History / Was PRL Poland? [37]


And it's the same time when many Church members collaborated with the Stalinist regime, too.

News / 1.3% birth rate = Poland's slow death [221]


Oh dear. Where do you read this stuff?


And they didn't leave during the PiS government? Hahahaa....if anything, it was worse, because the educated were leaving then.


More than the government can afford. Enough babies are being born, it's not a problem. When unemployment is 0%, then we can worry.


Great. More morons to sit around drinking beer in their white socks.


Except...you do realise that anyone with the slightest grasp of history knows that Poles have mixed with other ethnicities for centuries? Especially in the Eastern areas.


He's obviously sitting in the UK or the USA anyway, don't worry ;)

(the way that he goes on about the PRL would get him more than a bloody nose here...)

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]


I would be very careful with new developments full stop - I just cannot see how the numbers work for some of them without making huge compromises in build quality. My friend rented a new build a couple of years ago, and within 3 months, big cracks had started to appear in the walls!


I can recommend ING if the financing isn't an issue - my mortgage was sorted out within 8 days from application to approval!

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


Polonius, for the 9th time in this thread, I'm asking you to provide a credible source for these two claims.


So far, you've managed to show us two links which state that both people are Polish journalists. I mean, your own sources agree that they're Polish.

Come on. I'm only asking for this one single credible source to back up your claims.

You're the one that stated this, not me - so why are you finding it so difficult to find a source?


That's pretty much my opinion too. It's not perfect, but they on the whole, it's not a bad paper. And they don't have a total obsession with rival newspapers.

Life / Polish Born Ethnic Minorities - are they integrated? [10]


They're far more Polish than your average village dwelling retard who sits around drinking all day.

And they're certainly far more Polish than some guy who thinks that Communism was good for Poland!


Almost certainly pip ;) Either that, or he's sitting in the UK as the child of immigrants.

News / "Shale Gas Revolution" will make Poland a Leading Country in Europe! [202]

Source?

History / Was PRL Poland? [37]

Anyone denying that the PRL was Poland is living in cloud cuckoo land. For a start, the hundreds of thousands of Poles that were either Party members or benefited from being associated with a Party member were all part of the State.

Food / Is water in Warsaw artificially flouridated? [6]


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_fluoridation_controversy#Conspiracy _theories

Real Estate / Poland's apartment prices continue to fall [1844]

Honestly, in Poland, the best thing to do is to look around, get an idea for the price per square metre on average, then knock off 10-15% off that price. There's a tendency to overprice property on advertisements - and almost all of them will be "for negotiation".

Don't be afraid to give someone an offer - give them 24 hours, tell them it's non-negotiable and don't be afraid to walk away. Very often, they'll have some fixed idea of the price - and will be happy to sit on the property for months rather than sell it a bit cheaper. So - don't waste your time, just name your price and let them decide.

Law / Clocking cars and importation to Poland [47]


I've never met a Polish driver who actually obeyed all the rules on the road. Have you? And if so, can I meet them?

You know fine well that Poles don't respect rules that aren't enforced.


The problem with trying to impose time limits is proving when the car left the UK.


They don't and can't. Data protection laws are insanely strict in the UK - there's absolutely no way the ferry/tunnel companies would share such records with insurance companies. In fact, if they dared to do such a thing - then they would be in a hell of a lot of trouble.


One of the reasons why Poland is a nice place to live - far less obsession with this sort of thing. As long as the car is insured and the owner of the car has given his permission, they really couldn't care less.


As long as it's not stolen and you give them something that purports to be insurance (along with a driving licence), they're happy.


But if the insurance company doesn't impose any limits on the time spent in the EU, then there's no issue at all. I know someone here who has such cover - the only thing is that it's made very clear that the car must be taxed and MOT'ed at all times.

Law / Need advice on name change (from English to Polish) [11]


Your call, it's your name :)

(Emilia is nicer than Emily, if you ask me...)

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]

This thread actually answers InWroclaw's question perfectly, don't you think? :)

News / Poland Parliamentary elections 2015 [1060]


Ah, silly season started again!

Someone needs to explain to PiS that you need a thing called a "majority" in the Sejm.

UK, Ireland / Polish Family stabbed to death in St Helier. [40]

The real question now is whether they'll deport him to Poland or not - for his sake, he's better off in Broadmoor.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


Now now. You might have a point, except that in Poland, it's almost normal to take someone to court for saying the slightest bad thing about you.


