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Category: Global Issues

Starlink Goes Dark-Busting in Iran: How Elon Musk’s Satellite Beams Shattered Tehran’s Internet Blackout and Triggered a Global Free-Speech Showdown

The past ten days have seen an unprecedented collision between a Silicon Valley billionaire and one of the world’s most restrictive regimes. When Iranian authorities plunged the country into an almost total internet blackout after Israeli air-strikes on June 13 – 14, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk switched Starlink coverage on over Iran less than 24…
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Internet Access in Cuba: From Control to Constellations

Historical Overview of Internet Development in Cuba Cuba was relatively late to join the global internet. The first internet connection on the island was established in 1996 – a modest 64 Kbps link via Sprint in the United States en.wikipedia.org. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, expansion of internet access stagnated due to a…
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Internet Access in Russia

National Overview and Internet Infrastructure Russia has a vast internet user base and a well-developed core infrastructure. As of early 2025, about 133 million people in Russia were internet users, representing an internet penetration rate of 92.2% of the population datareportal.com pulse.internetsociety.org. This penetration has grown steadily from about 85% in 2020 to over 92% by 2023…
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Internet Access in China

China’s internet landscape is characterized by massive scale, state-controlled infrastructure, and strict governance. With over a billion users online, China hosts the world’s largest internet community, but this access comes with significant restrictions and a parallel digital ecosystem separate from the global internet. Below is an overview of key aspects of internet access in China,…
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