Food / Expats' Polish food favourites [140]


And better, I think.

At least, I think so :/

(fond of weak tea)

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Pawian, can you answer me a quick question?

I see that teachers have both "basic" and "average" salaries listed. What's this "average" salary made up of?


The best piece of advice I can give you is to look at the agenda of who is talking to you.

PiS voters can actually be compared to those Labour voters who vote Labour, their fathers voted Labour, their grandfathers voted Labour and their sons will vote Labour - irrespective of policies.

USA, Canada / Polish-Americans as seen in the false mirror. Type A and Type B. [141]


Uh, the behaviour by many Polish Americans, such as yourself, suggest that you do indeed consider yourself to be an ambassador of Poland.

You're certainly great ambassadors for the racism of the 2nd RP and Poland B in general.

History / German Traitor And Polish Pig [96]


Of course. We must do the same to all those racist Poles who also were/are happy to participate in such practices towards minorities.

Incidentally, your racism towards Germans is hilarious - if you'd actually ever visited Poland, you'd know that Germans and Poles live side by side quite happily.

History / What do Poles owe to Russians? [193]


What's even more interesting is that Poles had their own autonomous areas, whereas minorities in Poland were deprived of this.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Quite normal in Poland. Generally speaking, by comparing different sources (and definitely where source material is provided) - you can ascertain the truth. For instance - Gazeta Wyborcza tends to let the leader of PiS hang himself by simply providing the video where he says stupid things.

Truth is, the Prime Minister is simply trying to repair the damage done by the last Government. It's true, he's on good terms with Germany and Russia - but this is simply common sense when you're located at the crossroads of Europe. The last Prime Minister had diabolical relations - probably the worst they'd ever been since WW2.

Selling Polish assets? Well, there has been some privatisation - but the Government has retained strategic shares in many industries, as well as loading the rules against private investors. I don't recall what company it is, but at least one large company is minority-owned by the Government, yet the Government has the majority of votes.

Generally speaking, the key industries are still very much in the vice-grip of the Government while less important ones (couple of banks, an insurance company) are being slowly privatised.

It's worth pointing out that older people in Poland tend to be brainwashed by simple slogans. Many of them spent so long opposing (even passively) that they simply cannot see that Poland is free nowadays - hence why they believe such idiocy like "TUSK IS A RUSSIAN SLAVE" and so on.

Also - PO do threaten many of them, especially the ones who enjoyed quite privileged positions under Communism and who now lost their way in the free market.

One other reason not to vote PiS - their President has publicly declared that anyone who says "the wrong thing" should be punished. What that means, I don't know and don't want to know.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Generally speaking, the current Polish government has kept things going peacefully. They haven't gone as far as many people want them to go (such as slashing miners salaries and closing unprofitable State-owned enterprises), but on the whole, they're doing an OK job. Nothing spectacular or showy, but generally OK.

(they have failed massively in some respects, but the other options are just too scary to think about)

News / U.S., Poland sign military aviation accord [24]

Not important? Serbia is very much in a strategic place between West and East, just like Poland (hence the bloody history) - don't forget who started WWI as well!

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


I think it's been the plan all along - get the outright majority, then (in conjunction with either the PSL or SLD) launch some very savage cuts targeted at "Solidarity" industries. I suspect that things such as the Ciegelski problem will be solved once and for all.

My prediction is that we're going to see some very epic strikes taking place in 2012/2013.


The stuff about a smear campaign is nonsense - what the truth is that Polish journalism is bitterly divided along Party lines, just like the UK. But if you look at PiS' actual record when in Parliament - it has been characterised by petty personal politics and grudges rather than concrete action. They were rather diabolical when in power, and have been awful in opposition.

As a party, they're all mouth and precious little action (except when it comes to abusing power - such as using the security forces to spy on opposition journalists).

