Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet, according to an excerpt adapted from Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the eccentric billionaire titled “Elon Musk.”
Elon Musk biographer admits suggestion SpaceX head blocked Ukraine drone attack was wrong:
He’s a dbag of the highest order and I hope he cries himself to sleep every night… But no, the US military should NOT be seizing private businesses. I can’t believe I even had to say that lol
I didn’t know that aerospace could be nationalized so easily. If that’s the case I’m for it. But otherwise the idea that we take private enterprise by force is unAmerican and unacceptable to me, no matter how repugnant he is (and he’s a fucking repugnant scrotelick)
Has the precedent ever been dissatisfaction with the private ownership? Or did we we actually require federalizing the output of those companies for national security reasons?
Genuinely curious because apparently I’m the only one who thinks nationalizing Starlink is an extreme response.
Admittedly, most examples I can think of for nationalizing things withing the US have been either when a vital industry (usually railroads) shuts down due to bankruptcy or labor disputes, or companies partly owned by foreign powers that the US ends up at war with, which I suppose could both be called national security reasons. That being said, while the Ukraine war doesnt directly threaten the security of the US, beyond I suppose the small risk of it somehow dragging the US in directly, its pretty clear that the country is not really neutral in all this either, so at the very least Musk’s actions here work directly against US foreign policy goals. Admittedly I do agree that nationalizing starlink is a bit extreme, Im not sure that the US government is necessarily a great choice to run a global internet service, especially one that is somewhat different to other companies of the same type (it operates vastly more satellites to my knowledge than other similar operations), but I do feel that threatening to nationalize SpaceX might be a decent way to get Elon to play ball, so to speak.
US Government nationalized AIG and GM during the 2008 financial crisis.
We don’t even need to be at war to take a company over. We just need the political will to do so.
We shouldn’t nationalize Starlink because its a money losing dumbass idea though. Yeah it helps the Ukrainians, but that’s the only valid use, and 4000+ satellites for basically only war seems like a bad idea. Cell phone 5G service will be cheaper in peacetime, and wartime has other communication platforms.
Yeah it helps the Ukrainians, but that’s the only valid use, and 4000+ satellites for basically only war seems like a bad idea. Cell phone 5G service will be cheaper in peacetime, and wartime has other communication platforms.
Uhh sorry but this line of thought seems pretty incoherent. Its use case clearly goes beyond just war (e.g. coverage of rural and wild areas where a land line or 5G will not be economical), since StarLink has gone online pretty much every global super power has started or announced building their own constellations, and during wartime you want to have as much redundancy in your systems as you can get, especially so in your lines of communication. And Ukraine is using it right now, during wartime. I can’t follow this logic at all.
?
He’s a dbag of the highest order and I hope he cries himself to sleep every night… But no, the US military should NOT be seizing private businesses. I can’t believe I even had to say that lol
all things aerospace can be seized as a dual use asset, especially during wartime
We’re not at war
Elon is actively sabotaging the military of an American ally, he can go fuck himself I hope they take all of SpaceX from his ass
I didn’t know that aerospace could be nationalized so easily. If that’s the case I’m for it. But otherwise the idea that we take private enterprise by force is unAmerican and unacceptable to me, no matter how repugnant he is (and he’s a fucking repugnant scrotelick)
This is at minimum, a Logan Act violation if you want to get technical about it.
Elon Musk has fucked US Diplomats over, by fucking our ally Ukraine.
We know that someone as rich and popular as Elon is kinda-sorta untouchable. But I’d like to see something done in an ideal world.
0 of the 2 people charged in like 200 years have been convicted under the Logan Act. You might as well say we should nab him for jaywalking.
I mean normally true but what Elon is committing is basically treason.
Not in any legal sense
He’s literally and single-handedly sabotaged a Ukrainian mission during wartime.
Nobody’s debating that
There is plenty of precedent for nationalizing companies, and for that matter, it doesn’t have to be the military one would give it to anyway.
Has the precedent ever been dissatisfaction with the private ownership? Or did we we actually require federalizing the output of those companies for national security reasons?
Genuinely curious because apparently I’m the only one who thinks nationalizing Starlink is an extreme response.
Admittedly, most examples I can think of for nationalizing things withing the US have been either when a vital industry (usually railroads) shuts down due to bankruptcy or labor disputes, or companies partly owned by foreign powers that the US ends up at war with, which I suppose could both be called national security reasons. That being said, while the Ukraine war doesnt directly threaten the security of the US, beyond I suppose the small risk of it somehow dragging the US in directly, its pretty clear that the country is not really neutral in all this either, so at the very least Musk’s actions here work directly against US foreign policy goals. Admittedly I do agree that nationalizing starlink is a bit extreme, Im not sure that the US government is necessarily a great choice to run a global internet service, especially one that is somewhat different to other companies of the same type (it operates vastly more satellites to my knowledge than other similar operations), but I do feel that threatening to nationalize SpaceX might be a decent way to get Elon to play ball, so to speak.
@GentlemanLoser @CarbonIceDragon maybe people agree that it is an extreme measure, but see the situation as sufficiently serious and urgent
Bro he’s literally helping Russia, he’s a traitor to the US. Seize all his assets.
*Seize
Fixed, thanks!
Anytime
US Government nationalized AIG and GM during the 2008 financial crisis.
We don’t even need to be at war to take a company over. We just need the political will to do so.
We shouldn’t nationalize Starlink because its a money losing dumbass idea though. Yeah it helps the Ukrainians, but that’s the only valid use, and 4000+ satellites for basically only war seems like a bad idea. Cell phone 5G service will be cheaper in peacetime, and wartime has other communication platforms.
Uhh sorry but this line of thought seems pretty incoherent. Its use case clearly goes beyond just war (e.g. coverage of rural and wild areas where a land line or 5G will not be economical), since StarLink has gone online pretty much every global super power has started or announced building their own constellations, and during wartime you want to have as much redundancy in your systems as you can get, especially so in your lines of communication. And Ukraine is using it right now, during wartime. I can’t follow this logic at all.