Nick Routledge@nick_routledge
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@elonmusk Counting coups with Elon: social media and business interests; democracies and autocrats; satellites and drone warfare; public discourse and censorship; wealth and impunity; geopolitics and getting used to oligarchs.

Copy of tweet and subtweet: Nick Routledge Add a comment? Image of Elon Musk shaking hands with Recep Tayip Erdoğan, both looking at camera. Quote Tweet Elon Musk Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! [Video of Elon Musk entering Twitter HQ, carrying a sink.]
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Copy of tweet and subtweet: Nick Routledge Add a comment? Image of Elon Musk shaking hands with Recep Tayip Erdoğan, both looking at camera. Quote Tweet Elon Musk Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in! [Video of Elon Musk entering Twitter HQ, carrying a sink.]

SpaceX inaugurated the new year by launching Turkey’s Türksat 5A communications satellite. The Turkish government awarded SpaceX the contract to launch both the Türksat 5A and 5B satellites after Musk met with and lavished praise upon Erdoğan in a November 2017 meeting between the two billionaires. To believe that the Turkish government’s goal with its satellite network is to expand broadcasting or simply to improve communications is naïve. Both the Hellenic American Leadership Council and the Armenian National Committee of America have warned that the Türksat 5B has military implications. The Türksat satellites can enable Turkey’s burgeoning drone program to navigate farther with greater accuracy. Turkey (alongside Israel) provided unmanned aircraft and perhaps targeting information in support of Azerbaijan’s assault on Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that has been the subject of dispute for more than a century. The National Interest, August 9, 2021
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SpaceX inaugurated the new year by launching Turkey’s Türksat 5A communications satellite. The Turkish government awarded SpaceX the contract to launch both the Türksat 5A and 5B satellites after Musk met with and lavished praise upon Erdoğan in a November 2017 meeting between the two billionaires. To believe that the Turkish government’s goal with its satellite network is to expand broadcasting or simply to improve communications is naïve. Both the Hellenic American Leadership Council and the Armenian National Committee of America have warned that the Türksat 5B has military implications. The Türksat satellites can enable Turkey’s burgeoning drone program to navigate farther with greater accuracy. Turkey (alongside Israel) provided unmanned aircraft and perhaps targeting information in support of Azerbaijan’s assault on Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that has been the subject of dispute for more than a century. The National Interest, August 9, 2021

The Azerbaijani surprise attack began with simultaneous drone bombardments. This is not simply an Armenian issue. Erdoğan has constructed a Turkish drone base in occupied northern Cyprus, which extends the range of Turkey’s drones. This puts Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Greece and Libya within the flight range of the drones. Also, Americans and Europeans working in the Eastern Mediterranean gas industry will be within that flight range. The satellite SpaceX plans to launch in November will allow Turkey to overcome the challenges of crossing over blue water or navigating poor weather. It also increases the likelihood that Erdoğan might deploy such technology. This is more than supposition. After all, Erdoğan has already gone through the trouble of constructing what the Turkish government calls the Geçitkale Air Base, which is more commonly known as Lefkoniko Airport. The National Interest, August 9, 2021
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The Azerbaijani surprise attack began with simultaneous drone bombardments. This is not simply an Armenian issue. Erdoğan has constructed a Turkish drone base in occupied northern Cyprus, which extends the range of Turkey’s drones. This puts Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Greece and Libya within the flight range of the drones. Also, Americans and Europeans working in the Eastern Mediterranean gas industry will be within that flight range. The satellite SpaceX plans to launch in November will allow Turkey to overcome the challenges of crossing over blue water or navigating poor weather. It also increases the likelihood that Erdoğan might deploy such technology. This is more than supposition. After all, Erdoğan has already gone through the trouble of constructing what the Turkish government calls the Geçitkale Air Base, which is more commonly known as Lefkoniko Airport. The National Interest, August 9, 2021

Copy of two tweets from a thread: Jimmy Wales What Wikipedia did: we stood strong for our principles and fought to the Supreme Court of Turkey and won. This is what it means to treat freedom of expression as a principle rather than a slogan. Quote Tweet Elon Musk Did your brain fall out of your head, Yglesias? The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want? Jimmy Wales If Elon is now saying "We don't care about freedom of expression if it interferes with making money" then he should just say that.
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Copy of two tweets from a thread: Jimmy Wales What Wikipedia did: we stood strong for our principles and fought to the Supreme Court of Turkey and won. This is what it means to treat freedom of expression as a principle rather than a slogan. Quote Tweet Elon Musk Did your brain fall out of your head, Yglesias? The choice is have Twitter throttled in its entirety or limit access to some tweets. Which one do you want? Jimmy Wales If Elon is now saying "We don't care about freedom of expression if it interferes with making money" then he should just say that.