History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


Well, if you wait for the continental drift do run its course, maybe Poland will be part of Western Europe in a few million years. Or Africa... :)

youtube.com/watch?v=hSdlQ8x7cuk

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


Wishful thinking. Most people in Western Europe will probably tell you that everything East of the old Iron Curtain is Siberia - inhabited by dirt poor East European commies... :)

Australia / Meeting Poles in Adelaide [15]


Nice weather, yes, but the city will bore her to death... :)

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


That's where our opinions differ.


If they were so peace loving as you claim, why did Britain and France declare war on Germany? Not because they were the noble "fighters for freedom and democracy", that's for sure.

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


Hm, I thought it was clear that I used Stalin as a synonym for 'USSR'. Obviously not, so let's try again:


I would answer your other points as well, but I'm afraid we are already way off topic and I hate to see a lengthy reply hitting the bin. PM me if you would like to continue.

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


What did I claim? I made no reference whatsoever to religion.


Where did I say they will be elected? What I said is that Le Pen is popular in southern France. You want to deny that?

I'd suggest that you learn some English before you participate in a thread and attack people. :)

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


I disagree. Stalin was able to do just that for a very long time.


They were extremely brutal in the east and on the Balkans, but not nearly as much in the west (except for Jews and resistance fighters, of course). In Vichy France they didn't have to antagonize the population. The people went happily along (well, kind of) with Petain. Or why do you think that the French still have problems to talk about that, and why the south of France is the center of Le Pen’s Front Nationale? There's is a reason for that.


Yeah, especially in France where everyone was a resistance fighter after the war... ;)


Without sufficient supplies they would have been forced to give up or sign a truce sooner or later. Britain had a great air force, but you can only produce so many planes and train so many pilots. If the Germans would have applied the same strategy that Stalin used in the east (sacrificing wave after wave after wave of troops until the enemy is overrun), Britain wouldn't have stood a chance on the long run.


Crying in Washington for a bail out out counts as proof for Churchill's quality of leadership? Granted: Britain was the only country in Europe standing up to Hitler (forget about France), but I don't believe for a second that their motive was noble. Fighting for democracy and the freedom of Poland? Yeah, right. Being afraid to lose their influence in Europe and abroad is more like it.

One more thing: wonder what would have happened to Britain if the Japanese wouldn't have attacked Pearl Harbor.

Genealogy / I am searching for my ancestor grave site on a cementary in Poland [9]

What time frame, which denomination? Before WW1, Kalisz was part of the Russian Empire, not Prussia/Germany. Can't help you with the grave site (there's a good chance that many graves were destroyed after WW2) though, sorry.

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Evangelical_Cemetery_in_Kalisz
galeriawielkopolska.info/cmentarz/index.html

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


You didn't have to be a die hard Nazi or even a friend of Nazi Germany. Installing a puppet regime like Vichy France was enough to keep the population under control for a long time. Even after a German withdrawal, the threat of a repeat invasion would have been sufficient to keep these regimes in line (i.e., acting in the German interest) in my opinion. And don't forget there were other fascist nations in Europe at that time. Franco for example survived until the mid 1970's, which shows that I am probably right with my assumption about long term population control.


Funny though that two nations which are proud to belong to the group of very old democracies are also responsible for most of the wars that were fought in the past three centuries. Not to mention that these two "defenders of freedom and democracy" are also guilty of committing some of the worst atrocities in history. What I'm saying is that claiming to be a democracy or republic doesn't mean much if you are not living up to your own standards. You can still show some pretty sh*tty behavior.

USA, Canada / Do many Polish people in America hate Americans? [592]


Well, not quite if you consider racial segregation in the past and present, and all that comes with it.

USA, Canada / Do many Polish people in America hate Americans? [592]

Until Poland has become rich enough to attract more people.

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


That's a rather romantic view of the good ol' USA...

They didn't attack because it would have cost too much money. They didn't attack because hundreds of thousands of additional fallen soldiers would have destroyed any chance for Truman's reelection and/ or would have eliminated the control of the Republican party over both houses. They didn't attack because the vast majority of Americans didn't (and still doesn't) care what's going on outside their country.


Sorry, I meant "would have eliminated the chance to regain control over both houses from the Republicans."

USA, Canada / Do many Polish people in America hate Americans? [592]


You have no control over that; you've got the Schengen treaty.

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


That's what this whole thread is about... :)


Inconvenient truth: they had plenty of willing helpers in Europe.

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


Forgot to say: what you call "fate of the world" was essentially the fate of the (already crumbling) British and French empires plus the economic position of the US in the world. Remember, Hitler didn't declare war on Britain and France; it was the other way around... :)


The Nazis made one fatal mistake (two, if you count the attack on the USSR itself): instead of slaughtering the people, they should have presented themselves as the liberators from the Stalin regime and gain the support of the population. The war in the east would've been over in no time.

