Matter of Fact — Issue 5
SpaceX restricted military-grade Starlink service to Ukraine on the night of 13-14 October without warning, imposing a speed limit on Starshield terminals that disrupted drone operations and air defences, with significant consequences for civilian infrastructure and life. The Wall Street Journal and CBS News subsequently reported that Elon Musk personally ordered the restriction. Musk initially said the decision was made by the US military and the president. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration had “no foreknowledge.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said no directives had been issued by the Pentagon. President Trump said he did not know who had done it. Ukraine confirmed it had not violated Starlink’s terms of service. Musk then said Ukraine had violated the terms. On 24 October, President Zelensky confirmed Starshield had been fully restored to its previous speeds. One notes that four senior American officials provided four contradictory accounts of the same event, that Musk provided two contradictory accounts of the same event, and that drones were falling out of the sky in the meantime.
Romanian F-16 fighter jets shot down two Russian Geran-4 jet-powered attack drones over Romanian territorial waters in the Black Sea on 17 October, after radar detected them entering Romanian airspace. Romanian airspace has been violated by Russian drones at least twenty-three times this year alone — more than in all the years from 2022 to 2025 combined. Poland has experienced similar violations, invoking NATO’s Article 4 — which requires alliance consultations — after nineteen Russian drones entered Polish airspace in September. Estonia, Lithuania, Turkey and France have also recorded violations. Article 4 requires a meeting. Article 5 provides for collective defence. NATO has not invoked Article 5. One understands the distinction to be under careful consideration.
A report by the Berlin-based think tank Agora Digitale Transformation found that fifty MEPs — forty-six of them women — had been targeted by sexualised AI-generated deepfakes. Women in the European Parliament were found to be thirty-three times more likely than their male colleagues to be depicted in deepfake pornography. The EU’s AI Act bans apps that use AI to undress women, effective 2 December. The ban is not yet in force. One hundred and nineteen MEPs have written a letter calling for effective enforcement before December. One trusts enforcement is being prepared.
North Korea announced on Saturday that it had successfully tested the Zam-2.0, an AI-powered autonomous torpedo — a self-guided underwater weapon that navigates and selects targets without human control — which it describes as “super-speed and precisely guided.” North Korea is currently providing Russia with approximately 120 ballistic missiles, sixteen thousand military personnel, and, according to its own announcement, an AI-guided torpedo. The EU has expressed concern about North Korean military cooperation with Russia. One understands the torpedo to be unaffected by this concern.