In today's #vatniksoup, I'll talk about Starlink. First I thought I would just add this to the second part of the @elonmusk soup, but it is such a complex topic that I think it requires a thread of its own.
1/22
On 26 Feb 2022, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine @FedorovMykhailo tweeted Musk about providing Starlink to replace the Internet services destroyed by the Russians.
2/22
Starlink responded fast, activating country-wide service and delivering the first Starlink terminals (the device that establishes the connection to the satellites, thus providing internet access) already on the 28th of Feb.
3/22
Building (it is still incomplete) and running Starlink is by no means cheap: in order to provide high-speed connection to its users, the company needs to launch a lot of satellites.
4/22
SpaceX has launched 41 rockets with Starlink satellites over the past year, and each launch costs around 25-30 million USD + the cost of the satellite. And dealing with war-related issues like Russian cyber attacks & jamming increases the SpaceX cost of operating the system.
5/22
In addition to this, Ukraine needs a lot of terminals to provide internet access to both civilians and military personnel. A lot of these terminals are also destroyed on the battlefield. Usually, these terminals come with a monthly fee,but Ukrainians don't have to pay this..
6/22
...during the war. The terminals donated to Ukraine by volunteers and other countries may still have to pay these fees, though. It is not known how much money the company currently makes from these monthly fees.
7/22
That's not all: you also need ground stations that distribute all that data to the internet via high-bandwidth connections to telco companies that need to be paid for the service.
To conclude: getting Starlink data to internet costs a LOT of money to SpaceX.
8/22
By May 2022, Starlink was used by 150 000 Ukrainians on a daily basis. It was used, among other things, to deliver president Zelensky's daily broadcasts online. It was also used during the siege of Mariupol to report the dire conditions inside the city.
9/22
Ukrainian Army has always used Starlink for military purposes. According to The Times, the Ukrainian military was using the service to connect its drones used to attack the Russian forces. It was also used to coordinate artillery fire.
10/22
Scholar Franz-Stefan Gady (@HoansSolo), who visited the front lines in Ukraine, has said that the Ukrainian military operations are hugely dependent on having internet access, and one Ukrainian soldier said that "Starlink is our oxygen".
11/22
By Apr 2022, SpaceX had sent over 5000 terminals to Ukraine, of which they donated 3667 (the rest were bought by USAID). The company's support to Ukraine is estimated to be worth about 100 million USD, but it allegedly no longer offers the service for free - these costs...
12/22
...are now mostly paid by a mix of countries including the US, Germany, France and Poland. Also, many of the terminals going to Ukraine are now crowdfunded and donated by private donors, see this thread for more info:
In May 2023, Pentagon declared that it has agreed to buy Starlink terminals for use in Ukraine. They declined to offer any additional information regarding the price, scope or the timeline of the delivery of the equipment.
14/22
In Feb 2023 SpaceX revealed that it implemented restrictions against integrating Starlink terminals directly into weapons like naval kamikaze drones. Previously, Ukraine had attacked Russian vessels by using this type of naval drones in Novorossiysk, Russia.
15/22
SpaceX/Elon considered this a potential "escalating action" & restricted the direct military use of Starlink on weapons systems. Before this, SpaceX President stated that Starlink was never supposed to be "weaponized",as it was originally intended strictly for civilian use.
16/22
The company didn't object to it being used for military communication - just against integration into weapons like Ukraine did with the naval drones. There is also a good business-related explanation for this restriction: if they were allowed to be integrated into weapons..
17/22
...systems, Starlink terminals could be classified as "dual-use products" (technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications), which would restrict their export and use in some countries.
18/22
To conclude: Musk's SpaceX has made substantial financial contributions to support Ukraine. Just by providing Starlink, the company has helped Ukraine's war effort significantly, and they've also donated plenty of Starlink terminals to the country.
19/22
Allowing their use in weapon systems like kamikaze drones, albeit being useful to Ukraine, could be extremely bad for SpaceX's business ventures. President Zelensky has thanked Musk for providing Starlink service to Ukraine, and @FedorovMykhailo called Elon Musk...
20/22
.."one of the biggest private donors of [Ukraine's] future victory."
