Guess Elon got tired of giving free internet to people who told him to **** off. Also people have been saying that US Gov have been paying for starlink, well now he gave US Gov the chance to actually do that:
I know SpaceX did not expect the war to drag on, and there does come a point where they need to get someone else to foot the bill. Russian hackers have been attacking the system and SpaceX and they have probably expended a fair bit of manpower stopping them.
While Elon is the richest person in the world on paper, like most wealthy people only a small amount of that is liquid.
However, just looking at this the way the rest of world is going to see this, someone worth $200 billion is saying he can't afford an expense of around ~$10 million a month right after he made some really asinine posts on Twitter that looked pro-Russia and pro_mainland China.
In the eyes of the public he's really beginning to look like a Bond villain.
From the perspective of Tesla, I think it's time the board got rid of him and replaced him with someone less controversial. The top tech billionaires only a few years ago didn't generate controversy. Bill Gates was a shark in the business world, he cut a number of competitors off at the knees, but his personal life was very non-controversial. Steve Jobs was even less controversial.
Jeff Bezos has come off as kind of a jerk at times and now Elon is staying on the tracks about as well as you could expect a train on the Kerch Bridge right now.
He's bad for Tesla's image and I shudder to think what he's going to do to Twitter. I suspect it's going to end up looking like 8Chan after a year or two.
No doubt Elon is creating ill will. The whole tangent on Ukraine and the polls was terrible ugly. What right do any of us, in the USA, have to dictate to Ukraine what is and isn't worth fighting for? Supply starlink or not but don't tell try to condition that on the rights of others...scary. Because what EM obviously does not get...is that Ukraine will free itself of russia, it might take 5 years, it might take 10 but Crimea is Ukraine. All the Oblast voted to stay in Ukraine in the single and only free election in 1991.
That said I find it interesting that basically the internet service for a country is 120 million a year more or less.
Slava Ukraine
I expect the war to be over within a year, it could be six months. One thing I'm sure the Ukrainians remember from the Soviet era (but the Russians may have forgotten) is how to fight in winter. Even in the first two years of the war when the Germans were definitely the stronger army the Soviets ruled the winters.
Russia is running out of basics, newly mobilized troops are being given AKs that are more rust than gun and War Translated picked up something from a Russian soldier in an artillery unit that was issued a 152mm gun made in 1943.
Soviet era vehicles were designed for good maneuverability on frozen ground, but the drivers still need to know how to drive on ice and it looks like many of the new drivers can barely drive in a straight line. The Ukrainians have tank drivers who know how to drive on ice and they have probably been teaching the newbies.
Fighting in winter with the right equipment has advantages. With the right uniforms, it's much easier to blend into the landscape and with modern infrared technology, it will be easy to find Russian soldiers trying to stay warm with fires. In the winter of 1944 American troops in France and Belgium suffered quiet badly because they didn't have adequate winter uniforms, but the NCOs enforced keeping the campfires down to prevent smoke from giving away positions. It did lead to a lot of frostbite injuries though.
In the east early on the Russians were the only side equipped for the cold, but the Germans adapted by 1943. The Ukrainians are getting winter uniforms now. With the right gear, troops can be out in the field for some time without having to light fires. Additionally the Ukrainians are rotating their troops off the line so nobody needs to be exposed to the cold for too long.
The Russians on the other hand are struggling to give their new recruits any uniforms and will likely be lacking winter uniforms when it gets cold. Without officers or NCOs telling the troops what to do, they will likely be starting camp fires to stay warm and the drones with IR sensors will spot them.
Ukraine might be taking an operational pause now because of the weather, or they might be building up supply and positioning troops for the next move, I'm not sure, but they won't stay in one place through the winter. They will be able to maneuver quite well once the ground starts to freeze. If it does. Last winter it was not cold enough to freeze the ground very hard in northern Ukraine and I don't think it froze at all in the south. The Russians were able to capture ground as fast as they did in the south because the ground was dry enough for tanks in February.
In any case, the Ukrainians have the momentum right now and the Russians don't have the equipment to get it back, nor the trained personnel. They will soon have a lot more bodies on the front lines, but many are going to be looking for an exit ramp from day 1 and none are going to be too enthusiastic about fighting. In the cold weather they will probably be per-occupied with just staying alive.
militaryland.net
