politics @lemmy.world MicroWave @lemmy.world 1mo ago

Trump’s trash defense secretary is ready to go to war with U.S. allies

newrepublic.com Trump’s Trash Defense Secretary Is Ready to Go to War With U.S. Allies

Pete Hegseth apparently will do whatever it takes to control Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Summary

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s newly appointed Secretary of Defense, suggested military action could be on the table for securing U.S. control over the Panama Canal and Greenland.

In a Fox News interview, he warned that the U.S. would ensure "freedom of navigation" in Panama, while vaguely addressing Trump’s strategic interest in Greenland.

His confirmation hearing earlier this month raised concerns when he refused to rule out military action.

Critics worry his stance signals Trump’s willingness to provoke conflicts with allies over geopolitical ambitions.

29 comments

If I was Panama I would blow it up before they even got there
- If don't have plans already to do that then they should be making them now.
- Forgive my ignorance, but wouldn't that fuck over a lot more places than the US?
  
  Its simple asset denial.
  
  A lot of shipping has actually been going around the long way. Ships are simply large enough that they get more profit from that than from being small enough to fit in the Panama Canal.
- It's too important a source of income for them to do that.
  
  They would lose the income if the USA invaded anyways making them rebuild it would be a good fuck you
  
  Not, like, preemptively. Just have a plan, like how Switzerland is rigged to blow.
- That would be far more dangerous to billions of people than you imagine. Because the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are not at the same sea level there. Hence the need for the stages of flooding and draining to go from one to the other.
  
  Dangerous to billions? I don't think one ocean empties into the other like pulling a plug in the bathtub.
  
  It's 40 miles long and it could easily be made impassable in sections
Seems like a good time for us all to start talking a little more seriously about redacted
- Signal?
If the US went full Nazi Germany and tried to take over the world, could they be stopped?
- The industrial centers of the US are almost entirely within blue states. It is only through the quirkiness of the Electoral College that the GOP continues to exist.
  
  Trumpler would quickly find himself on the losing side of a civil war.
- Well, they were stopped by rice farmers in Vietnam, so probably. But then, they were "sensible" enough not to use nukes.
- No country could realistically go toe-to-toe with the US military:
  
  China might have a larger standing army, but they don't have the logistics to move them globally.
  
  Russia is busy getting its ass kicked in Ukraine, and even if it weren't its invasion of Ukraine has shown they're nowhere near-peer to the US.
  
  A combined NATO + EU + UK might give it a good go, but not all of them (Hungary and Turkiye obviously) would want to stand against Putin's agenda like that. Also, trying to oppose the US and support Ukraine would definitely strain those countries as well.
  
  I think the only unknown variable is, if the US suddenly went all "conquering imperialism" how much civilian unrest would occur? Unlike the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions there wouldn't be any high-minded moral veneer to hide behind, so would Americans put up with it?
  
  I am much less optimistic about that answer than I was four months ago.
- Yes fairly easily. They could not beat the Taliban. They could not beat the Houthis. They could not beat the Vietcong. They could not even beat Hamas.
  
  The US can destroy key civilian infrastructure but beyond that their military is incapable of conquering land and keeping it.
  
  The US air force is powerless against the unbeatable strategy of digging holes in the ground.
- I think so? Much of their might comes from their friends (and the money that they pay them for defense, eg, weapons). It would not be overnight and there would have to be a concerted effort... But on the other hand, Russia survives. So I guess USA would become Russia?
Remember all the dumbfucks and Russian mouthpieces talking about how donvict wants peace?
- Probably why Donnie loves the poorly educated.
  
  Yep. They are being rebooted with MAXWA 5.8.111.2024.01.31 update that tells them "high prices good" because it means brown people will be deported. When they were just whining about how terrible everything was, pre-November.
  
  Even when the Democrats were trying to do so many things for the 99% in the middle of an economy that had all the indicators of a good one, even if supply chains were wildly disrupted during Covid and even though there were factors like bird flu impacting egg prices.
  
  But now - these low-info will be trained to love the high prices that donflation will bring.
My first thought is, it is against their oaths for any military personnel to follow this sort of order.

My second thought is, what can the rest of us do about it if they don't follow their oaths?
I hope France nukes the fuckers if they try.
Trump's Yes Man does as he's told

News at 11

29 comments