Travel / Avoid being ripped off by some exchange outlets in Krakow and elsewhere [44]

TVN24 runs similar story in Polish. It's all about two different, buy vs. sell, prices but somewhat camouflaged, catching some tourists unaware - by showing a big sign outside the office "Today we sell | Euro | 4,00|", or just "Euro 4,00". The "We buy" info is displayed only inside the exchange outlet. The differences can be as great as 4.00 vs 3.10, or even worse. The reporter, pretending to be a tourist was given 143 PLN for 50 EUR - that's 2.86 exchange rate.

The reporter does not name the "kantor" (or rather carefully avoids naming it) but he mentions Gdańsk, and says this:

News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]

Yes, but I forgot to add that the article I cited provides all progress details: percentage of work done, percentage of days spent, etc. Source: an official GDDiK document sent to ministry of infrastructure.

News / How NOT to do European Politics, part 94: Ziobro slams PO domestic policy in EU parliament [11]


And this came out just few days after the Kaczyński's statement that - although he considered Tusk's presidency program too small and too short sided - he would support Polish presidency.

No miracles possible..

News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]

That's good, but the bad news is that half of the promised highways in Poland won't be ready for Euro.

• 
  roads2012.jpg
  

Language / chodźmy vs idźmy? [32]


That must have been a handy work of a 2011 matura girl. :-)

How about this: Późwa!

History / What was it like in 1989+ in Poland when the Soviet house of cards fell? [237]

On my occasional travels to Warsaw I was mostly interested in visiting two bookstores: the giant one in PKiN, with its lo-o-o-n-g rows of technical books (I was mainly interested in physics and mathematics) and the small Russian bookstore on Nowy Åšwiat, where I could buy Russian translations of western monographs and textbooks - literally for peanuts. I guess, that would compare to $2.00 vs. $60.00 in today's money. I could easily afford the translations, but never the original ones.

I still remember reading "Feynman's Lectures on Physics, vol 3, Quantum Mechanics" in Russian, and appreciating his combination of good style and clarity. Not that I was ever fluent in Russian, but Latin formulas, as well as diagrams, were quite helpful in comprehension of the language.

How I initially missed the specialized bookstores, after moving to Canada, since here they operate like any other business - they cannot afford stocking and keeping many technical books at any given time. There is one reasonable bookstore at U of T, at St. George campus, but it is not even close to the one in PKiN.

Obviously, one can always order the books via a catalogue, but this is not the same: reading readers' comments on Amazon is hardly comparable to browsing a book, smelling it, feeling its style, and judging its level of difficulty.

When the first Chapters bookstore was opened it was stocked with reasonable collection of technical books - 12 shelves or so - but now they are down to a few, representing real mismatch - from a book on "dams construction" to "knitting and crocheting". Pathetic! But Internet helps nowadays to fill the gaps.

History / What was it like in 1989+ in Poland when the Soviet house of cards fell? [237]

Has anyone mentioned EMPIK yet? One would sit at the corner with the Guardian or something equally foreign, sip "turkish style" coffee and pretend to understand English. :-)

I hear that EMPIK still exist, only it is much upscaled. I went to empik.com and it looks to me like a grand bookstore, rather than just a reading room or a club. Something like Chapters/Indigo in Canada. Am I right?

History / What was it like in 1989+ in Poland when the Soviet house of cards fell? [237]


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex

Check Polish wikipedia for details: pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pewex
1993 - first bankruptcy application, rejected
1995 - debt reached 183 millions PLN
1996 - Bank settlement, main shareholder French Concorde Investment
1997 -150 Pewex shops under total control of Concorde. Pewex took up property management as the Association of Commerce and Real Estate Pewex SA, "Towarzystwo Handlu i Nieruchomości Pewex SA", THiN Pewex

2003 - THiN Pewex merged with Concorde. The final end of Pewex brand on the Polish market

News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]


Why yes, I did not say I agreed with everything in the article. For example, Poland is now Germany's 10th-ranked economic partner (as Waldemar Pawlak, Economy Minister, says).

