Janos Honkonen 🏳️‍🌈♿

Writer, Narrative Designer. Wrote a novel, some games, award winning short stories, comics etc. Nazi punks fuck off. They/them🏳️‍🌈♿

[Janos Honkonen 🏳️‍🌈♿ @vornaskotti]

This is me in Bluesky!

https://t.co/FoxAxNctqF

[Janos Honkonen 🏳️‍🌈♿ @vornaskotti]

I logged in for the first time in ages to check this thread and the allegations that the likes keep mysteriously vanishing. I was a bit skeptical about the latter, but holy shit, it took 10 minutes for the first one of mine to vanish. So how ‘bout that free speech fundamentalism?

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce a South African-American(!) businessman and social media figure, Elon Musk (@elonmusk). He's best-known for being the wealthiest man in the world, running Tesla Inc., SpaceX & Twitter, and for parroting Kremlin's propaganda narratives.

1/24

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

APPENDIX: Allegedly the service advertised as free isn't actually free at all. Some receipts on this here:

https://t.co/ToorNbAfqz

Can any Ukrainians confirm or deny this? Are you paying the monthly fee for Starlink?

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

Support my work: https://t.co/QgUl6jpNNe
Subscribe for my upcoming YouTube channel: https://t.co/1gnCOdcGoa
Past soups: https://t.co/9k5rQx4cgb

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

I want to thank Jakub Janovsky aka @Rebel44CZ for providing his expertise and help on this topic.

22/22

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

.."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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

...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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

...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:

https://t.co/uXnvlJ9tDP

13/22

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

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

[Vatnik Soup @P_Kallioniemi]

...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