The world is going wrong

10-03-2025 20:08 – Analisys by Ciro Maddaloni

Starlink

President USA . D. Trump

GD -Rome, 10 Mar. 25 – It happened that the Swiss, certainly not sailors, won the America’s Cup, the most prestigious and oldest sailing competition, in 2003 and 2007. It happened that for over a decade Tiger Woods, a black man, was the world icon of golf. It happened that Eminem, a young white man, has prevailed in “rap” for over twenty years, a genre of music dominated mainly by young black singers.
But what happened recently at the UN certainly surpasses all the strangeness to which the crazy life on this planet has accustomed us. At the United Nations General Assembly, the USA voted together with Belarus, Mali, Nicaragua, North Korea and Hungary, in favor of Russia. It is the first time that the USA has voted differently from its traditional allies in the European Union, Japan and Canada: it had never happened before and no one could have imagined it before.
Even worse has happened: in recent days, entrepreneur Elon Musk threatened to shut down the strategic StarLink satellite service offered to Ukraine by Poland, triggering an unprecedented clash between Musk and Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski. This is absolutely incomprehensible for ordinary citizens, because Elon Musk has thus lost the entire European market in one fell swoop, with a single sentence. While previously the use of the StarLink service was being considered as a backup system for European defense, now Musk’s company will have no chance of making service contracts throughout Europe.

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Musk has also dealt a mortal blow to the entire American arms industry, because now many are starting to wonder: what will happen with all the defense systems supplied by the Americans?
For example, the famous F35 aircraft – Joint Strike Fighter – 5th generation single-seat multi-role fighters, are supplied by Lockheed Martin with a maintenance contract included, essential to guarantee the ability of the aircraft to continue operating. What would Lockheed do, as an American company, if its government ordered it to stop providing maintenance and to end commercial relations with European countries? This is the question that many analysts are asking and which currently remains unanswered.
The British secret services and the technicians in charge have tried to verify whether these defense systems hide the so-called “kill switches”, systems that allow a device to be deactivated remotely, rendering it unusable.
But the reality is that it is not even known whether British intelligence, assuming it could find these “kill switches”, could overcome them to allow the British to take over the maintenance of these very expensive defense systems.
It is true that many parts contained in the F35 and other US defense systems are of European, British, Italian, German production. But the question remains unanswered because, simply, it is not possible to ascertain whether these systems can be rendered unusable remotely.
The reality is that even the people who should know both in Europe and in the US are not able to give a certain answer to this question.
If the US president can force an American company like Lockheed Martin to end its commercial and technical relations with a country, or an entire geographical area, it creates an unprecedented risk.
When America was a “solid” ally, it was a more than hypothetical risk for America’s allies, therefore, Great Britain, Australia, Japan, Norway and other countries considered it an acceptable risk. However, since a person with different ideas from the past can always arrive in the White House, who is more interested in Russia’s affairs than in NATO’s, then this risk becomes reality.
It means that the high technology of the American arms industry is now too risky to be purchased by any of America’s former allies.
The problem is much broader, because the risk envisaged does not only concern “defense systems”. It also concerns the world of software in general.
What would happen if Oracle or Microsoft were ordered to “deactivate” all their installations in Europe?
Forget about problems of hacker attacks and cybersecurity… We are, as they say, in the hands of the good Lord.

Ciro Maddaloni

International eGovernment expert

he world is facing numerous challenges that can make it feel like things are going wrong. Environmental crises, social inequalities, political conflicts, and economic instability are just a few of the pressing issues. However, it’s essential to remember that progress and positive change are always possible. By working together, fostering empathy, and taking proactive steps, humanity has the capacity to address these problems and create a better future for all.

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