PolishForums LIVE  /  Archives [3]    
   
Posts by convex  

Joined: 25 Nov 2009 / Male ♂ 		Last Post: 28 Nov 2011
Threads: Total: 20 / In This Archive: 13
Posts: Total: 3928 / In This Archive: 3150 		From: Wroclaw
Speaks Polish?: un poco...wait
Interests: aviation

Displayed posts: 3163 / page 5 of 106
sort: Latest first   Oldest first   |
convex   
11 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

Tusk was clearly trying to show off in front of the cameras

He's an easy target, I don't like him...but...BUT, I think it was a nice gesture. I actually saw it live, thought it was alright.
convex   
11 May 2011
News / Row over status of Poles in Germany sours relations [176]

Ask them.

You know, that one is pretty interesting. When I first came into my addiction to all things Polish, I was living in Germany. I stopped asking people with Polish last names if they were Polish due to the negative responses. Dunno, maybe they've just been beaten down so badly in the new Reich that they became ashamed of their heritage while running businesses and being elected into public office.

So you're saying that Poles are simply paying the price for being hard-working,
law abiding citizens?

No, I'm saying they consider themselves Germans, not Poles. Again, personal experience.

Very interesting indeed, herr Obersturmbannfuhrer Convex.

Neat, just like Erich Kempka! One of those Polish minorities you're talking about...
convex   
11 May 2011
News / Row over status of Poles in Germany sours relations [176]

Last time I checked the Ruhrgebiet and places in Eastern Germany around Berlin weren't in Poland.

How many of those people that you're talking about that have lived in the Ruhrgebiet for the last 150 years consider themselves Polish? Same goes for the communities that are around Berlin. They're Germans with Polish last names...
convex   
11 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

a gesture of goodwill - you are giving me a laugh - to me it is plain showing off - did it matter for Mrs Rice if he addressed her in person or through an interpreter

I thought it was...as an American. Same as when tourists try to speak the local language. It's appreciated. Look at the roars of applause when Reagan threw out a couple of sentences in Russian in Moscow...JFK in Berlin...
convex   
11 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

in my oppinion the self-confidence Mr Tusk shows (or rather shortage of it) about international leaders shows very much what a person he is

I took it as a gesture of goodwill, dunno. Putin speaks English the same way. Kaczynski could have played it cool and spun it in the press, but instead he sits around laughing. Hmm.
convex   
11 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

I could understand him

well, the behaviour of Lech Kaczyński was not very nice I have to admit

That's what I was getting at. I mean, you can follow a platform without embarrassing your country in front of the world..
convex   
11 May 2011
News / Row over status of Poles in Germany sours relations [176]

But while the Polish government honors its duties and does exceptionally well in providing those services

Sorry, gut laugh there.

In particular, Lewicki laments the lack of access in many German states to Polish-language courses for children of Polish descent.

Where is that in the agreement? It makes mention of not blocking access to learn their mother tongue...not a requirement to provide it. Lewicki comes across as a hardcore statist...

BTW, Pieper made those comments while getting the "Polonicus Prize"...

potsdamer-konferenz.de/versoehnung/deutsch_polnischer_nachbarschaftsvertrag.php
convex   
11 May 2011
Life / Why are cars so expensive in Poland ? [23]

I thought Germans flocked to Polish dealerships in border towns because Polish cars were actually cheaper?

The zloty/euro went on a wild ride in 2008 going from 3.25 to 5 in the span of a couple of months. That made car prices (and everything else for that matter) very attractive.
convex   
11 May 2011
News / Grafitti plague in Warsaw [84]

I take boiling, rage-filled exception to mindless tagging and/or primitive scribbling of no merit against the will of the owners.

Here's art for you, tagging walls with graffiti murals. In Wroclaw the columns holding up the interchange by Most Grunwaldzki and the wall by Hala Ludowa comes to mind. You've got these awesome pieces of art, and some assclown comes by and decides to scribble over it. Yay.
convex   
10 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

But it's completely up to them which laws they want to enforce. It costs Norway a cool €200m a year. The Swiss wanted to join Schengen. With regards to having a say, wasn't that what Kaczynski was saying anyway? That Poland doesn't really have much of a say?
convex   
10 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