But Poland has also other trading partners, including UK. According to Rostowski, Poland's finance minister, "The UK is one of Poland's leading trading partners, although trade and investment flows between the two countries have the potential to be far greater."


I am not trying to shush you - talk as much as you want, but concentrate on topic for a change. The snippets about Rogozin were to demonstrate that Russian diplomacy is still very much similar to its glorious Soviet past - from the times of cold war. And that was part of the topic in my post. You evidently missed it. If you do not value my quotes go and do your own homework about Mr. Rogozin. There are hundreds of good examples on internet. [This paragraph has xxx words, but only one idea. I hope to see one response not xxx quotations in your next post here. That's why I suggested to you to stop nit-picking and try to synthesize concepts a bit.]

On the positive side, not all diplomats are like Rogozin. Sergei Lavrov, Russian foreign minister, is an old school diplomat and he would rarely if ever go for veiled threats. Actually Moscow counts on better relations with Europe, during Poland's rotating presidency of EU. For example, they hope for membership of WTO and easement on visa regime.


Yes, remember Varna? :-)
Well, actually countries like Bulgaria (EU member) or Moldavia (aspiring for Eastern Partnership) actually look up to Poland as a potential ally on many levels. Just to name few things re Poland-Bulgaria relationship:

+ Bulgaria and Poland announced last April that they worked on a new military cooperation deal (mainly cyber security and weapon modernization)
+ Bulgaria could host a radar site if Turkey refuse to participate in missile defense system
+ Bulgaria and Romania aspire for Schengen zone entry. Reps of Interpol, Europol, FBI expressed their support during recent conference. Poland also supports them.
+ There are various energy initiatives of which Poland and Bulgaria are participants.

News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]

Look BB, I am not going to play with you a nit-picking game, because it leads to a tree-like explosion - original subject exploding to 400 new ones, after few returns. Try to be more synthetic next time. Several of your answers are false, others are twisted to match your beliefs.

+ All 28 NATO countries signed the missile shield agreement on Nov 10, 2010. That's a fact - notwithstanding what you think about it.
+ D. Rogozin is a bully, and that was my point in showing you some, not even worst, of his past statements. You either did not get it (and then I am sorry about it), or you twisted the facts to suit you, because:

- first you supported his (bullying statement) about ww2
- then you said "I never heard of him so I doubt it."
You cannot have both ways.

So let's stop here. We apparently agreed to disagree on this topic.

News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]


I know you do not like Stratfor - you already told me that some time ago. And I am sure you have good understanding of Europe - or at least YOUR understanding. But what you just said above is just wishful thinking - which I would happily share with you if I believed it. But I do not - the reality is not that pretty.

Let me translate for you few fragments from today's article in TVN24.pl:

Shield in Poland? The Russian military will find an "answer"

Just to remind you, it is not Poland that pushes for the system alone - it is NATO. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO secretary general said last month that "mutual anti-rocket defense system is not possible with Russia."

Now, let us move few years back to the archives, which demonstrate quite clearly who Mr. Rogozin is.

2008-06-19:
Russian ambassador to NATO Dmitry Rogozin in the interview to "Izvestia" warned Ukraine that it will "creak at the seams" if it tries to join NATO.

2008-02-04
- I would like to remind you that any attempts to align Poland along "confrontational lines" have always led to tragedies. During World War II, Poland lost nearly one-third of its population - said Dmitry Rogozin, Russia's representative to NATO.

2008-02-04


Well, a clown he may be, but he represents Russia.

So BB, the cold war is over? Yes I know Germany would like to cosy up with Russia, and for at least two good reasons. And Stratfor clearly shows it in the article we talk about. It's all about big national interests and big spheres of interests and not about regionalization on the small scale.

News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]


Marko Papic did not claim anything revolutionary in regionalization concept he described. He has shown his own view of today's snapshot of Europe plus some tea leaves divination of the future. So where did he go wrong in you opinion?

Life / Marketing Speak or mumbo jumbo talk from Poland? [22]

Hot news, about two explosions in Krakow today. Still on topic, and sort of funny. A short interview with a police expert:


The man might have been first time on camera, so he staring blabbing.. What he really wanted to say was: it was not Al-Kaida.