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Worth pointing out though, that the PiS model is socialist in terms of being Communist, rather than the social democratic view of the SLD. It's actually amusing how far to the left PiS are when it comes to welfare and suchlike - they'll never admit it, of course.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


PiS in general are the party of anti-semitic idiots who see Jewish conspiracy theories everywhere. Funny thing is, the former President had great personal relations with the Jewish community - but sadly, his brother has chosen to embrace the far-right lunatics rather than clearly reject them.

But pretty much every party is against this Jewish group - I don't think any party actually supports giving them cash. The Polish public are dead against it.

Life / How many Jewish people live in Poland? [145]

I think the rampant nationalism of the 2nd RP had far more to do with it.

Poland was hardly unique in those times.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


I think the most important, and most interesting battle of the election isn't between PO and PiS, but rather between PiS and the PSL.

But yes, almost certainly at the start of 2012, we're going to see some pretty hefty cuts.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


The problem is that this shady Jewish group (who, by no means, represent Jews as a whole) is demanding compensation for land that wasn't even theirs - but rather wanting money "on behalf of them".


The racism, the homophobia, the socialism, the xenophobia, the list goes on. They had their chance, and blew it with petty witchhunts and so on instead of actually governing. Most foreigners in this country are quite, quite happy for Poland to be a regional leader, rather than being laughed at by the world.


I had the fortunate situation in Poznan in the local elections of being able to vote freely, rather than for PO to simply keep PiS out.

But it's true in general - I know a fair few people who voted for Komorowski because he wasn't Kaczynski, rather than for the man.

News / Poland Parliament elections in October 2011 [944]


Sheer incompetence by PiS is to explain that - it seems to me that they've had so many chances to oppose PO, but chose to bring up issues like Smolensk rather than really getting PO where it hurts. Tusk et al must be laughing their heads off - they can do no wrong, and even when their ratings slide, the SLD, not PiS pick up the votes.

With PJN seemingly falling apart and Palikot going nowhere, PO have more or less a clear run.

News / U.S., Poland sign military aviation accord [24]


I'll make it.

America was almost single-handedly responsible for the German economic miracle in the 50's, as well as getting many other European nations back on their feet. If it wasn't for the American presence in West Germany, it would seem unlikely that the country would ever have prospered. Likewise with West Berlin - if it wasn't for the Americans, it would've collapsed.

Radio Free Europe was of immense, immense importance in Eastern Europe too - far more than the BBC, I'm led to believe.

News / U.S., Poland sign military aviation accord [24]


Where?

That sounds like the usual rubbish spouted by Giertych and friends.

Russia is still very interested in her "near abroad" - which is usually understood to mean the former USSR states, excluding the Baltic countries. Poland? It was lost years ago and is of little to no interest to Russia these days.

Perhaps you should look at Russian policy towards Serbia to see how little interest Russia has in many countries these days.

USA, Canada / Polish-Americans as seen in the false mirror. Type A and Type B. [141]

Oh, oh, my favourite topic.

For what it's worth, I can see on PF that Polish-Americans fit into three clear categories - type I, II and III.

Type I is the stereotypical "Polack" - very uptight about Poland, regards themselves as being Polish, claims to be an expert on Poland, blindly supports the rhetoric of parties who "defend Poland" without having much, or any of a clue about what they are - in general, they can be called Plastic Poles with some conviction. This group wouldn't do a thing to defend Poland outside of providing lipservice. This group is almost universally unaware of some aspects of Polish history - and they often throw terms such as "100% PURE POLISH" without much, if any of a clue of how Poland evolved as a nation over the last 1000 years.

This same group is also by far the most racist of the types - despite not actually speaking Polish or ever having lived here. This group is also by far the most aggressive - and often repeat slogans such as "TUSK IS A RUSSIAN TRAITOR" freely. They, unsurprisingly, endorse the Smolensk conspiracy theories and have no issues with bringing such tragic events up to suit their own purposes.

Type II are my favourite group - they can genuinely be called Polish-Americans with pride. They take a keen interest in Poland, they try to visit, they learn at least some of the language and they show great restraint when discussing Polish issues. They certainly don't regard themselves as experts, yet you can tell that many of them would love to live here if they could. The best examples on this forum are Patrycja and Softsong. There are others, of course - but this group - I would happily embrace as being Polish at heart.

