SpaceX activated 100mph speed-limit restriction on Starlink terminals in Ukraine

33 pointsposted 10 hours ago
by ck2
(bsky.app)

15 Comments

glenstein

9 hours ago

Any explanation of the who/what/why rationale? And what exactly is the fallback for Ukraine?

ck2

9 hours ago

on Saturday Musk posted "Zelensky has gone too far"

and perhaps this is what he had his people come up with

there are no fallbacks, their Starlink is part of their defense system and early warning network and they are about to go into winter which is brutal there even without ballistic missiles taking out their power grid

they have to hang on 800 more days, unlikely Dems can solve any of this even if they get the Senate because Musk can keep doing whatever in the middle of the night

michelb

5 hours ago

And given that Musk is now the biggest donor to republicans in the midterms, the dems probably don’t stand a chance. Again. So bad news for ukraine and the rest of the world.

inemesitaffia

8 hours ago

This the the USG clearly given that it's Starshield.

Early warning?

ck2

10 hours ago

mirror/flatted: https://tbsky.app/profile/adamjschwarz.bsky.social/post/3mxs...

note the restriction was implemented while they were under attack from 39 ballistic missiles

adding: coverage by The Guardian newspaper

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/14/ukraine-soldie...

toomuchtodo

10 hours ago

Musk is randomly nerfing Ukraine’s military capability for “reasons.” Best they can do is find an alternative capability, even if not at parity.

ck2

10 hours ago

there's literally no other alternative, at least not this year

and Musk can't even get US security clearance, he's not allowed into certain SpaceX hangars during some operations

bix6

10 hours ago

But Anthropic is the supply chain risk lol

lp92

9 hours ago

Both are issues.

bell-cot

9 hours ago

> there is literally no other alternative...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_Starshield

I'm no fan of Elon - but the historical norm is that only gov't and local forces operate in major war zones. Vs. foreign companies either keep their distance, or at most operate with direct military escort.

klaff

8 hours ago

Historical norm is that manufacturers have played a huge role in warmaking capabilities, and the norm is that allies support each other. Here we have the orange shitgibbon worried about losing power in the next election, and we have the world's richest oligarch having built a tower on speculation and they have an uneasy alliance to fuck over a country under invasion because neither of them can ever be satisfied. Life and death mean nothing to these folks if it isn't their life or death.

bell-cot

8 hours ago

> Historical norm is that manufacturers have played a huge role in warmaking capabilities

You're fudging away the critical distinction. How many of the 100,000+ tanks, warships, and warplanes built by US corporations during WWII were operated by those corporations in combat zones? Extremely close to zero - because combat operations were the job of the US Army, US Navy, USAAF, etc.

No, I don't like Mr. Orange either. But he is the current POTUS. Starshield is under his control. And his failures do not obligate Mr. Musk to step up and serve - any more than they obligate young American men to serve in the Ukrainian Foreign Legion.

bix6

8 hours ago

This isn’t a fair comparison. Tanks require drivers, few companies would / could send those people in and there was no remote kill switch. Compared to a terminal that can be shipped in, setup by anyone, and has a kill switch. Elon isn’t physically “operating” these he just has control over the software.

inemesitaffia

8 hours ago

Well the USG has done what it will given that it seems like the regular stuff is working normally.

user

10 hours ago

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