To avoid complicity
Talk about too much power in the hands of one unelected gazillionaire…
Elon Musk says he refused to give Kyiv access to his Starlink communications network over Crimea to avoid complicity in a “major act of war”. Kyiv had sent an emergency request to activate Starlink to Sevastopol, home to a major Russian navy port, he said. His comments came after a book alleged he had switched off Starlink to thwart a drone attack on Russian ships.
A senior Ukrainian official says this enabled Russian attacks and accused him of “committing evil”. Russian naval vessels had since taken part in deadly attacks on civilians, he said. “By not allowing Ukrainian drones to destroy part of the Russian military (!) fleet via Starlink interference, Elon Musk allowed this fleet to fire Kalibr missiles at Ukrainian cities,” he said. “Why do some people so desperately want to defend war criminals and their desire to commit murder? And do they now realize that they are committing evil and encouraging evil?” he added.
Bajillionaires have too much power around here.
Bajillionaires have too much power everywhere. Their hands are in everything.
And they think they deserve to, following the tenets of the traditional version of the Golden Rule: Those that have the gold make the rules.
What other species have individuals who possess (or have access to) the power to have a truly global impact? Why do we* think it’s such a good idea that we permit it to happen?
*Or at least a number of us that, whatever it is, is far too many.
Glad you asked. I could name several, actually, but I’ll just name one that has had a global impact – dandelion.
Of course, the reason it has had a global impact is that we carry it along with us, not necessarily willingly, as we travel.
(The rat is another good example)
There was an interesting & disturbing article by Ronan Farrow in the New Yorker recently about the unaccountable power Musk wields so capriciously & irresponsibly. I fear this abuse of power appeals to infantile Musk fanboys & those who suppose that Ayn Rand & libertarianism show the way to go forward.
Not sure I agree with this, but here is the counter-argument
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/09/what-happened-with-elon-starlink-and-ukraine-was-an-unreasonable-request.html
I seem to recall there was a previous controversy involving Ukrainian access to Starlink, maybe around a year ago?
The article posted in #5 makes good points. There are other satellite communication providers. The US military has global satellite communications.
Bajillionaires do have too much power; some of it has been ceded to them. Maybe the situation should not have depended on the decision of one such person.