The other day, I noted that we are governed by adolescents—the adolescents then provided me with evidence this is so. Elon Musk said that he would not turn on Starlink so the Ukrainians could launch a drone-induced “Pearl Harbor” on the Russian fleet in Sevastopol—he judged the Ukrainians might provoke WWIII.
As few days later, the Ukrainians used Storm Shadow missiles to hit Sevastopol and destroy a Russian landing ship and a Russian submarine in dry dock—a substantial hit.
This was done purely to spite Musk, presumably to “prove” that such an attack would not cause WWIII; and also that, therefore, Musk is a “traitor” (even though no war has been declared, and we just wage a para-war on Russia—deniable, as ever).
That’s adolescent behaviour. Dad says not to go out in the snow drift in your shorts because you’ll get cold, but you put on your fashionable shorts anyway (because you wouldn’t want to look like a saddo duh) and slam the door on your way out. When you come back, two hours later, with your teeth chattering, and you’re asked, “How did that go?” you stutter, “Fine,” (even though it obviously wasn’t) and slam your bedroom door behind you.
Well I proved him wrong, anyway!
What has this to do with winning the war in Ukraine? Nothing. It’s got nothing to do with it—it’s just to prove a spiteful point. Because we’re run by spiteful, envious adolescents who just care about how things look.
As it happens, to achieve “the look” they killed some Russians who wouldn’t have died otherwise and risked the lives of some Ukrainian pilots who might have been used to win the war—but at least they showed him! Fuck you, Dad! See, literally NOTHING happened! Duh!
And that’s how our governments work, largely.
It would be poetic justice if this strike led the Russians to some massive retaliation that sparked WWIII (in principle, the Russians said that if such an attack happened they would hit “decision-making centres” in Ukraine—well, we’ll see).
History has definite ironic movements, the gods have a sense of humour—unfortunately, it’s rarely that direct; so it probably will not spark WWIII—but you never know; and, if it does, it will all be down to a fit of pique to “show Elon was wrong”—which would be a pretty stupid reason to start a world war (though exactly what a teenager would do).
As an aside, perhaps Musk shouldn’t have given the Ukrainians Starlink in the first place—you should go all in with these things, never be lukewarm (Dante); and to give the Ukrainians the kit but then put conditions on it lengthens the war by making it ineffective—and leads to just these “can I have the car keys, Dad?” situations.
Besides, it’s like giving teenagers a bottle of vodka and saying, “Don’t drink it all at once,” but then, when you come back an hour later, you find they’ve attacked Sevastopol with it (if you see what I mean).
In fact, Musk has provided concrete aid to Ukraine—it makes him more pro-Ukraine than most people; but the regime works on appearances, and if you ruffle their narcissistic feathers you’ll be painted as “the demon Hitler” and they’ll start to rumble about nationalising all your companies.
It’s said they’d never do that, they’re “too smart” to do that (too cold, supposedly)—but remember, they just bombed a city and killed people because “Elon’s words made me hurty, so now I’m going to show him—fuck you, Elon!”. So if you think they wouldn’t try to nationalise SpaceX, you’re deluded—hell, they’re throwing Trump in jail for nothing right now. Wake up.