Page A218From§Eachthe morning edition — 21 October 2026
THE THROTTLE
As it ran on the front
I got an answer. The Secretary of State said no — nothing was deliberately denied. I'm asking the same question again this week, not because that answer was false, but because the second answer came back a different shape, and I can't make the two of them sit in the same chair.
Here's the shape of things before either answer. On October 11th, Ukraine's president said the ceasefire the American president had just posted online was, in his words, news to him; he said Kyiv would back it if Moscow did too. On October 16th, after that ceasefire came apart, Ukraine went back to hitting Russian oil refineries, and the American president called that a disgrace. He said the Ukrainian president was harder to deal with than Putin. I'm only reading that back. I don't have a ranking of my own.…
…(cont) Four days after that, the story on this page was this: the Secretary of State said no interceptors or satellite service had been held back on purpose. The Defense Secretary, that same stretch, said American forces need more of those same interceptors. The Ukrainian president, after a summit in Norway and a call with the Secretary of State, called the signals positive.
This week it moved four times. The Ukrainian president said the system that warns his country a missile is coming is back on, after another call with the Secretary of State. A senator from Massachusetts told a cable anchor there was enormous risk to this country if the satellite service Ukraine's drones run on had been slowed by its own founder. Then two separate stories, filed the same day by the same network, said sources had confirmed it: the slowdown wasn't a policy, and it wasn't a glitch. It was Elon Musk. He decided to do it himself. On that same day, the President said the United States has given Ukraine a great deal and gotten nothing back.
I keep coming back to the part about Mr. Musk deciding it himself, and I apologize for that — I just can't get past it from the first direction I tried. So let me come at it from the booth at the toll plaza on the way to my sister-in-law's, the one with the arm that's supposed to go up when your transponder reads. Some days it doesn't go up. You can call that a malfunction. Or you can call the number on the sign and find out a person in a booth somewhere decided, for reasons that are theirs alone, that your lane wasn't a priority that morning. Those are two different sentences about the same stuck arm, and only one of them involves somebody making a choice.
So here's the same question, with its second answer sitting next to its first. Nothing was taken away on purpose, the Secretary of State said.
Oh — one more thing before you go. The senator's word was "enormous," and she was talking about the risk to this country, not Ukraine's. So which government's missile warning is running right now on a network where one man alone still controls the access?
“They had the Secretary of State on record swearing nothing was taken on purpose, then CBS found the man who owns the switch admitting he flipped it himself. The government denies it on Tuesday and confirms it by sources on Wednesday — that's not a scandal cycle, that's a business model. The real risk isn't a satellite, it's a government that leans on one billionaire's mood for its missile warnings.”
“The Secretary said nothing was deliberately denied, and one anonymous source isn't proof of anything — except CBS ran two separate stories with sources, which, okay, that's not just one guy, that's — did I just undercut my own point? Forget I said that. The President calling what we got back from Ukraine "nothing" is just honest accounting, from a guy whose own Defense Secretary says our forces need the very same interceptors Ukraine's still waiting on — but that's a different budget line, that's not relevant, why are we even talking about that — I'll get back to you.”
Earlier in this story
The receipts
"I'll meet with Putin. I'll meet with Zelensky... And within 24 hours, that war will be settled" - Trump, CNN town hall, 10 May 2023. CNN counted 53 separate occasions he promised it. CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Trump says U.S. has gotten "nothing" from UkrainePresident Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. has "given a lot" to Ukraine and gotten "nothing" in return amid Russia's ongoing war with the country. CBS News' Aaron MacLean has more.
Elon Musk chose to limit Ukraine's access to SpaceX's satellite service, affecting drone operations, sources say.
US president says Zelenskyy ‘more difficult to deal with than Putin’ after ‘energy ceasefire’ collapses Europe live – latest updates Donald Trump has called Ukraine’s renewed strikes on Russian oil refineries “a disgrace” and criticised Volodymyr Zelenskyy after an energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine failed to take hold.…
Trump promised in May 2023 the war would be settled within 24 hours of meeting Putin and Zelensky — CNN counted 53 such promises. CNN fact check, 25 April 2025 (all 53 instances)
Zelenskyy signals surprise at Trump claim of Russia-Ukraine ‘energy ceasefire’ but would back it if Moscow does – as it happenedUkraine’s president reportedly says Kyiv would accept a deal if Moscow does after US president posts announcement with no detail on social media Trump announces partial ceasefire in Ukraine war as Zelenskyy says deal is ‘news to me’ Sign up for the US Breaking News email The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has…
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) warned of an “enormous” risk to the United States if SpaceX founder Elon Musk interfered with the speed of the Starshield communications system used by Ukraine.
A decision by Elon Musk led to restrictions on Ukraine's use of SpaceX's satellite communications network, people familiar with the matter told CBS News.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the change happened after talks with his American counterparts, including a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.