Zelensky awards Elon Musk Ukraine’s Order of Freedom — one of the country’s highest honors
https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/08/26/zelensky-awards-elon-musk-ukraine-s-order-of-freedom-one-of-the-country-s-highest-honorsOpen linkView original on lemmy.today
11 replies
As much as I dislike Elon, starlink is currently or has been at some point the backbone of Ukraines fpv drone program. Starlink even removed Russian ips and made them resort to back channels to even acquire dishes due to sanction enforcement. I would argue the company, under Elons direction, has picked a side to support and it's been decisive. From that perspective, I can see why they'd give an award to the dude.
I still think Elon is a trash human being.
I agree that's exactly why they did it. As the article says, they want to persuade him to let them use starlink for striking targets inside Russia. There's no better way to appease and narcissist.
at one point should we wake up and realize Elon Musk does not own the rights to the Earth orbit.
He cut Starlink for Russian military - what did Zelenskyy pay for that? It could easily reverse next week if Putin gives him something he wants.
As credible as the FIFA Peace Medal. Pretty sad.
I wonder if prestigious awards ever meant anything. These days it just looks like awards are being used to court nazi narcissists so they don't actively work against the award-givers.
People have been saying for a while that Ukraine is being run by nazis.
Note: this doesn't make putin a good guy.
Do you have any sources for that?
Everywhere?
I mean not if you only subscribe to US mainstream media. But even there, it's so prevalent and problematic that the NYT had to confront it.
Though ofc they say these soldiers simply "don't understand how these symbols are viewed outside Ukraine". As if these white soldiers who grew up a day's drive from the heart of the Nazis, under the generations who directly experienced then, are simply mistaken as to the meaning of the goddamn SS bolts, totenkopf, and black sun.
It is insane that the US is still so steeped in white supremacy that the media can look at a military so soaked in Nazi shit that it shows up in official photos, and say "it's complicated". Then, it's insane again that the people themselves just brush it off. But that is just how America has always been.
https://archive.is/UJGRJ
It's pretty obvious from the communities I run, including this one, that I don't subscribe to mainstream media, except maybe The Guardian.
I was wondering what your sources were since one of the main places I hear discourse on Nazi's in Ukraine is here, but usually people point me toward Russian propaganda sites.
Either way, I appreciate the article.
My semi-informed opinion is that the Ukranian military does have a far-right problem that extends to politics. They're in a tough position between acknowledging the problem and playing into Russians naratives. I'm not convinced Ukraine is run by nazis though. I'm open to learning more because that's one of my blindspots when it comes to world news.
Oh shit, hi Wren. Happy to oblige.
No love for Russia here. I think all the big players are gross. Further, I understand it's just a prerequisite for having that kind of influence. Though I certainly fall for propaganda from time to time, no one being immune.
Thank you for sharing your perspective. I probably have about the same level of information as you, but I've had plenty of experience with nazis. I've learned that like cockroaches, if you see just one, there are hundreds more nearby that you can't see. So, it's obviously deeply embedded in a significant fraction of the troops.
I've also seen the American military with a very close eye in my life, and I assume a lot of the same subtle power structures exist. Especial since I learned about the white supremacy in Ukraine. Therefore I think that if the Ukrainian "Nazi problem" doesn't have its teeth in leadership, it is at the least only a few key changes away from it.
If I hit a streak of focus and jump down this rabbit hole again, I'll be sure to post you up some links here.
Hey there.
Yeah, I'm on the same page. I haven't had much experience around the American military, but I grew up in the Canadian one, who mainly pride themselves on not being American, at least from what I've seen. But right wing ideology penetrates the armed forces anywhere.
Yeah, I'd love to see more media on here, especially about politics and history in eastern Europe.