Hegseth says the Pentagon has contingency plans to invade Greenland if necessary
Hegseth says the Pentagon has contingency plans to invade Greenland if necessary

Hegseth says the Pentagon has contingency plans to invade Greenland 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.
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.
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.
Not to be too pedantic, but "The Prince" was intended as a sincere operating manual for governing (not a satire in any way).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince
The shocking lack of morality in the book is what made it rather infamous. It was not a joke at all.