Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is appearing to acknowledge that the Pentagon has developed plans to take over Greenland and Panama by force if necessary

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared to acknowledge that the Pentagon has developed plans to take over Greenland and Panama by force if necessary but refused to answer repeated questions during a hotly combative congressional hearing Thursday about his use of Signal chats to discuss military operations.

Democratic members of the House Armed Services Committee repeatedly got into heated exchanges with Hegseth, with some of the toughest lines of questioning coming from military veterans as many demanded yes or no answers and he tried to avoid direct responses about his actions as Pentagon chief.

In one back-and-forth, Hegseth did provide an eyebrow-raising answer. Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., asked whether the Pentagon has plans to take Greenland or Panama by force if necessary.

  • Carmakazi@lemmy.world
    934·
    2 days ago

    To be clear, the Pentagon has dusty filing cabinets full of playbooks and wargaming scenarios ranging from plausible to outrageous that various think tanks have cooked up over the years. There is almost certainly a plan to fight an extraterrestrial invasion. I recall one being made about a zombie outbreak during that pop culture craze. We’ve had plans to invade Canada and Mexico wholesale for decades at least. Their existence doesn’t inherently mean that anyone at the Pentagon takes the possibility of the scenario seriously. They’re thought exercises as much as they are preparation for the unlikely.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
        36·
        2 days ago

        Machiavelli had some useful points.

        like the whole, “if you rule through fear to keep people in line, they’ll take your head off the moment you’re weak” observation.

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
            4·
            2 days ago

            oh. he was a total asshole. But even he respected the need for representation and to constrain the elites from doing shit. At least, he was later on. (See Discourse on Livy)

            I’m just saying, assholes like trump being all Machiavellian seem to forget the whole “we know how behead” aspect of being an assholish monarch.

              • phutatorius@lemmy.zip
                3·
                2 days ago

                One interpretation is that he was commissioned to write a bland moral guide for a young prince, but got all satirical and close to the bone.

                • JacksonLamb@lemmy.world
                  1·
                  2 days ago

                  Machiavelli wanted a Republic, another inyerpretation is he put in a bunch of bad advice in the hopes of them taking it and being overthrown.

        • JacksonLamb@lemmy.world
          3·
          2 days ago

          This part’s interesting

          Mary Dietz, in her essay “Trapping The Prince”, writes that Machiavelli’s agenda was not to be satirical, as Rousseau had argued, but instead was “offering carefully crafted advice (such as arming the people) designed to undo the ruler if taken seriously and followed.”[83] By this account, the aim was to reestablish the republic in Florence. She focuses on three categories in which Machiavelli gives paradoxical advice:

          He discourages liberality and favors deceit to guarantee support from the people. Yet Machiavelli is keenly aware of the fact that an earlier pro-republican coup had been thwarted by the people’s inaction that itself stemmed from the prince’s liberality.

          He supports arming the people despite the fact that he knows the Florentines are decidedly pro-democratic and would oppose the prince.

          He encourages the prince to live in the city he conquers. This opposes the Medici’s habitual policy of living outside the city. It also makes it easier for rebels or a civilian militia to attack and overthrow the prince.

    • wagesj45@fedia.io
      2·
      2 days ago

      Agreed. I think we only need to really worry when they make their way up the pile and the dust is brushed off. Are we there yet? I dunno. Maybe? The existence of the plan isn’t the issue, though.