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From The Fields

Is Elon Musk subject to the Draft in Ukraine? Is his company?

FromTheFields Wednesday August 9, 2023


Elon Musk is the CEO of SpaceX which operates Starlink, a satellite internet service. Musk has provided Starlink service to Ukraine to stream battlefield video and for intelligence gathering. He has personally refused to let Ukraine use Starlink for offensive purposes. That has included using Starlink to conduct long range offensive strikes, in particular drone strikes against Russian assets in the Black Sea.

Ukraine is understandably upset. Ukrainian Presidential Advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak has said, "The issue is that at critical stages of the war, we desperately need absolute operational and technical independence. That is, the dependence of decision-making and its implementation must be 100%. The risks for our military are too great when the course of offensive operations depends on external circumstances or third parties."

This presents an interesting question. Ukraine is at war with Russia who invaded their country. The United States is not officially at war. But we are providing Ukraine with billions of dollars in arms and assisting with severe financial sanctions against Russia. Starlink is privately owned by Musk. He is under no legal obligation to volunteer use of his privately owned internet service to Ukraine anymore than you are required to give Ukraine your shotgun.

Musk has proposed peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia. Russia has said they would be willing to talk. The United States government has indicated its willingness to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian.

If any of the news stories about Hunter Biden peddling influence in Ukraine while his father was Vice President are true, there may be some official Ukrainian arm twisting of Joe Biden's arm forthcoming to force Elon Musk to revise his terms of service.

If that happens, know that the richest man in the world is still a tool of the American Empire if the Empire insists on it.