Museum of IV RP: Quick Guide to Erudition

[I am sure similar examples of Orwellian new-speak can be easily found at both ends of the political spectrum in Poland. But the speeches of Chairman Kaczyński present extremely fitting examples of bombastic, hardly comprehensible, style.]

The government of Donald Tusk is not devoid of political ambitions. On the contrary, the ambitions are there, and they are great: to disintegrate the society by undermining inter-group, inter-generational and inter-regional solidarity; to disintegrate the nation by smashing the education system, cultural policy - including the historical one - and public media, and finally to disintegrate the state by elimination of, de facto, its unitary character and subjecting it, at different levels, to the influence of networks of external decision-making centers. This is, of course, a camouflaged plan, referring to mystified values ​and particular interests or simply to individualistically understood utilitarianism, but actually quite transparent and pointed both against the interests of the community and the individual interests of the vast majority of Poles.

In this short, yet extremely brilliant paragraph, Jarosław Kaczyński boldly presented the following terms and expressions - unusually apt and of striking beauty - which the Museum of IV RP is happy to add to its carefully nurtured and proudly guarded thesaurus of national language:

* de facto
* to disintegrate
* individualistically understood
* camouflaged plan
* particular interests
* unitary character
* utilitarianism
* mystified values
Add to it the remaining phrases, which are taken from just one speech of Jarosław Kaczyński, and which has already entered into the pantheon of the world's best talk of all time and has become an undeniable canon of modern philosophical erudition:

* to abstract
* differentiation of civil rights
* inherently negative traits
* legal impossibilism
* confusing situation
* modus operandi
* pacification
* paradigm
* petrification
* predilection
* restoration
* semiotics
* social stratification

Now, having been armed with this brilliant thesaurus, a diligent student can easily construct random speeches a'la Chairman Kaczyński:

Our camouflaged aim is a pacification of mad attacks from the nation's enemies, whose inherently negative feature is the use of the paradigm of over-reality for the disintegration of the unitary nature of the Fourth Republic, restoration of the System and the grey sphere of corporations and networks, as well as for introduction and petrification of the social stratification phenomenon, resulting from the activities of financiers, oligarchs and rich, supported by the entire squads of liberal journalists from hostile media, and serving to lead the public into the unprecedented disadvantageous and confusing situation, with characteristic elements of utilitarianism.

Unfortunately, the widespread de facto application of this powerful wavefront of semantic abuses, regular attempts of subversions and referral by the lying-elite to legal permanent impossibilism, mystified values and individualistically understood particular interests, as well as the use by certain powers, the unusually visible and obviously obvious outrageous differentiation of civil rights and creation of - by completely abstracting from the facts - a semiotic image of IV RP, combined with a totally deceptive description of the activities of the Party, surprisingly often prevents application, in this area, of the modus operandi resulting from natural predilection of Poles.

Life / Marketing Speak or mumbo jumbo talk from Poland? [22]

Polonius is right stressing the fact that - even though the political systems and slogans have changed - there still remains a need and desire to wrap the most trivial concepts in a pompous, absolutely in-comprehensive language. One of my friends is afflicted by this: I dread reading his emails, although I cherish his company and eye-to-eye conversation. Thank you Barney for starting this topic, which is dear to my heart, even though I am no longer sure - after reading few pearls here - that I am still on topic. :-)

On 2011-06-21, at 7.24 a.m. Ms. Beata Szydło, Vice President of PiS - the largest opposition party in Poland - was interviewed in TOK FM radio by Dominika Wielowiejska. Ms. Szydło had nothing to say for sixteen minutes. Absolutely nothing.

Would you qualify the following outbursts of Ms. Beata Szydło as:
a. mowa-trawa (talk about grass growing)
b. polityczny bełkot (political gibberish)
c. wodolejstwo (waffle, water spouting)
d. drowning woman grasping a straw, and the straw was ... "THE program"

I loosely transcribed and translated only the first of seven or eight subjects raised by the interviewer. Her response to the remaining ones is equally uninformative.


