Two weeks ago, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he’d struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply the world with millions of tonnes of Russian diesel. It stunned Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said he felt betrayed. Trump responded by saying it was time for “Ukraine to get a new president.”
Soon after, Ukraine said its access to SpaceX’s military-grade version of Starlink called Starshield was throttled. Their drones slowed to a near halt and they were no longer able to intercept all of Russia’s attacks as Russia hammered Ukrainian energy facilities and civilian areas.
Ukraine blamed the White House. The White House denied it. The Wall Street Journal reported Elon Musk gave the order. He denied it too. But the incident raised questions about the implications of the world’s richest man exercising that kind of power.
Sharon Weinberger is a longtime national security reporter and the author of several books including her latest, 'Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War'. She joins us to unpack what’s happening with this Starlink debacle and the consequences of Silicon Valley's ever growing role in global conflict.
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