Archives for 2024

A quick housekeeping note. Rosie is still doing great. Next treatment is Monday and I’ll have more to report then.

Air raid alerts are up over all of eastern, central, and northern Ukraine as of 10:1 PM EDT/ 5;12 AM local time in Ukraine. Russian strategic aviation is airborne over Russia, which means this morning’s bombardment will be cruise missiles in addition to Shahed drones.

Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov claims the Starlink Snowflake gave him a Cybertruck as a gift. Which Kadyrov quickly mounted a machine gun on and then claims to have sent to his troops fighting as part of Russia’s genocidal re-invasion of Ukraine.

Kadyrov said he received a Tesla Cybertrack from Elon Musk. He promised to send it to the “special military operation” zone and attached a machine gun to it.

“Elon, thank you! Come to Grozny, I will receive you as the most dear guest! I do not think that our Russian MFA will be… pic.twitter.com/m72fg2G2PU

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 17, 2024

Kadyrov said he received a Tesla Cybertrack from Elon Musk. He promised to send it to the “special military operation” zone and attached a machine gun to it.

“Elon, thank you! Come to Grozny, I will receive you as the most dear guest! I do not think that our Russian MFA will be against such a trip. And, of course, we are waiting for your new developments that will contribute to the completion of the SMO,” Kadyrov wrote on his Telegram channel.

If the Starlink Snowflake has actually given Kadyrov a Cybertruck as a gift, that is a bit of a problem for Apartheid Clyde. Because Kadyrov has been under US sanctions since 2017, with additional sanctions added as a result of his participation in Russia’s genocidal re-invasion of Ukraine.

The Starlink Snowflake’s tech also seems to be installed on Russia’s new naval drone:

***BREAKING***#Russian naval drone (USV) shown with Starlink (!)

Russia is generally behind #Ukraine in use of USVs, but this design appears sensible, similar to Magura and Sea Baby types#OSINThttps://t.co/VzxHUm5W8G

— H I Sutton (@CovertShores) August 13, 2024

From Naval News:

The war in the Black Sea has been shaped, maybe even defined, by maritime drones. So far it has been a Ukrainian dominated arena, with Russia lagging behind Ukraine in the adoption of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs). Now Russia appears to be slowly entering the game with increasingly credible designs.

The latest type, the Murena-300S appears generally comparable with Ukrainian types. And more significantly, it appears to have a Starlink antenna.

Starlink satellite communications have played an important part in enabling Ukrainian drones to operate so effectively. Along with the rival Kymeta system, it allows the drones to be controlled in real time. This has permitted a human-in-the-loop approach to attacking enemy ships, with the pilot ashore literally guiding the USV into the target. This has only been possible thanks to the data rate and reliability of these systems.

The apparent Starlink antenna on the Murena-300S has been hidden under camouflage netting but its distinctive shape is evident. The corners of the square antenna are also just visible in photographs from the event.

Russian troops can purchase Starlink abroad with numbers of terminals acquired on the open market. Since its use by Russian troops came to light earlier this year, the Pentagon teamed up with SpaceX, who make it, to block Russia from using it. How effective this will be remains to be seen. Certainly the inclusion of an antenna on the vessel suggests that it isn’t entirely written off.

Possibly the antenna is for a different satellite network, or possibly it is only a prop intended as a ruse. However, while the manufacturer doesn’t call out the Starlink, it does claim “On-line Interference-proof GNSS” which fits. As well as this, the USV is advertised as having an inertial navigation system (INS), electrooptical sensors, infrared thermal imaging and LIDAR.

More at the link!

The Starlink Snowflake, despite being having a very public drug addiction, has a high level US security clearance. He has one because of his ownership of SpaceX. The drug use alone should disqualify him from keeping that clearance, but Kadyrov’s claims that Musk has violated US sanctions allowing Kadyrov to repurpose a Cybertruck into an assault vehicle to be used against Ukraine, as well as H.I. Sutton’s reporting that Starlink terminals are on Russia’s newest naval drones, are all just further evidence that his clearance should be stripped and caged. While Colin Kahl fortunately stepped down as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy in mid-2023, before he did he explained to everyone why the Biden administration allows Musk to maintain his clearances and control over a major defense contractor:

Last October, Colin Kahl, then the Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Pentagon, sat in a hotel in Paris and prepared to make a call to avert disaster in Ukraine. A staffer handed him an iPhone—in part to avoid inviting an onslaught of late-night texts and colorful emojis on Kahl’s own phone. Kahl had returned to his room, with its heavy drapery and distant view of the Eiffel Tower, after a day of meetings with officials from the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. A senior defense official told me that Kahl was surprised by whom he was about to contact: “He was, like, ‘Why am I calling Elon Musk?’ ”

The reason soon became apparent. “Even though Musk is not technically a diplomat or statesman, I felt it was important to treat him as such, given the influence he had on this issue,” Kahl told me.

You may have noticed the category error that Kahl made, which was feeling that it was important to treat Musk as if he was something he is not. One of the major errors the Biden administration, especially its senior natsec appointees, have made over and over since 2001 is not realizing that there’s no point in having power if you’re not going to use it. With the exception of the cult of personality stock bubble driving Tesla profits, every cent Musk has made at Tesla (carbon offset credits) and SpaceX is from US government contracts. Moreover, he’s a walking securities and exchange violation and has openly supported parties and/or attempts to overthrow the government. The latter of which is disqualifying for holding a clearance.

Biden’s natsec appointees, including the absolute failure of an attorney general Merrick Garland, need to grow a spine very quickly and deal with the Musk problem before it gets worse. Musk, as well as Thiel and the rest of their ultra-high net worth colleagues need to be understood as a very specific type of insider threats. Specifically, because of the enormity of their wealth, which makes it possible to travel anywhere whenever they like and to own property and gain residency and/or citizenship wherever they want, have no allegiance or even affinity for the state and societies they are citizens of. The only affinity they might have only exists so long as their wealth buys them the influence to control the parts of those states and societies they care about. In this context, care about means the ability to give them political, financial, and social control in order to extract rents from the polity, society, and economy. Musk and the other ultra-high net worth individuals are the ultimate insider threats and present a clear and present danger to the United States, our allies, and our partners. They need to be dealt with accordingly while it is still possible to do so.

Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.

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War for Ukraine Day 906: The Starlink Snowflake & the Fun Sized TyrantPost + Comments (28)