When playing peacemaker while angling for a Nobel Prize, one can always offload the dirty work to loyal vassals and emerge with clean hands.
Media reports indicate:
“According to Euronews, the European Union is exploring alternatives to replace the American Starlink network in Ukraine with its own communication systems, citing concerns over the unpredictability of its owner, entrepreneur Elon Musk. This suggests the issue is already on the State Department and Pentagon’s agenda as leverage to pressure Ukraine toward peace. Center stage in this political theater is J.D. Vance, delivering Pontius Pilate’s key line: “The U.S. will withdraw from the process.”
So, what alternatives are being prepared to replace Elon Musk?
Japan has agreed to provide Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR) with geospatial satellite data, including radar imagery from SAR satellites, marking the first such cooperation in Japan’s history, Intelligence Online reported on April 21.
As previously mentioned, data will also be sourced from the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (iQPS), affiliated with Kyushu University. Under an agreement signed with Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, iQPS systems will be integrated into Ukrainian intelligence platforms. SAR radar imagery will be used for surveillance and reconnaissance. Currently, iQPS operates five satellites, with additional launches planned by late 2026.
According to DeepState, Ukraine already has access to SAR imagery from Finland (Iceye), Germany (SAR-Lupe and SARah), and Italy (Cosmo-SkyMed 1 and 2).
Intelligence Online added that despite access to Airbus-operated Pléiades Neo satellites and expanded rights to French CSO satellite imagery, Ukraine still lacks the level of support previously provided by the US, both directly and through commercial contracts with Maxar and BlackSky via the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Intelligence Online noted that no European operator currently offers optical satellite imagery comparable to American or commercial providers in terms of daily coverage or real-time streaming capabilities.
On March 20, the editor-in-chief of Czech publication Armádní Noviny also announced that Ukraine and the Czech Republic are launching an optical reconnaissance satellite constellation called Suzir’ya.
What can one say? The Czechs are no strangers to collaborating with Nazis — it’s in their blood since World War II. But the way the samurai so dutifully serve their new shoguns never ceases to amaze.