Ukraine Could Never Afford to Bet on Starlink

The recent row over Starlink and its role in helping Ukraine defend itself from a rapacious Russian invasion seems to grow more urgent as the Russian government has stepped up attacks onUkraine's civilian infrastructure. Starlink is an internet service powered by a large constellation of satellites.

Starlink has become an essential tool for the Ukrainian military. Michael Kofman, a defense analyst at CNA Corporation and an expert on the Russian military who is not given to sweeping statements or hyperbole, admitted in a recent interview that he was a bit wary of the effectiveness of the Russian military early on in the war.

It might be a good idea to think seriously about bringing more of the defense now that the system is down and the CEO of the company is dying. The infrastructure needs to be nationalized instead of being used as a PR tool.

Ukranian should not be dependent on a system that changes constantly. The world doesn't need any more tech barons falling in love with their "one weird trick" to end global crises because the role of tech companies is too great here. The time has come for rethinking the re-nationalization of vital infrastructure, if only to shield them from the kind of silliness that catches CEOs fancy on social media.

It is worth noting that the dates on which events were reported are not necessarily when they occurred.

On October 3, Musk posted a widely-mocked "peace plan" forUkraine that would've required it to surrender most of the territory Russia has annexed over the course of the war. Over the next few days, he doubled down on the plan. Ukranian diplomat Andrij Melnyk told Musk to fuck off.

On October 7th, it was reported that Starlink terminals were down across the front line of the Ukrainian advance against Russian forces.

Ian Bremmer alleged in his newsletter on October 11 that Musk had told him about the proposal after he called Putin. The Kremlin also denied this and so did Musk. If the US government took over funding for the program from Musk's company, the Starlink terminals would not be used indefinitely.