It's the difference between action and inaction. It's a tremendous difference.
It's the difference between holding someone guilty of committing a crime and charging them with something they literally didn't do.
It's a world of difference.
@volkris
This is not a simple case of failing to deliver data, it is a case of taking administrative action to shut off data delivery. That action delivered value to the Russians, much as transmitting economic value (electronic money transfer) would deliver value to the Russians. Yet funds, data transactions, are being withheld under pain of sanctions.
But that's just factually false. They didn't deliver value to the Russians; they didn't deliver value to anyone; the complaint is over the lack of delivering value in that moment.
Again, you asked what the difference is, and that's the answer: something vs nothing, a world of difference.
A number of Musk's operations qualify him as a defense contractor. He's heavily subsidized by public funding. Realistically, what level of foreign policy obstruction is the US expected to tolerate from a defense contractor? I'm wondering if you'd apply the same reasoning to Boeing or General Dynamics if they intentionally sabotaged a NATO supported ally.
It may be a "world of difference" to you but in its real-world effects it's a distinction without a difference.
@volkris @JoeChip
"Not doing something" is called "neglect" & is the subject of legal prosecutions.
Semantics aside, Musk revoked coverage of a geography and refused to restore it. If some US-based munitions corporation sold arms to Putin, we would be up in arms. What if a pharma company refused to send key medicines to Ukraine? What is different about administrative actons by a private corporation that run contrary to US foreign policy? What about the funding of Musk by US government?
No, the biographer who's served as the primary source for this said that it was never enabled.
I don't know why msn didn't include that really important detail, but they also don't seem to have countered even Musk's own claim.
https://twitter.com/WalterIsaacson/status/1700342242290901361
@volkris @JoeChip
The primary source has shifted to be Elon himself and he appears to acknowledge the events. There are multiple reports of this (shift & acknowledgement) and one link is below.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/musk-says-he-prevented-ukraine-from-launching-attack-on-russian-ships/ar-AA1grkIT