Time was when dominance of the networks of global trade turned on the firepower of mighty navies and the control of vital waterways. These days it’s increasingly about who supplies your broadband.
In the eyes of many governments, Starlink — Elon Musk’s internet satellite company — is increasingly indivisible from US foreign policy. Musk wants to negotiate with the president of Italy (probably the wrong person, he’ll need the prime minister) amid the government’s doubts about buying a military communications system from him. Doug Ford, the pugnacious premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, has ripped up a Starlink contract in retaliation for US tariffs on Canada.
Most urgently, as President Donald Trump threatens to abandon the western alliance, European governments are alarmed at the Ukrainian armed forces’ reliance on Starlink for communications and combat.