Was Poland FM right to take on Elon in X row?
Sikorski’s clash with Musk and Rubio exposed Poland’s fragile position in a shifting transatlantic alliance under Trump.
It started with a tweet. Elon Musk, the world’s most unpredictable billionaire, claimed that without his Starlink satellite network, Ukraine’s war effort would collapse. Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, fired back: Poland was paying for Starlink access and could just as easily fund an alternative. That was all it took for Musk to unleash one of his signature outbursts: “Shut up, small man”, before Marco Rubio, Trump’s Secretary of State, piled on, telling Sikorski to be grateful Musk had “saved Ukraine.”
The dust-up wasn’t just an online spat. It exposed a deeper fault line in Poland’s foreign policy under Trump. With U.S. support for Ukraine on shaky ground and Musk acting as an erratic gatekeeper of critical battlefield infrastructure, Sikorski’s comments could be seen as either a diplomatic misstep or a necessary show of strategic autonomy. More than that, it was a test case for how Poland would conduct its diplomacy in an era where the US was no longer the reliable security patron it once was.
Was this a gaffe, or was Poland rightly setting out its national interests in an era when American security guarantees are no longer ironclad? The reaction from Polish and international figures has been divided, revealing just how precarious Poland’s position has become in the new transatlantic order.
It started, as these things often do, on X. Elon Musk, never one to resist stirring controversy, posted a dramatic claim: if he turned off Starlink, Ukraine’s entire war effort would collapse. The statement wasn’t just self-congratulatory, it was a thinly veiled threat. Musk, whose SpaceX company provides the satellite internet system that keeps Ukraine’s military connected on the battlefield, was making it clear that he held a powerful bargaining chip.
Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister reminded Musk that Poland had been footing the bill, around $50 million per year, for Ukrainian access to Starlink. If Musk’s company proved unreliable, he suggested, Poland would be forced to look for alternative providers. He underlined that Poland wasn’t merely a passive consumer of US military technology but an active participant in supporting Ukraine’s war effort.
That was enough to set Musk off. In his signature online style, he lashed out, “Shut up, small man.” He dismissed Poland’s contribution as insignificant, asserting that there was no replacement for Starlink.
Then came Marco Rubio, Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, who weighed in on Sikorski’s remarks with a mix of condescension and hostility. “No one has threatened to cut Ukraine off from Starlink,” he wrote, before adding a pointed rebuke: “And say thank you, because without Starlink, Ukraine would have lost this war long ago, and Russian troops would now be at Poland’s border.”
Sikorski, refusing to escalate further, responded with a dry “Thank you, Marco”, a remark that, depending on interpretation, was either a diplomatic attempt to de-escalate or a subtle jab at Rubio’s tone.
But while the direct confrontation between Sikorski, Musk, and Rubio was the headline moment, it was the reaction within Poland that revealed the deeper political stakes. Politicians from the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, many of whom had spent years cultivating close ties with the American right, rushed to Musk’s defense. PiS MP Dominik Tarczyński called for Sikorski’s resignation, while former deputy foreign minister Arkadiusz Mularczyk went even further, apologising to Musk on Poland’s behalf.
Meanwhile, Sikorski’s allies and former diplomats defended him, arguing that Musk’s attack was inappropriate and that Poland had every right to question the reliability of a private company controlling critical war infrastructure. Former ambassador Jerzy Marek Nowakowski dismissed concerns that Sikorski had damaged relations with the US, saying, “There was no choice but to respond. We shouldn’t worry about whether Americans get offended.”
Even in Washington, views were split. Daniel Fried, a former US ambassador to Poland, publicly defended Sikorski, saying that his response had ultimately secured a clear commitment from the US that Starlink wouldn’t be turned off. In this sense, Sikorski’s approach, while blunt, achieved its purpose.
But the real issue isn’t just the tone of Sikorski’s tweets, it is what they reveal about Poland’s uncertain place in a shifting transatlantic alliance. Under Joe Biden, Poland had been a key player in Western support for Ukraine, with strong backing from Washington. But with Trump back in office, the landscape had changed. His administration had already cut military aid to Ukraine, signaling a shift toward a more isolationist approach. The fact that Musk, one of Trump’s most prominent allies, felt emboldened to lash out at a Polish minister highlighted just how much influence had shifted within the American power structure.
For Poland, the fundamental question is this: how should it navigate relations with a Trump-led America without becoming entirely subservient? Sikorski’s critics believed the answer is caution and deference. His defenders argue that Poland can’t afford to stay silent when national interests were at stake.
If Poland wanted to maintain its strong partnership with Washington, it needs to avoid unnecessary provocations. But if it wants to ensure it isn’t treated as a junior partner in the alliance, it needed to assert itself, even at the risk of ruffling feathers in the White House.
Sikorski’s clash with Musk and Rubio, then, wasn’t just an isolated online skirmish. It was a test case for how Poland would conduct its diplomacy in an era where the U.S. was no longer the reliable security patron it once was.
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I remember a conversation I had in 2021 with a friend who works in the defence industry in Poland. He was bemoaning the way we were investing in foreign-made weapons and technology instead of developing our own arms industry. In that context, the renewed Russian invasion of 2022 was a gift to Poland, as is the current demonstration of US unreliability. We need to rise to that opportunity. European defence budgets will grow, we have the skills and infrastructure to attract that spending but we need to make it very clear that we’re not just a US staging-post. Maybe that’s what Mr Sikorski is thinking.
I absolutely applaud Sikorski's response. PiS, while riding high on their alleged patriotism and "Poland-first'ing", behave like small kids in the presence of the big bad US uncle. It is never easy to show that one has a spine and sometimes it requires responding firmly to threats, no matter how thickly veiled. The Musk guy is overstepping it in the firm belief that he had bought the world. And his answer proves that he is nothing but a spoiled bell-end who screams at others as long as they are at a safe distance from him. Revolting little man.