But this donation shouldn't render @elonmusk (or anyone else) immune to criticism,and his rather uninformed hot takes on Crimea & Donbas should be discussed.And they will be,in part two of his #vatniksoup.
21/22
I want to thank Jakub Janovsky aka @Rebel44CZ for providing his expertise and help on this topic.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll explain the Alaska Fiasco and how it marks the peak of Trump’s two-year betrayal of Ukraine. What was sold as “peace talks” turned into a spectacle of weakness, humiliation, empty promises, and photo-ops that handed Putin exactly what he wanted.
1/24
Let’s start with the obvious: Trump desperately wants the gold medal of the Nobel Peace Prize, mainly because Obama got one. That’s why he’s now LARPing as a “peace maker” in every conflict: Israel-Gaza, Azerbaijan-Armenia, India-Pakistan, and of course Ukraine-Russia.
2/24
Another theory is that Putin holds kompromat — compromising material such as videos or documents — that would put Trump in an extremely bad light. Some have suggested it could be tied to the Epstein files or Russia’s interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about engagement farming: a cynical social media tactic to rack up likes, shares, and comments. From rage farming to AI-powered outrage factories, engagement farming is reshaping online discourse and turning division into profit.
1/23
Engagement farming is a social media tactic aimed at getting maximum likes, shares, and comments, with truth being optional. It thrives on provocative texts, images, or videos designed to spark strong reactions, boost reach, and turn online outrage into clicks and cash.
2/23
One subset of engagement farming is rage farming: a tactic built to provoke strong negative emotions through outrageous or inflammatory claims. By triggering anger or moral outrage, these posts often generate 100s or even 1,000s of heated comments, amplifying their reach.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll cover the autocratic concept of “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars”: the idea that the leader is wise and just, but constantly sabotaged by corrupt advisors. This narrative shields the ruler from blame, and it’s used by both Putin and Trump today.
1/20
The phrase “Good Tsar, Bad Boyars” (Царь хороший, бояре плохие), also known as Naïve Monarchism, refers to a long-standing idea in Russian political culture: the ruler is good and benevolent, but his advisors are corrupt, incompetent and responsible for all failures.
2/20
From this perception, any positive action taken by the government is viewed as being an accomplishment of the benevolent leader, whereas any negative one is viewed as being caused by lower-level bureaucrats or “boyars”, without the approval of the leader.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a Russian politician and First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Administration of Russia, Sergey Kiriyenko. He’s best known for running both domestic and foreign disinformation and propaganda operations for the Kremlin.
1/20
On paper, and in photos, Kiriyenko is just as boring as most of the Kremlin’s “political technologists”: between 2005-2016 he headed the Rosatom nuclear energy company, but later played a leading role in the governance of Russia-occupied territories in Ukraine.
2/20
What is a political technologist? In Russia, they’re spin doctors & propaganda architects who shape opinion, control narratives, and manage elections — often by faking opposition, staging events, and spreading disinfo to maintain Putin’s power and the illusion of democracy.
Let me show you how a Pakistani (or Indian, they're usually the same) AI slop farm/scam operates. The account @designbonsay is a prime example: a relatively attractive, AI-generated profile picture and a ChatGPT-style profile description are the first red flags.
1/5
The profile's posts are just generic engagement farming, usually using AI-generated photos of celebrities or relatively attractive women.
These posts are often emotionally loaded and ask the user to interact with them ("like and share if you agree!").
2/5
Then there's the monetization part. This particular account sells "pencil art", which again are just AI-generated slop.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce an American lawyer and politician, Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee). He’s best-known for opposing the aid to Ukraine, undermining NATO by calling the US to withdraw from the alliance, and for fighting with a bunch of braindead dogs online.
1/21
Like many of the most vile vatniks out there, “Based Mike” is a lawyer by profession. He hails from the holy land of Mormons, Utah, where he faces little political competition, allowing him to make the most outrageous claims online without risking his Senate seat.
2/21
Before becoming a senator, Mike fought to let a nuclear waste company dump Italian radioactive waste in Utah, arguing it was fine if they just diluted it. The state said no, the public revolted, and the courts told poor Mikey to sit down.