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 at 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 developed plans to take Greenland or Panama by force if necessary.
The Danish news ran a story as to why Greenland was so important to Trump.
Apparently the special deal we did with the Americans in 1949 or whatever is tied to NATO membership. The US presence on the island is entirely dependent upon them being a member of NATO. Were the Americans to withdraw they’d have to shut down Pituffik and give up all their interests in the Arctic.
As to why Greenland is important - apart from the hope that resources can be extracted in a profitabel way - is, as you say, the northern shipping lanes (and theoretically the Russian military threat) as well as various possibilities with the changing climate. And of course it’s a classic “mine is bigger than yours” contest