For the 8th time Polonius, I'm asking you to provide a single credible source in this thread as to the following two statements :


Come on Polonius - you made the statements, now back them up.


Most Poles couldn't care less about such subjects. Most Poles are also sane enough to see that when someone is asked 8 times to back up their statements and they can't - the person making the statements is most probably talking nonsense.

Come on Polonius - don't make me ask the question 9 times!

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


I think you're the one who needs to go back to school, as I was taught that "polski dziennikarz" means "Polish journalist".

Oh dear Polonius - when your own sources don't even agree with you, it's time to give up!

(but no, for the 7th time, I ask you for one single credible source for the following statements)


one single credible source

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


Born in Poland, raised in Poland and spent her entire life in Poland.

Also, Wikipedia makes no mention of her non-Polish ancestry. Unless you wish to claim that a Germanic surname is somehow "proof".


Oh, Polonius...you're such good fun.

Yet again - no mention there of him being non-Polish. Perhaps you'd like to try again?


Polonius, for the 6th time in this thread, I'm going to ask you to prove these two statements.


Proof, please?

And yes, I can read Polish quite well. But I'm asking for a single credible source to back up your claims quoted above.

I specifically would like to see some proof of your claim that it's run by Moldovo-Bolivar types.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


Very nice saying, I think I'll use it ;)

Come on Polonius - you've made the claim, so back it up. Or withdraw your statement - your choice.

News / Poland Parliamentary elections 2015 [1060]


I got the inside story about this from a forester, and what's interesting to note is that much of their operation is already privatised.

A lot of them very reluctantly voted PiS last time for fear of privatisation, too.

Anyway, for me, I'm not loyal to one party - I'll vote for the party that represents my interests best in that given election. Next election will likely (if she stands) be a vote for Sidonia Jędrzejewska however.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


No, Polonius. You said, and I quote :




Shall I ask him for the 5th time on this thread to provide a single reliable source?

Ah, why not.

Polonius - for the 5th time, I'm asking you - please provide a single credible source to back up your claims that the people behind Gazeta Wyborcza are -



A single credible source is all I'm asking for.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


No no. Polonius has asserted that the people who run Gazeta Wyborcza are non-Polish. We're waiting for him to back this up with a single credible source.

I'm very interested - it's such an interesting claim that the biggest selling newspaper in Poland is controlled by non-Polish people - from writers to shareholders. We're waiting for Polonius to prove this.


An interesting question is why Radio Maryja took quite a lot of money from a guy who lives in South America and who might have been involved with some nefarious activities with the Nazi occupiers of Poland.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]

I asked for a single credible source that proves that the newspaper is run by an incredible collection of non-Polish individuals.

I mean, it's such an incredible story - all this talk of Gazeta Wyborcza being run by Bolivians and Mongolians - surely someone somewhere has written about this truly amazing state of affairs in Poland?

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]

I've asked you three times now - provide proof.

All I'm asking for is one credible source. Come on, can't be difficult, can it? Surely someone in the world, writing for one credible newspaper, has picked up on the incredible story of how the biggest-selling daily newspaper in Poland is run by a collection of non-Polish individuals.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


Good idea - mods, can you shift the posts about him to there?


A very interesting question indeed. Are the finances of Nasz Dziennik publicly available, like Agora's?

The ownership of Nasz Dziennik is certainly far murkier than Agora's.


That's a particularly paranoid thing to say. Any proof of these people's alleged non-Polishness? Or is it just something you read on a particularly whack-job website?


You do realise that Jaroslaw Kaczynski, hero of the Catholic Right was raised in a pro-Communist household - and benefited from his father's betrayal of others during Stalinism?

The obsession with Gazeta Wyborcza and Michnik is nothing short of lunacy. If you read Gazeta Polska, the amount of references to "Gazeta Wyborcza" and "Michnik" are astounding.

Look at this - they're absolutely obsessed with the man.

News / Poland Parliamentary elections 2015 [1060]


Devastating.

I think it shows that the social right wing is inherently unelectable in Poland.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


From my point of view - he was passing information that could have been used against Poland (and by extension, Poles) in a future war. He was passing this information to a hostile country which undoubtedly had plans for the invasion/occupation of the country should it so happen - so - it is rather treasonous. Imagine if war did happen and his information was used to attack Poland? We all know nowadays that the Americans don't particularly care about ethics in war.