Type III are the type who seem to be in complete denial about their own history. They often are the offspring of collaborators in some way, or have rather dubious family histories. They claim to be Polish, but do very little to help - often believing that Poland is in someway far worse than the rest of Europe - usually after being told sob stories from relatives in Poland. Almost universally, they come from Poland B.

Great topic, Antek :)

Life / How many Jewish people live in Poland? [145]


You visit Jewish websites often?


I'd say that while the educated people couldn't care less about Jews (imaginary or real) - the uneducated classes have a huge, bitter grudge against them. As far as I can tell, it seems to be handed down within families.

Life / Theft of a Golden Mug in Poland [24]


Nothing. Like in most countries, it'll be impossible to do much about it - there's no proof that the grandmother didn't agree to it, and if he was coming/going from her place freely, it's going to be very hard to prove that anything was actually stolen.

My advice? Keep out of it. In a small town, it's only going to make matters worse if he tries to solve things the "old fashioned way" - unless he has good friends who will back him up.

Work / WORKING. STUDYING AND DOING BUSINESS IN POLAND AS INTERNATIONAL STUDENT [15]

Realistically, there's nothing that international students can do here, unless they have very specific skills.

No-one is going to hire someone from Nigeria to work part time when Poles are also willing to do the same job. It's not Germany or the UK.

About the only hope he has is to work illegally - and the Straz Graniczna are quite hot on this.

Work / WORKING. STUDYING AND DOING BUSINESS IN POLAND AS INTERNATIONAL STUDENT [15]

Forget it.

History / Polish martyrology during WW2 - today`s monuments [54]

pawian - just wanted to say thank you for not being afraid to talk about Jews in an impartial way. It's really, really nice to see.

Work / Companies and pay for a Native English Teacher in Warsaw? [46]

It does happen, but usually, the work goes to those who can provide an invoice. They're also unlikely to take someone who doesn't have an established track record (with references!) in Poland.

Life / Polish interment practices...cemetary burial. [17]


Pawian, do you know if there's any ability to pay "forever" for a plot?

It seems absolutely dreadful to me, knowing that one day, your grave can be torn up if your family forgets about it.

Love / Do Polish men like to sleep with other men? [79]


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Targowica_Confederation

One of the most shameful incidents in Polish history, I'd say. It was pretty much a response to the liberal (and incredibly good) May 3rd constitution.


Thing is, at least in Poland of 1792, these people were all Polish citizens. But those who had the power sold the country out in exchange for some influence within Russia - an utterly despicable situation.


Generally speaking, in Polish history - it's only in recent times (post-1945) that the peasantry has been acting like idiots. Before that, they were quite decent - it wasn't the peasantry that led the 1st and 2nd RP to disaster, for instance.

For what it's worth, I've never understood why rural Poland likes Jaroslaw Kaczynski - he represents Warsaw in the Sejm, he's urbane elite - really, he has nothing in common with them.

Food / Expats' Polish food favourites [140]


Never understood this - it seems to me that the food itself is just a variation on the typical Northern European diet - meat, potatoes and vegetables, with a heart-attack inducing amount of salt.

I'm still not sure if the flavour in Polish food is due to the quality of the raw ingredients or the salt.

Anyway, Polish food is great in winter, but not so great in summer.

News / Human Trafficking in and from Poland [80]


And will be sent over to Ukraine after that - there's a treaty in place which obliges Ukraine to take them back.

News / Conservative-liberalism (Laissez-faire liberalism), another utopia for Poland? [99]


Uh, plenty of countries do.

Schemes such as "shadow tolling" are very popular.

Travel / Polish trains often get frozen and are overcrowded? :-) [35]


Don't mention that bloody useless portal.

Try and book two "SuperBilet" tickets in advance. You can't do it - you have to book them separately - and of course, the tickets end up not being together.