Members of the EEA have no trade barriers. With regards to the unemployment issue, I tend to disagree with you there.
convex   
10 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

btw don't you believe in a strategy of changing the EU from within - is Poland only a subject of the EU ?? - is not even moaning a way to show other partners that we don't like this or that in the EU (sure there are better strategies if your aim is to change something or stop some change)

Not at all. I think that bureaucracy begets bureaucracy. Either you give up your sovereignty or not.

very round statement - but hmm care to elaborate - btw I don't think Kaczyński has this attitude toward the EU (he is a very reasonable guy in many matters, I even doubt he believes very much in some of his strongests rhetorics)

That's what makes him come across as a populist instead of a leader. Not saying that either one of them are dumb, the populist message just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. But like I said, I'm not a fan of statists, which both of the leading parties are. When you mix in populism with it, a lot of people get turned off.
convex   
10 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

Kaczyński is not an euro-scepthic - he can see the benefits of the EU clearly but can also see dangers in many aspects

I see it more as wanting your cake and eating it too.
convex   
10 May 2011
News / US air base to be in Poland [193]

The US is really pis sing me off. Why cant they go home. If they get attacked their whole military is around the wold. I dont want these clowns in my country.

Than you should tell your politicians to stop requesting US forces.
convex   
10 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

The thing i like about Kaczyński is that he recognizes EU as a joke, every country tugs in their own direction and so should we, the thing i dont like about him is that he says so openly.

Why not make it a plank to leave the EU instead of whining and moaning about it? That would put him into a much more credible position instead of looking like a populist stooge.

yeah I can remember it but vaguely - tbh I don't know why Kaczyński insisted he should go there too - and PO made much fuss and put obstacles (wouldn't give him a plane to fly there) to Kaczyński demanding presence in Brussels - ironically on the day of the flight Tusk's plane broke down and he had to fly on the board of the plane given to Kaczyński

Because he had to things to say to the gathering of PMs and FMs :)
convex   
10 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

oh well Kaczynski is social-conservative. Economically socialist, while ideas conservative :)

That kind of defines PO as well :) ...actually, that does a good job of describing a chunk of Poland.

yes, it would be a very good solution - perhaps the prime minister could go in case of president's illness - now it is an interesting story to find out if the prime minister would be accepted at such a meeting

That's kind of what happens across the world, I would go with FM myself, but hey, I'm not running any countries yet. The German participant for instance was the Chancellor, not the President.
convex   
10 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

well, maybe it is true that he did that because he was pissed off by the article - but IIRC the official reason was some kind of health condition (diarrhoea?)- how do we know that it wasn't that way - because Gazeta Wyborcza instisted?

Right... That's where deputizing those duties come into play.

well, why a debacle actually - if you care to explain

It was with regards to two Polish representatives being at the summit. Remember the one about the financial crisis where Rostowski ended up giving up his seat at the table...

Honestly, both Kaczynski and Tusk are socialists...they're held in about equal light as far as I'm concerned.
convex   
10 May 2011
History / Why did Russia attack Poland in WW2? [178]

Probably pretty well considering that Germany had just began the offensive against Yugoslavia and Greece...and the Soviets had just concluded a non-aggression pact with Japan...
convex   
10 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

Canceling his Weimar Triangle meeting because he got his panties into a twist over an article in a private newspaper would be one. The debacle at the EU summit... But hey, maybe that's just me.
convex   
10 May 2011
News / Do Poles take Kaczynski seriously!? [199]

I think both the haters and the fans are pushed over the edge by the populist cult of personality that was cultivated around them. It becomes a stupid emotional issue rather than a rational one.
convex   
10 May 2011
Polonia / Anyone travelling from Warsaw to New Delhi willing to take some of my belongings (photos)? [30]

For your information: it is even illegal to take something with you on board that belongs to someone else.

You can legally carry someone else's belongings, but you take full responsibility for them (duties, illegal items, etc).

If I understand correctly, you don't trust a courier, but you trust an anonymous person off a forum?
convex   
9 May 2011
News / Grafitti plague in Warsaw [84]

Hear hear! Let art prevail by any means necessary!

Tagging is about as artistic as dogs leaving masterpieces on the sidewalks.
convex   
8 May 2011
News / POLISH COPS TO BREATHALISE CANOE USERS.... [30]

Airplane accidents don't happen that fast.

Which means that it won't be a rescue crew, but rather a hearse. Problem solved.

And uh, most GA aircraft (and indeed most of the big stuff) is flown by hand when it counts.