New —> @elonmusk told SpaceX engineers to cut off Ukrainian submarine drones’ access to Starlink satellites as the Ukrainians prepared a sneak attack on Crimea last yr, per new Musk biography by Walter Isaacson. Musk feared a Russian retaliation via nukes.cnn.com/2023/09/07/pol…
“How am I in this war?” Musk asks Isaacson. “Starlink was not meant to be involved in wars. It was so people can watch Netflix and chill and get online for school and do good peaceful things, not drone strikes.”
SpaceX told the Pentagon last year that the company wouldn’t continue to foot the bill for sending satellite gear, to Ukraine, as @MarquardtA first reported. cnn.com/2022/10/13/pol…
After the CNN story, Musk reversed course and tweeted "the hell with it … we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.” The about-face incensed Gwynne Shotwell, Musk's president at SpaceX, according to the new Isaacson book.
"The Pentagon had a $145 million check ready to hand to me, literally,” Isaacson quotes Shotwell as saying. “Then Elon succumbed to the bullshit on Twitter and to the haters at the Pentagon who leaked the story.”
The Post has published the full excerpt on the Starlink/Ukraine episode from @WalterIsaacson’s book: washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
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