For your entertainment, I am attaching another translation - this time from a Nonsense Encyclopedia
Translated from:
bezsensopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Bełkot
Nonsense-opia, Humorous Encyclopedia

Life / Marketing Speak or mumbo jumbo talk from Poland? [22]

Oh, well, Poland has a long tradition of "mowa trawa" - lterally "speech grass". According to Mega-dictionary of synonyms and antonyms, megaslownik.pl/slownik/synonimy_antonimy/10110,mowa+trawa

noun mowa trawa
synonyms: gadka szmatka (spiel rag), głodne kawałki (hungry pieces), kit (a putty), pustosłowie (prolixity, bunkum)

According to "SÅ‚ownik slangu", Slang Dictionary,
univ.gda.pl/slang/hasla/m/mowatraw.html
mowa-trawa:
1. Talking about things trivial, irrelevant, or meaningless.Trivial or platitudinous talk, nonsense
2. Exclamation expressing disbelief or doubt. An exclamation of incredulity or disbelief

Perhaps this article will shed more light on "mowa-trawa", a.k.a. "nowo-mowa" (new speech).
Translated from: wroclaw.gazeta.pl/wroclaw/1,41263,2727742.html

Speech-Grass
by bm, 2005-05-24

The greatest achievement of socialist surgery? "A member of the extended arm on the forehead" - laughed the streets mocking the party newspeak.

[Translation:
"członek" = a member, a communist party member. In Polish slang it also mean a penis.
" z ramienia" = on behalf (of the Party), but literally "from the arm"
"na czele", literally "in front of", "leading" but sound like "na czole" = on the forehead]

The authority supported the "zdrowy trzon społeczeństwa" ("healthy core of society") - meaning passive and submissive and the "core" "consolidated the achievements of Polish People's Republic" (here you add whatever you want). The views were divided into "right views" and "ideological subversion" or "the penetration of enemy centers" (those penetrating were dissatisfied with the achievements of Polish People's Republic). Communist Party was "the guiding force of the nation" and its officers were acting "on behalf".

There were no strikes, only a "temporary interruption of work", being the work of "warchołów i popłuczyn reakcji" ("troublemakers and washings from reactionaries.") The ruling party was called "The Workers' Party" (although it has never represented the interests of workers), and mostly dealt with the "construction of socialism" (as in the joke - "In today's meeting we have two points to deal with: the construction of a barn and construction of socialism - says the secretary. - Because we have neither bricks nor wood, we will move to the second point now "). Edward Gierek read at the Seventh Party Congress of Communist Party in 1975 a paper entitled "For further dynamic development of socialist construction, for higher quality of work and living conditions of the nation."

Television was supposed to apply only "positive criticism" and "to strengthen public confidence in the Party and people's power". It also was tasked with education of young people. In this area, it was successful. In winter of year 1975, Wroclaw's teens - inspired by the TV program "Invisible Hand" ("We secretly help the adults") - drained the expensive antifreeze from the city buses.

Language monsters proliferated at an alarming rate in other areas of life. Lamps disappeared, replaced by "wisiska" (hangers? - I never heard this, boletus), sieves turned into "przeciski"(squeezes), and "kapcie" (slippers) were "wsuwki" (pushings?). The nation also learned a definition of sweeping: "shifting layers of material with elastic elements (brush, sweepings)." In the stores more and more goods "luxury" items appeared. A columnist of "Wroclaw's Evening" marveled that he once ate only "popular" products, and now had to switch to "Delicatessen" and "luxurious" items.

Advertisement made use of strange language. They mostly "recommended a range", as in: "Regional Trade Shoe Trade Company, Wroclaw, ul. Åšwidnicka 53, recommends a wide range of footwear, leather goods and furs."

Sometimes they "recommended sales", as in: "Motozbyt at Kamienna Street recommends sales of cars, motorcycles, mopeds."

Advertising announcements often appealed to local patriotism: "Residents of Wroclaw buy furniture in retail stores of Regional Enterprise of Furniture Trade". They sometimes refered to the heroic past: "The history of the company [MPK - BM] is closely connected with the history of the liberated Wroclaw. Our public transport carries annually 282 357 000 passengers. We make 40 820 000 coach-kilometers." A strong argument was the experience related to number of work years - "Wrocław Winery, 17 Wiwulski St, started its wine production in 1949."

