World View: Pentagon to Expand a Secret Military Firebase in Iraq After Marine Killed

This morning’s key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

• In Greece, banks can charge you for making change
• Pentagon to expand a secret military firebase in Iraq after Marine killed
• Whom to support for President?

In Greece, banks can charge you for making change

Exchanging a 500-euro note for smaller bills can set you back five euros in Greece

Banks in Greece are collecting a commission of 1.5% when changing 500-euro bills for notes of lower denominations. The charge is 3-5 euros (depending on the bank), while the maximum charge comes to 200-250 euros.

During last year’s Greek bank crisis, when people feared that they would lose all their savings, many people withdrew their savings in 500-euro notes, because large notes are easier to store under mattresses. So now they want to cash those 500-euro notes in, but are being charged a commission to do so. The banks say that the administrative cost of supplying their branches around the country with smaller banknotes is unusually high at present with the capital controls still in place. Kathimerini

Pentagon to expand a secret military firebase in Iraq after Marine killed

On Saturday, Sgt. Louis F. Cardin of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Lejeune, was killed in Iraq by a rocket fired by the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or Daesh) from 15 km away. Several other Marines were wounded. A second rocket fell harmlessly to the ground.

The Pentagon had initially announced Cardin’s death as being from “indirect fire,” but the death has revealed the existence of a previously secret firebase in Iraq, occupied by a “couple of hundred” Marines living in tents near Makhmour in northern Iraq. ISIS had apparently identified the firebase by observing soldiers moving around. The Pentagon plans to expand the firebase further with Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to fight ISIS.

A “firebase” is a small remote location designed to use its artillery to support infantry troops at forward locations. The Pentagon says that they had planned to reveal the existence of the firebase later this week.

President Obama has said many times that there would never be “any kind of military action that would involve boots on the ground.” Like many of his campaign promises, his promises of complete withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan have not been kept.

Cardin is the second American that has been killed in combat with ISIS in Iraq since the U.S. reentered the country in late 2014. In October of last year, Master Sergeant Joshua L. Wheeler was killed by enemy small-arms fire during a raid that freed 70 hostages from ISIS captivity in northern Iraq. Washington Post and CNN and “ABC News

Whom to support for President?

In response to my recent article, “15-Mar-16 World View — Saudi’s Prince Faisal sharply rebukes Obama’s ‘free riders’ accusation”, a web site reader has posted a response:

Whom to support for President of the US?? Let’s see our choices are:

• A woman who should be elected just because she’s a woman even though she has thrown any and all fellow women under the bus if they’ve had any involvement with her husband – including rape! Oh and by the way she’s being investigated by 100+ FBI agents for a variety of things – things that if any normal person had done they would be in prison for now. A GREAT choice.
• Another narcissist – one of the most insulting and inflammatory individuals I’ve ever seen in politics. Any time any one disagrees with him – he responds with personal attacks. He has no coherent policy – but a great slogan. Oh.. and although most Republicans really aren’t racist, he actually is. And people love him because he tells it like it is.
• A loonie but nice old fellow who has never had a real job. Who thinks money grows on trees and the rich ought to just give everything they have to the government. Oh.. and he thinks all our wars are caused by global warming and the solution to our problems is go to deeper into debt. But he does seem to be the most honest and sincere of the candidates – maybe..
• A fellow who really hasn’t been in government long enough to do anything productive – but he sure has figured out how to piss all his colleagues off by his insistence of following his own set of rules and looking out for what’s best for him. So much so, that behind the scenes several seem to be saying that they would rather have the opponent win. But hey – it’s not like the President of the US has to actually get along with anyone and compromise right? I mean President Obama sure hasn’t made that a priority.
• Another fellow that hasn’t had much of a real job, and doesn’t show up to vote for the job he currently has either – because he’s too busy trying to get a promotion. He looks pretty, talks nice, spends personal money like there’s no tomorrow and likes his perks. I’m pretty sure within 48 hours he’s going to hang it up anyway and go do something else (likely on a government paycheck) with his life. Ain’t America great?
• A seasoned politician that seems to mostly like the status quo. The status quo that has the citizens so upset they are mostly lining up behind two crazies. He mostly talks nice, has something of a decent record – at least he hasn’t totally screwed his state up. Of course he’s pretty much in last place.

Yep a great set of choices we have.

It’s an exercise for the reader to match up the descriptions with the candidates.

KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Greece, Pentagon, Iraq, Louis F Cardin, 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Joshua L. Wheeler, Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh
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