People asked Elon Musk on twitter to deploy Starlink to Turkey and he said he can't because it is not approved.
I wonder why.
I wonder why.
The former (Russia) unilaterally imposed a decision (war) on another government and its people.
The latter (erdogan) is acting in his capacity as the elected representative of the people.
Starlink cannot override the decision of the elected executive. He needs approval for that.
HNer often seem to have this weird idea that companies can take governments head-on.
Was he?
>>Starlink cannot override the decision of the elected executive. He needs approval for that.
Pretty sure he could given the service is in space and Turkey lacks the ability or even really legitimate authority to enforce rules in Low earth orbit.
Elon chooses not to because he has enough hot water with US Politicians than to open up that mess. I bet is more worried but US government reactions here than Turkey;s government
1) Starlink is available on the internationally recognised territory of Ukraine, with the support of the government of Ukraine. The unlawful presence of Russian troops in Ukrainian territory doesn't change any of this. Turkish authorities, conversely, have not authorised Starlink in Turkey (for obvious reasons - their terror at losing their power to censor).
2) Turkey is not a democracy, and to say Erdogan was elected by the people ignores his misuse of state power to suppress, harass, and imprison members of the opposition, his control of the media, his control of the judiciary, his vast corruption, and his meddling - both de jure and de facto - with Turkey's constitution and electoral law. No free election can happen under such circumstances. The trappings of voting do not make for a democracy.
You can't block Starlink signal, it ain't cable in the ground or in sea you can cut at your will.
You can be the "elected representative" of anything if you put everyone else in jail
Same for Chavez. Same for maduro.
The collective can make wrong decisions that doesnt take away from the fact that the laws and its people are sovereign over its territory.
The current mayor of Istanbul is the politician who could win the next presidential election and he's been sentenced to a few years in prison and banned him from politics because he "insulted some elected officials". His crime was actually calling a few people clowns when they recalled for a runoff of the elections he won. He then won the runoff with a wider margin and now has to be taken down somehow.
This "dictator" - from wikipedia:
In the June 2011 elections, Erdoğan's governing party won 327 seats (49.83% of the popular vote) making Erdoğan the only prime minister in Turkey's history to win three consecutive general elections, each time receiving more votes than the previous election. The second party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), received 135 seats (25.94%), the nationalist MHP received 53 seats (13.01%), and the Independents received 35 seats (6.58%).
To be clear, i'm not questioning (nor I have an opinion on) any of your prior Erdogan coloring, except of course the usage of the word "dictator".