Imitation of western slogans sounded awkwardly, but it certainly was better than to dazzle with "wozokilometry" (caoch-kilometers):
"Chcesz wyglądać modnie - uszyj u nas spodnie" ("Do you want to look fashionable - tailor you pants here" - enticed Polmoda (they had their workspops at Jedność Narodowa and Stawowa).

News / Tusk drops Chinese COVEC building the A2 motorway in Poland [83]


That's for:
A1 - 36 km stretch
A4 - 135 km
S19 (near Rzeszów) - 5 km

USA, Canada / Poles in Philadelphia [9]


Well, you are entitled to think whatever you want, but your thinking is taken out of blue sky, not supported by any shred of evidence. I'll start with questioning you: which copy of "Our Lady of Częstochowa" do you have in mind?

Do you mean the original replica, painted by Bolesław Rutkowski, brought from Poland in 1955 and placed in the first "barn" chapel in Doylestown?

Or the one copied by Leonard Torwirt, blessed by Pope John XXIII on Feb. 10, 1962 - and set in the main nave of the church, as a part of a bas-relief depicting the Holy Trinity?

Or maybe the copy inside the replica of the chapel found at the Jasna Góra Shrine in Poland - blessed and signed in Rome by Pope John Paul II in 1980?

The fact is - The REAL Black Madonna of Częstochowa in Poland got her fame and adoration MOSTLY because of her blackness and the scars on her right cheek. And of course because of the various legends - like the one about her miraculous defense of "Jasna Góra" Monastery against Swedes in 17th century.

Whoever decided to transplant the copies of the icon of Mother of God from Częstochowa onto the American soil must have made the conscious decision to import the BLACK icons, not the white ones. They are REPLICAS - meaning similar or identical copies of the original, preserving feature by feature, almost exactly as they are; small variations are acceptable but the major features must be conceptually preserved. In this case - one must paint her face black - or at least dark, but definitely not snow white. And one must keep the scars - exactly as in the original. Well, actually the Torwirt's copy is done in slightly brighter tones than the original. Her robe might also vary - and this is because the original Black Madonna is often being adorned with various robes made of jewelry. There are eight known dresses for the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa. Currently the icon is clothed in the latest amber-diamond robe.

Leonard Torwirt, the author of the second replica for Doylestown, painted altogether 15 replicas of Black Madonna and they are all dark. Why would he ever made an exception for the one in Doylestown?

Bolesław Rutkowski, the author of the first replica for Doylestown, also painted many copies of Our Lady of Częstochowa - all black faced. Here is the one from the church in Podlesie Parish in Katowice: podlesie.net/~parafia/k_kosciol0.html.

The chronicles "The American Czestochowa past", by Father Michael M. Zembrzuski, record the story of the first image of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown:


Translated from: rozancowe-karty.com.pl/modlitwa/matka_boza_czestochowska_10.htm

Farther Zembrzuski exaggerates a bit - B. Rutkowski was not that "famous" but he was well known for his religious paintings, in Częstochowa, across Poland and abroad.


Translated from: poswiatowska.muzeumczestochowa.pl/2007.pdf


translated from: rozancowe-karty.com.pl/modlitwa/matka_boza_czestochowska_10.htm


* Torwirt, not Toweitt as erroneously shown in the source of this quote

polishsite.us/index.php/emigration-and-genealogy/polonia-in-usa/364-american-czestochowa-in-doylestown.html?fontstyle=f-larger


translated from:
/pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Torwirt

• 
  B. Rutkowski's replica of Our Lady of Czêstochowa in Podlesie parish, Katowice, renovated
  
• 
  Leonard Trowirt's copy of the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa - on pilgrimage since 1957
  
• 
  The original Black Madonna, Czêstochowa, Poland
  
• 
  Icon of Madonna in Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Doleystown
  

USA, Canada / Poles in Philadelphia [9]


The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa a.k.a. American Czestochowa, near Doylestown, Pennsylvania houses a reproduction of the Black Madonna icon of Częstochowa, Poland.

