Musk makes U-turn on Starlink for Ukraine
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has made an abrupt U-turn on his decision to stop funding Ukraine's use of the Starlink satellite communication service, where it has been actively used by Kiev's troops.
Earlier, SpaceX reportedly asked the Pentagon to cover the cost of the internet service for Ukraine, which could amount to $400 million over the next year.
“We’ll just keep funding Ukraine government for free,” Musk tweeted on Saturday, “even though Starlink is still losing money and other companies are getting billions of taxpayer dollars.”
On Thursday, CNN obtained a letter in which Musk supposedly informed the Pentagon that his company is “not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine, or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.”
SpaceX has donated around 20,000 Starlink satellite units to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict with Russia in late February, providing internet access in chaotic battleground areas that would otherwise be cut off.
Kiev has hailed the satellites as an “essential part of critical infrastructure,” while urging SpaceX to send thousands more. Musk previously stated that SpaceX will end up spending more than $100 million providing Starlink services to Ukraine by the end of the year. However, the company reportedly acknowledged that most of the units it sent to Ukraine were partially or fully funded by the American, British, and Polish governments.
SpaceX also recently came under fire over alleged Starlink outages across some regions of Ukraine, described by some troops as a “catastrophic” loss of communications, according to the Financial Times.
This took place following a spat between Musk and Kiev’s former ambassador to Germany, Andrey Melnik. The diplomat, who became well known for insulting German officials, told Musk to “f**k off” after the billionaire put forward a peace plan for Ukraine that involved Kiev committing to neutrality and dropping its claim on Crimea. Musk then said he was simply following Melnik’s advice when he decided to withdraw Starlink funding for Ukraine.
11 Oct, 2022 22:14
NATO once ‘lost’ drone under Nord Stream – Gazprom
The US-led NATO military bloc once managed to “lose” an armed underwater drone right under the Nord Stream pipeline, a Gazprom spokesman has claimed.
“On November 6, 2015, a NATO underwater mine destroyer ‘Seafox’ was discovered during a scheduled visual inspection of the Nord Stream gas pipeline,” Sergey Kupriyanov told Rossiya 24 on Monday.
The device was found resting on the seabed at a depth of 40m between the Nord Stream pipelines, almost directly under one of them, Kupriyanov said. The incident, which received limited media coverage at the time, prompted a brief halt in gas deliveries, while the drone was ultimately recovered by the Swedish military.
Back then, the US-led bloc said it had “lost” the device during military drills, the spokesman claimed. The German-made drone carries a 1.4kg shaped-charge warhead, which is intended for destroying sunken unexploded munitions and mines, according to publicly available data.
“That’s NATO drills for you, when a military-grade explosive device ends up straight under our pipeline,” Kupriyanov concluded.
The remarks come in the aftermath of the apparent sabotage attacks on the Nord Stream pipeline system. The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines both abruptly lost pressure on September 26, following a series of powerful underwater explosions off the Danish island of Bornholm. The ruptures caused massive gas leaks into the open sea and rendered the pipelines inoperable.
While Moscow has called for an international – with its own participation – probe into the incident, other parties appear to be reluctant to carry out such an investigation. Sweden, for instance, has already explicitly stated it will not share the results of its investigation into the explosion with Moscow.
“In Sweden, our preliminary investigations are confidential, and that, of course, also applies in this case,” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson told reporters on Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has already blamed the “the Anglo-Saxons,” a Russian colloquialism for the US-UK alliance, of being behind the blasts, which Moscow described as an “act of international terrorism.” Speaking during a meeting of the Russian Security Council on Monday, Putin said that “we all know well who the ultimate beneficiary of this crime is.”
11 Oct, 2022 09:03
Sweden will not share Nord Stream probe findings with Russia – PM
Sweden will not share the results of its investigation into the explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in late September with Russia, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has said.
The Swedish authorities say they have found evidence that points to sabotage. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow already knows who the main beneficiary of the attack is.
Speaking to journalists on Monday, Andersson explained that “In Sweden, our preliminary investigations are confidential, and that, of course, also applies in this case.”
She noted, however, that Russia can conduct its own probe at the site if it so wishes, as Stockholm has removed cordons from the area.
“The Swedish economic zone is not a territory that Sweden disposes of,” Andersson clarified.
Her counterpart in Moscow, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, urged Stockholm to allow Russian authorities and state-owned energy giant Gazprom to participate in the investigation.
Commenting on the situation during a meeting of the Russian Security Council on Monday, President Vladimir Putin said that despite the denial of access to the investigation, “we all know well who the ultimate beneficiary of this crime is.”
Earlier, Putin accused “the Anglo-Saxons,” a Russian colloquialism for the US-UK alliance, of being behind what Moscow described as an “act of international terrorism.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed the attack as a “tremendous opportunity” for Europe “to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy.”
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines abruptly lost pressure on September 26, following a series of powerful underwater explosions off the Danish island of Bornholm. The ruptures led to massive gas leaks and made them inoperable.
https://www.rt.com/news/564149-german-police-infrastructure-sabotage/
6 Oct, 2022 11:28
German police believe Nord Stream blasts were ‘targeted sabotage’ – Spiegel
German police believe that state actors were likely behind the recent explosions that damaged the Russian Nord Stream natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. They also warned that more attacks on energy infrastructure might follow, Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday.
The German magazine cited a letter it obtained, sent by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) to industry representatives. The document described the breaches in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines as “targeted sabotage” and suggested that the perpetrators were likely agents of an unidentified country. The agency cited the “high complexity” of the operation’s preparation and execution.
Three of the four strings of the Nord Stream pipelines were ruptured last week, with deliberate sabotage widely accepted as the most likely scenario.
The BKA also believes further action, “in a quantitatively and, potentially, qualitatively increased form,” may be in the making, Spiegel reported. The law enforcement agency named crucial energy infrastructure such as offshore terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG), wind turbines, power lines and undersea internet cables as possible targets.
The Nord Stream routes were designed to carry Russian natural gas directly to Germany, bypassing transit states including Ukraine and Poland.
Moscow has said the US, a long-time critic of Germany’s reliance on Russian energy, stood to benefit most from the disabling of the routes, both politically and economically. American-supplied LNG has taken over much of the market share previously held by cheaper Russian pipeline fuel, since the EU decided to impose trade restrictions on Russia in retaliation for its military offensive in Ukraine.
Washington has denied any involvement in the damage to Nord Stream. Critics of Russia have suggested Moscow itself may have blown up the pipelines, to put pressure on the EU.
Neither pipeline was operational at the time of the breach. Berlin refused to certify the newer Nord Stream 2 after its completion last year, and Russia halted supplies via the older Nord Stream 1 in late August, citing sanctions-induced maintenance problems.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/1GRaG2Pg4HU6/
False Flag Weekly News (15 October 2022) with Dr James Fetzer
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