An escalating fight between the US and Ukraine over Starlink underlined Europe’s dependence on the Elon Musk-owned technology.
Ukraine’s leader said that SpaceX was throttling Starlink speeds in a “planned operation,” which the White House rejected.
Washington’s ambassador told the Financial Times that the EU would face “devastating” retaliation if Brussels pursues plans to curtail SpaceX’s market reach.
Europe has few options: An EU project won’t launch satellites until 2029, and the bloc’s “next best hope” is Amazon Leo, an American Enterprise Institute expert told Politico.
The saga has prompted others to probe their dependencies: ASEAN must “recognize that digital sovereignty is becoming inseparable from strategic sovereignty,” experts argued in Malay Mail, while Canada’s leader said recently that Ottawa was exploring Starlink alternatives.
— Brendan Ruberry