Being a reproduction of a Black Madonna, with characteristic two scars on her right cheek, it must be black by design, not because it aged.

There are many theories about Byzantine style European Black Madonnas - all 500 of them - ranging from links to pagan pre-Christian African or Egyptians myths, to natural darkening of icons caused by years of exposition to candles' soot. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Madonna

Devotion to the image of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa in other traditions:


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Madonna_of_Częstochowa
So yes, if those blacks were Haitians, or believers in the African provenance of Black Madonna of Częstochowa, they had their reasons to come to Doylestown.

News / Polish journalist's "show trial" Belarus [40]

^
Interesting article. You may have noticed that I expressed some doubts about Belarusian opposition in the past - see post #18, this thread.

But ... I was about to start shedding the tears of joy when I suddenly came full stop to this little nugget of Mr. Shamir:


When the author was writing those words, he should have already been familiar with this development:


Poland hostile to Belarus? Because it used to be its colonial master? An average citizen in Poland does not give a sh1t about Belarus. What tree did Mr. Shamir fall down on his head? The anti-polonism unabated, of course.

And then this jewel:


Well, mister observer, there is a sizeable minority of Poles (295,000) in Belarus and they are not very happy in Lukashenko paradise. The spat with authorities go there for years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poles_in_Belarus.

On the basis of these few little errors alone I do not consider Mr. Shamir as credible.
Next please.

News / Polish journalist's "show trial" Belarus [40]


.. As opposed to your ZERO documented rambling? :-)
Well, my source is a usual Polish press, Belarusian opposition press - such as Naviny.by, and some international media. But sensing that you would not be satisfied with such suspect sources, I prepared something really neutral for you:

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PUBLIC STATEMENT
17 June 2011 AI Index: EUR 49/015/2011
Belarus: Six months after the Presidential elections clampdown on dissenting voices continues unabated

amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR49/015/2011/en/01b2d9a3-63ea-45cd-8f76-264ddc8d7a44/eur490152011en.pdf

News / Polish journalist's "show trial" Belarus [40]


IMF demands all sort of guarantees and securities that would not make Lukaszenko happy. Russians, on the other hand, have their appetites set on Belarusian assets. But wait, there is yet another contender - China, always happy to oblige - just to put their foot in the door of new, possibly lucrative markets. Maybe this is the source of those mysterious $12 billions Lukaszenko was talking about a week ago.

Let me see.. Googling ... $1 billion already found: June 14, 2011,
reuters.com/article/2011/06/14/belarus-china-loans-idUSLDE75D0X820110614



Because he is a dictator to his own people. Belarus is a police state. For example, trump up charges. One of the Poczobut's buddies was arrested few days ago, on a charge of swearing in public - just to get him away from the Poczobut's trial. They let him go a week later. On his release, he was ironizing that any time a new opposition trial starts, a bunch of "inconvenient" people start misbehaving in public - getting intoxicated, being vulgar - and there are alway convenient militia witnesses nearby to testify in front of a judge.

And he also a hooligan - according to his own former buddies when he was a director of a state farm, he would use his fists to shut down his local opponents. I do not remember the source, I think it was a Polityka's report.

And he is a buffoon - just read again my translation of his own words, post #32.
Or his famous quotes:
"Another street action like that and you will lose your epaulettes," he said, addressing the minister.
money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&Date=20110617&ID=13789146

"When I hit them, it will be too late for them to make a break for the border", wyborcza.pl/1,75248,9798996,Bialorus_sie_sypie__Lukaszenka_wstrzymuje_ wywoz_makulatury.html

News / Lithuanian reality show - lost Polish sponsorship, criticized by Lithuanian Army [20]

^
Delph, let's start with the premise: "Don't judge the book by its cover". We have already established that "Wilnoteka" portal refers to, cites or quotes various Polish sources, and that is - as you said - "remarkably unbiased." I'd like to add that this is a social portal, and as such, it represents opinions of various people, with various political and social orientations. Some of them may even like and quote "Nasz Dziennik", but that should not reflect negatively on some other articles that I found remarkably mature and interesting. In the same vein you cannot judge the orientation of salon24.pl, just because many blogs there are definitely pro-Kaczyński. Many are, some are not.

