Somehow, we’re living through an airport thriller paperback or a plot Ian Fleming gave up on by Chapter Two. A small democracy is facing down a predatory one-time superpower, holding its own with help from other western democracies, including this one. Then one day, a trillionaire allied with the former superpower flips a switch and the smaller nation finds its defensive capacity crippled. From The New York Times:
Nearly five years into its fight for national survival, Ukraine has entered a moment of intense vulnerability, under growing pressure not only from Russia but also now from the United States. A double blow came overnight on Wednesday. Ukraine said that its military, with no warning, had lost some critical access to a military version of Starlink, a pillar of its battlefield communications. Kyiv relies on the satellite internet network, known as Starshield, which is paid for by the Pentagon. That led Ukrainian officials and analysts to surmise that the restrictions had come from Washington, as President Trump is locked in his latest feud with Ukraine’s leadership.
At the same time, Russia unleashed dozens of ballistic missiles in a broad attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure early Wednesday, cutting power to 600,000 people in the capital, Kyiv. It was a dark omen for a rapidly approaching winter in which Russia is gearing up to try to push Ukraine to the breaking point as Kyiv runs low on lifesaving air defenses.
He's really going to do it. The president is going to sell out Ukraine to Vladimir Putin for a couple days’ worth of diesel fuel. And he's going to be aided and abetted by that pale pile of evil, Elon Musk. And nobody is fooled.
The Starshield development was interpreted in Ukraine as part of a Trump administration pressure campaign to limit Ukraine’s ability to fight. Mr. Trump is pushing Kyiv to stop attacking oil refineries so that Russia can pump more diesel onto global markets as high prices threaten the prospects of Mr. Trump’s Republican Party in the midterm elections.
“Clearly, this action cannot be a coincidence and is linked to the current political situation,” Serhiy Beskrestnov, a Ukrainian military expert who advises President Volodymyr Zelensky on weapons technologies, wrote on social media about the Starlink restrictions.
Already, there is outrage in the Congress about this obvious betrayal of an ally and the obvious leash that Putin has on the president of the United States. The country is on the brink of a sellout that will make Neville Chamberlain look like Richard the Lionheart.
There are options, of course. Musk’s empire is heavily dependent on various contracts with the United States government. Congressional appropriators—hi, Susan Collins!—could turn off the tap immediately and regain control of the public spaces that were deeded over to Musk. I’d think meddling in a war on the side of the aggressor against one of our allies would be in breach of contract, at least.
Nobody voted for this.