has supplied to the country 404, whether it be Javelins, NASAMS or M777, among many others. This is the main reason for these movements on the part of Musk's company, and not anti-military "considerations". Nothing personal, just business. It's bad, very bad, for business.
source: Reminiscence of the Future
READ MORE:
https://en.reseauinternational.net/une-minute-de-porno-militaire-pour-musk-et-starlink/
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