Interestingly, and I didn't know this - it seems that some of the far right nationalists also view him as a traitor, which is strange.


Don't worry, you could study this stuff for years and still not get to the bottom of it ;)

Bear in mind that he did this stuff, not for ideological reasons, but cold hard cash - a lot of it!


Yet you're such a proud patriot that you live outside Poland. Very typical for PiS supporters.


Ah yes, the typical PiS voter approach. Instead of providing eloquent, relevant facts - you instead resort to the usual "you're stupid!" line favoured by PiS activists who don't actually have a good argument against what's said.


He hated democracy? A man who had the Polish Army in almost total obedience to him wouldn't oversee a transition to democracy if he hated it.


I've already made up my mind. I think his finest hour was in 1989/1990, and he proved himself when it really mattered. Any man brave enough to give up almost total power for an uncertain future - and to do what was right for Poland - is about as patriotic as it gets. Certainly far more patriotic than a bunch of screaming old women who attack children physically, that's for sure.


Ah yes, the typical PiS Gazeta Polska conspiracy theory. May I remind you that Walesa has been conclusively cleared of any spying charges, while your leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski had a treasonous bastard for a father?


Tell me, why are there no documents in the files about Jaroslaw's homosexuality? Rather strange that the brother of a known opposition activist wouldn't have any information about this, don't you think?

By the way, you do realise that if those files were opened, your Dear Leader Jaroslaw would have been finished politically? We all know that his father betrayed Poland and his former AK men, after all.


Wrong. East Germany started the fight in 1953, and as for the Soviet Army - they were in Germany till 1994. They left Poland in 1993.

Ah, PiS voters. History was never their strong point...

Law / Clocking cars and importation to Poland [47]

To be fair, Poles don't give a damn themselves. There's plenty of UK registered cars where I live - all without valid tax discs, too.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


Proof, Polonius?


Jaruzelski stuck to his word and oversaw a peaceful transition to democracy. He could still easily have annulled the results of the Contract Sejm election, but he didn't. And when his time was up, he resigned peacefully without complaint.

Kuklinski was a spy. He spied on Poland. Pretty traitorous of him.


And this is the perfect example of why it's so funny to watch the Gazeta Wyborcza haters - instead of using facts, they rely on irrelevant rubbish to somehow stress that Gazeta Wyborcza is "evil" and "wrong".

The rest of us look at people like Polonius, we look at who they support (PiS) and resolve never to let them anywhere near power again.

News / Who controls Gazeta Wyborcza?? [216]


Basically, Gazeta Wyborcza started off life as the official opposition newspaper during the first semi-free elections in 1989. To cut a long story short, Solidarity managed to gain a majority in the Sejm a few months after the election. Between then and the Presidential election in 1990 (which saw Walesa elected) - Solidarity tore itself apart. But to understand this - you need to know that Solidarity was a coalition between workers and intellectuals - and it could never last once the reason for existing had gone. That's why Solidarity today bears no relation to the Solidarity of 1989. But anyway -

Gazeta Wyborcza was run from the very beginning by Michnik, and the paper followed his liberal, intellectual values. This led to Walesa falling out with the paper - because the paper was very much behind the then-Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki's bid for the Presidency rather than Walesa's. Anyway, since then - the paper has always been the liberal choice.

Now - the hatred towards Gazeta Wyborcza is really quite ridiculous. It's all because the paper has never supported the Christian-Right in Poland - which as you probably know, makes up a good 25-30% of the population. But when the PiS government was elected in 2005, they went to paranoid extremes - Gazeta Wyborcza was banned from attending governmental press conferences, they openly spied on their journalists, etc etc. They somewhat intentionally whipped up the hysteria against GW - to the point when you get people posting this kind of ill-informed rubbish on internet forums. It's a sick sort of obsession - they seem absolutely convinced that Gazeta Wyborcza are responsible for their chosen party not winning power.

But if you want a one sentence answer - the hatred is because the newspaper is liberal and stands for liberal values.

The other truth is that Michnik did far more to oppose Communism than the vast majority of people who oppose Michnik ever did. And I suspect, at least in the case of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, it burns him inside.

Law / Clocking cars and importation to Poland [47]

No, it's not. Life expectancy is only two years lower than in the USA.