I am not going to respond to all your comments at post #9. This is because we - you and I - are equally poorly informed about reality of Polish-Lithuanian relations in Lithuania. Yes, repeating what your Lithuanian friends say is not the right way to search for the answers. Your friends may be biased, as it seem obvious from your statement:


And the basic question, which was posted by Grzegorz_ was: I wonder who is working so hard to provoke Polish-Lithuanian conflict?

Before we search for the truth, some background research should be in order. Portal Wilnoteka did a good "backgrounder" job here:

Lithuanian-Polish relations: stalled bilateral work or empty strategic partnership? - a report under this intriguing title was prepared by the Lithuanian Center for the Study of Eastern Europe (English abbreviation EESC). The content of this report, as well as the discussion that arose during its presentation caused lively reactions in Lithuanian and Polish communities in Lithuania. This led us to translate the whole report, as well as large fragments of the discussion, into Polish and publish it in Wilnoteka. Due to its large volume the translation is broken into three parts:

1. EESC report, part 1: wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/raport-eesc-relacje-litwy-i-polski-cz-i
2. EESC report, part 2: wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/raport-eesc-relacje-litwy-i-polski-cz-ii
3. EESC report, part 3: wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/raport-eesc-relacje-litwy-i-polski-cz-iii

The original Lithuanian text can be downloaded here: wilnoteka.lt/files/Raport_EESC_wersja_litewska.pdf

I am reading it now, and I will refrain from further comments on this topic until I am ready. I suggest you do the same. :-)

Mods: this is an off topic message, but it seems important enough for me to post it here anyway to justify my anticipated unresponsiveness. I am an original poster here.

The bottom line is: I'll be off for - possibly - several days. And that's bad because I had collected some interesting Polish-Lithuanian material to be posted here.

But I did it so on my big Hackintosh machine (Standard PC hardware + Mac Snow Leopard operating system). Few hours ago I decided - unfortunately - to upgrade it to the latest 10.6.8 version. Surprise, surprise - the system failed to boot. The good news is - i am not alone, many people were caught by surprise, and this is not a hardware-specific issue. The bad news is - I am clueless what to do next at the moment.

Greetings from my outdated, "no more upgradable" (Power-PC generation), but still working laptop.

News / Lithuanian reality show - lost Polish sponsorship, criticized by Lithuanian Army [20]

Just a quick response, because I have to run now. I will treat one issue a time later.


Yes, it quotes "Nasz Dziennik" - 11 times. But you are too quick to judge:
That site also quotes "Gazeta Wyborcza" - 10 times, TVN24 - 19 times, rp.pl - 30 times, polityka.pl - 4 times, dziennik.pl - 7 times.

What does it prove, delph? Nothing - unless you read a bunch of articles on that portal. As I said - I read few and I liked them. I'll be reading more, then I will have my final judgement. :-)

News / Lithuanian reality show - lost Polish sponsorship, criticized by Lithuanian Army [20]

Sorry delph, but that's absolute simplification. The mutual antagonisms are very deep and widely spread, and they have nothing to do with Sikorski. He just added a bit of fuel to the fire by irritating Lithuanian pride and Lithuanian vanity. My opening post of this thread has nothing to do with political figures but much to do with the very social issues.

I am not personally involved in their problems but after reading some stuff here and there I begin to understand how toxic the social and internal political atmosphere in Lithuania is. Polish government is put in a really awkward position: it should stay neutral in order to negotiate some reasonable international relation with Republic of Lithuania, but it just cannot abandon Polish minority in Lithuania when their rights are violated or when they are treated as second class citizens. But since not much help comes from Poland, no wonder that frustrated Lithuanian Poles recently asked Americans to protect them from their own countrymen.

With big trepidation I started reading newly discovered portal of Poles in Lithuania, wilnoteka . I must say, I am pleasantly surprised: intelligent and balanced articles, good language, interesting information. But thats only in Polish. But stay tuned - there is much to share.

