Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski lent credence to rumors that Elon Musk might cut Ukraine off from Starlink by threatening that his country, which pays $50 million a year for its neighbor’s use of this indispensable military communication service, will look for other suppliers if needed. That provoked Musk to tell him, “Be quiet, small man. You pay a tiny fraction of the cost. And there is no substitute for Starlink”, after which Secretary of State Marco Rubio then jumped into the fray.
America’s top diplomat told his Polish counterpart, “Just making things up. No one has made any threats about cutting Ukraine off from Starlink And say thank you because without Starlink Ukraine would have lost this war long ago and Russians would be on the border with Poland right now.” Sikorski meekly responded by posting, “Thank you, Marco, for confirming that the brave soldiers of Ukraine can count on the vital internet service provided jointly by the US and Poland.”
He added that, “Together, Europe and the United States can help Ukraine to achieve a just peace.” This spat could have ended there but then Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on Monday that “True leadership means respect for partners and allies. Even for the smaller and weaker ones. Never arrogance. Dear friends, think about it.” This was an obvious swipe at Trump 2.0, particularly Musk and Rubio, for putting Sikorski in his place even though he deserved it.
Sikorski behaved undiplomatically by breathing life into those rumors when he should have first checked with Rubio before publicly addressing them, thus suggesting that he either reacted emotionally without thinking this through or he deliberately wanted to create a scandal. He, Tusk, and their ilk previously made defamatory statements about Trump prior to last year’s election by smearing him as a “proto-fascist” and even a “Russian spy”, which were documented here and analyzed here.
It therefore can’t be ruled out that Sikorski did indeed intend to discredit Trump’s pragmatic approach to Ukraine, particularly his decision to cut off its military and intelligence aid, by taking for granted that the rumors about Musk plotting to do the same with Starlink were true and publicly reacting accordingly. His motivation might have been to signal to Poland’s peers with whom it’s competing for leadership of post-conflict Europe that the ruling liberal-globalist coalition will stand up to the US in support of Ukraine.
Sikorski and Tusk, who are respectively Anglophiles and Germanophiles, prioritize relations with the UK and the German-led EU over their country’s strategic partnership with the US. This is in spite of Poland being poised to become the US’ top partner in Europe if it plays its cards right, which is still possible with the ruling liberal-globalists even if they win May’s presidential election but much more likely if the conservative or populist candidate wins instead. This insight places Sikorski’s post into context.
He arguably wanted to make it seem like the US is unilaterally reneging on a commercial contract of national security significance for Ukraine as a favor to Russia, thus casting more doubts about its reliability as an ally and consequently worsening the transatlantic rift. Musk and Rubio therefore swiftly put Sikorski in his place so as to deter other Foreign Ministers from doing anything similar in the future with the unfriendly aim of further worsening the US’ already tense ties with the EU and NATO.
