Musk hit the headlines last month when he offered to broker a peace plan to end the war which would see Russia basically get everything it wants, time to repair its army and come back later. Tsar Putin publically welcomed the plan, while Ukraine told Musk to F*ck off.
Musk claimed he supported Ukraine because he had been installing Starlink Internet services in Ukraine and it had become an essential part of Ukraine's military strategy. What he did not say is that a big chunk of the cost had been met by USAid and other governments funding. In fact while Musk did front up with the technology and did put an estimated $80 million into the project, more than 85 per cent of the 20,000 terminals in Ukraine were paid for, partially or in full, by the U.S. government, other foreign governments, and other external entities.
Musk's claimed on Twitter that external entities only paid for a "small percentage" of the terminals does not appear to be true, but gave the company great PR.
Poland was the single greatest contributor, buying nearly 9,000 units, far more than the United States. These same parties pay for about 30 per cent of connectivity, which SpaceX estimates at $4,500 each month per unit for the most advanced service, which SpaceX provides despite only being contracted for the cheapest, $500 service.
However, since his failure to bring about peace in Ukraine, Musk appears to have lost interest in doing that and has sent his minions to the Pentagon to get more money, or he will pull the plug on the whole deal.
He claims that SpaceX can no longer pay for Starlink in Ukraine and wants tens of millions in subsidies from the Pentagon monthly. SpaceX argued that the financial strain for continuing operations, replacing destroyed units and fulfilling further requests from Ukraine's government was unsustainable for the company.
“We are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period,” SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote to the Pentagon.
Ukrainian forces are heavily reliant on Starlink as their only means of secure communication, as well as for operating drones. A person familiar with the matter went so far as to say, “Ukraine knows that its current government and wartime efforts are dependent on Starlink.”
The Ukrainians point out that the decision to keep Starlink running or not rests entirely in the hands of Elon Musk. “He hasn’t been elected, no one decided to give him that power. He has it because of the technology and the company he built,” the spokesman said.
Well that is the downside of dealing with capitalists, they expect you to accept their version of reality and stroke their egos.
While many out there would not believe that Musk could be so thin-skinned and petty, he confirmed that his moves to exit Ukraine were a direct result of being told to f*ck off. We guess he is taking his ball back now people dont take him seriously when it comes to the world of geopolitics. Still at least he has a new friend and can play with Mr Putin.