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Genealogy / Vintage Photos of Polish ancestors [144]

[Moved from]: Vintage Poland: Pretty in Polska in b&w photographs (1900-1960)

Interesting gallery of 29 b&w photographs - period 1900-1960, more or less.

life.com/gallery/44831/vintage-poland-pretty-in-polska

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

Today, 2011-06-23, The Economist runs this article: Energy in Poland. Fracking heaven. Other Europeans fear fracking. Poland is steaming ahead.

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News / Lithuanian ambassador 'Poles not loyal citizens' [63]


This is because you do not want to see the obvious. Let me take it slowly, from the MEN site: "Kształcenie integrowane w języku litewskim" = "Integrated Education in the Lithuanian language". Apparently "integrated" means "reading + writing + mathematics". So yes, everything in one - and oh, no! - status horribilis - in Lithuanian. Kids do not study physics in grade one. Reading, writing, mathematics - other than playing and singing.

How do I know that? Because I went to Ausra site, which lists many more details - approved by MEN and translated few things from both Lithuanian and Polish. For example, there is a position:

I. Berneckaitė "Matematikos pratybų sÄ…siuvinis II kl., 2 dalis.
which translates to:
I. Berneckaitė "Mathematics exercise book in grade II. Part 2.
and the Polish part of this entry says:
"Zeszyt ćwiczeń do matematyki do nauczania zintegrowanego w kl. II, cz. 2. Nr zalecenia 196/03."
which translates to:
Mathematics exercise book for integrated teaching, grade II, Part 2. Recommendation No. 196/03.

Yes recommendation # 196/03. Approved by MEN.

And actually, you can get the same detailed list updated from another MEN page, here: konferencje.men.gov.pl/ksztalcenie-ogolne/podreczniki/189 - altogether 23 positions for Lithuanian language textbooks.

Yes, they are terribly unorganized

They list many more positions, other than those basic 23. A big stress is put on geography and nature (biology), with special twist on the local region Puńsk-Suwałki.

Now they go there by grades:
Grade 4-6:
Geography and Nature in Lithuanian language: Budzejko W., Wojciechowski O. - Geografija. Pagrindinei. Mokyklai. Geografia Litwy i regiony Puńsko-Sejneńskiego. Podręcznik do nauczania przyrody i geografii w szkole podstawowej. WSiP S. A.. (328/00).

Gymnasium - Junior High School:
Mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics - dictionaries:

Balytaite M. - Słowniczek polsko-litewski terminów matematycznych dla gimnazjum. AUŠRA Sp. z.o.o.. (323/01).
Misiukoniené M. - Polsko-litewski sÅ‚owniczek terminów biologicznych dla gimnazjum. AUÅ RA Sp. z.o.o.. (152/05).
Bliudžius J. - Lenku-lietuviu kalbu chemijos terminu. Žodynelis. Gimnazijai. Polsko-litewski słowniczek terminów chemicznych dla gimnazjum. AUŠRA Sp. z.o.o.. (389/03).
Pykiené J. - Lenku-lietuviu kalbu fizikos terminu zodynelis gimnazijai. AUÅ RA Sp. z.o.o.. (420/02).
Geography - textbook + dictionary:
Budzeiko W., Wojciechowski O. - Geografija. Gimnazijai. Geografia Litwy i regiony Puńsko-Sejneńskiego. Podręcznik do nauczania przyrody i geografii w gimnazjum. WSiP S. A.. (329/00).

Budzeiko V. - Słowniczek polsko-litewski terminów geograficznych dla gimnazjum. AUŠRA Sp. z.o.o.. (326/01).

Anything below is all about various aspects of Lithuanian language: Orthography, punctuation, culture, rhetoric, communication, history of language and development, spoken and written languages, dialects.

News / Lithuanian ambassador 'Poles not loyal citizens' [63]


Again, do you read posts via some kind of filter? In the last post I listed Lithuanian textbooks, in bold: Religion, Art, History of Lithuania - other than Lithuanian language. How come you did not see it? I also stressed that the first graders are taught mathematics in Lithuanian from Lithuanian books, approved by MEN. And yet, you continue with your "other than Lithuanian lang".

As for the Lithuanian-only High School - let me see, I may dig out something.