Italy puts Starlink talks on hold after Musk's controversial remarks

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Italy has paused talks with SpaceX regarding Starlink. This decision was made following comments from the company's CEO, American billionaire Elon Musk, reports la Repubblica, citing Italy's Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto.

When asked by a journalist whether the Italian government was still committed to the deal with Starlink, Crosetto replied that "everything has been suspended."

-snip-

Italy's deal with SpaceX

Earlier, it was reported that a potential deal between the Italian government and Starlink had been announced at the beginning of the year. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had been trying to maintain good relations with the administration of the new president, Donald Trump, and directly with Musk.

However, the Italian opposition has recently been actively criticizing the government's intention to sign a major deal with SpaceX. Opposition politicians called for the cancellation of further negotiations. They directly referenced Musk's threats to turn off Starlink for Ukraine, which relies on it for defense against Russian aggression.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/italy-puts-starlink-talks-on-hold-after-musk-s-controversial-remarks/ar-AA1BsN5V

[riversedge]

1. Seems to me that the Iralian people are the smart ones!

[LAS14]

2. What were the comments? I come to DU to get short synopses of important stuff. nt

[Emrys]

3. They're there in the OP:

They directly referenced Musk's threats to turn off Starlink for Ukraine, which relies on it for defense against Russian aggression.

The article elaborates on that synopsis:

Musk hints at disconnecting Starlink in Ukraine

On March 9, billionaire Elon Musk posted a message stating that Starlink is the backbone of the Ukrainian military. He suggested that if he were to disconnect the service, the Ukrainian front would collapse.

Later, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski responded to the tweet, stating that if this happened, Poland would terminate its contract with Musk. He also noted that Poland is paying for Starlink for Ukraine.

For his part, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that no one threatened to cut off Starlink for Ukraine. Responding to Sikorski, he urged him to say thank you because without Starlink, Ukraine would have lost, and Russian troops would have been on the border with Poland.

Later that same day, Musk promised not to disconnect Ukraine from Starlink.

[wryter2000]

4. If he'd shut it off for Ukraine

he'd do it to Italy. Who wants to do business with a company like that?

He's going to run all his companies into the ground.

[MadameButterfly]

11. And Italy would rather not see Putin

invading Europe

[Lulu KC]

5. That is encouraging

I have been hiding from news about Italy for a while because the right-leaning power there depresses me when I don't need help with that, news-wise. Thanks for posting this.

[orangecrush]

6. Smart move.

[Meowmee]

7. Good 👏🏻👏🏻

The US needs to develop better similar alternatives to Starlink.

[Prairie Gates]

8. Good!

[Prairie Gates]

9. Vance tried to sideline Meloni by calling directly to Matteo Salvini on Ukraine

Giorgia Meloni, whatever you might say about her, is a vicious knife-fighter and does not put up with men trying to make end runs around her. They'll probably end up coming back (Musk is revered by the Italian right), but this is a shot across the bow from Meloni: do not fuck around.

[mackdaddy]

10. Musk's Tesla corp can monitor and disable your (their) cars remotely.

What do you think they can do when every byte of you data flows through their equipment?

Somehow 'In Elon we Trust' is not exactly a thing.

[MadameButterfly]

12. I hope no one in the world will do business with Elon

in the end. The man who would be king could lose everything.

This is what I think about to make me happy.