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


No doubt, but please remember that we were talking about a hypothetical different outcome of the war against the USSR. If Nazi Germany would have won against the Russians, it would have been relatively early in the 1940's; probably summer 1942. A victory would have set free millions of battle hardened troops which would have then been available for a major attack against the UK. The occupied hinterland of the USSR would have provided a safe haven for weapon, food and fuel production, leaving the allies without many of their targets - except for the civilians in the west European cities (and we all know what the Americans and Brits did).

Under these circumstances, I'm convinced that Britain wouldn't have stood a chance on the long run to avoid a German invasion or at least a truce. Which in turn would have robbed the Americans of their bases for an attack on Germany.


It wasn't, otherwise they would've done it much earlier in the war. Not only to attack Germany, but to attack their main enemy Japan. The A-bomb on the other hand wasn't available until 1945; so too late if Germany and Britain would have made a truce or even peace with each other. BTW: the "heroic fight for freedom and democracy", which is always used as an argument by the Americans and Brits for their participation in WW2, is a propaganda lie in my eyes. Britain (and France) just wanted to get rid of a European competitor, and when they failed they were once again crying for the help of their colonies to bail them out.

In conclusion: if the Germans would have won against the Russians, Poland and most other countries in the east including large tracts of land in Russia would be German now.

USA, Canada / Emigrate from the USA - the sequence of events [207]


Seriously, what do you expect in the age of corporate personhood?

History / Soviet/Russian Army leaving Poland 1992 [21]


Could it be that Poland has become a member voluntarily? ;)

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


Ha ha ha ... like the Spruce Goose? There was no technology available in 1941/45 that would have allowed a fully loaded American war plane to cross the Atlantic and return home safely.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules


I totally disagree. It was the USSR that won WW2 - with massive financial aid from the USA (in the form of supplies and cash). America won the war against Japan, which also happened to be the end of WW2

History / Polish relation about Russians, Ukrainians? [281]


If Hitler would have subdued the USSR, he would have turned west and either finished the UK or arranged a permanent ceasefire with them. After losing its base close to Germany, the US wouldn't have been able to drop a bomb on Berlin.

USA, Canada / Emigrate from the USA - the sequence of events [207]


Sounds as if you don't know how neighborhoods and communities in the US work. I happen to live in one of the largest metropolitan areas of the country and see neighbors supporting each other on a daily basis. On top of that, people volunteer everywhere - in homeless shelters, schools, hospitals ... you name it. Be honest: how often do you see any of that in Europe?

USA, Canada / Emigrate from the USA - the sequence of events [207]


That's not true, Pip. The US society might cherish youth, money and success, and it might also be characterized by a certain "me, myself and I" attitude, but as soon as someone needs help people will reach out immediately - no questions asked. That's actually one of the things I really admire here in the US.

USA, Canada / Emigrate from the USA - the sequence of events [207]


That the accident wouldn't have happened in the first place if the driver would've had health insurance doesn't count?

USA, Canada / Emigrate from the USA - the sequence of events [207]


That logic is flawed. Just think of contageous diseases for example, or a driver who passes out because - due to a lack of health insurance - a medical condition wasn't treated and he crashes into someone else and kills this individual.

USA, Canada / Emigrate from the USA - the sequence of events [207]


I don't have a problem with car insurance, but I have a problem with being forced to it ... if you know what I mean.

Where are the Republicans when we need them? ;)

USA, Canada / Emigrate from the USA - the sequence of events [207]


But we are on the best way to become one:

- 50+ million people without health insurance
- Medicare and Medicaid as we know it about to be disposed (sooner or later, depending on when the Republicans are back in power)
- Ever increasing costs for healthcare (some plans have yearly rate increases of 20% and more)
- Social Security bankrupt soon
- Public school system in shambles
- Exploding costs for higher education ($ 1 trillion in student loan debt)
- Unemployment rate for the 16 - 25 year olds: approx. 18%
- Decreasing home values
- and so on and so forth

And what's Mitt's idea? Increase the military budget... :)


And who pays for these people? The ones that still have a job. Have you ever asked yourself how much longer that will that be possible given the fact that costs are exploding everywhere (see above)?

Life / Do Polish people like Turkish people? [66]


Let Erdogan continue getting the generals under control and stir up some more trouble amongst the Turks/Kurds abroad as he constantly does ***, and you will have an Islamic republic before you know it. Turkey is just one step (maybe two) away from becoming another Pakistan.


Time to officially accept the Turkish guilt for the Armenian genocide then.

*** Gathering tens of thousands of second and third generation Turks in Germany for example (especially the members of the Ülkücü Gençlik/ Bozkurtlar) and then telling them that they are first and foremost Turkish, that they should NOT integrate and should NOT make an effort to learn the local language before they don't know Turkish.

Travel / Traveling around Poland - our photo stories with very personal commentary [225]


Trying to rewrite history again, Pawian? The Free City of Danzig was NOT part of Poland at that time.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_City_of_Danzig

Study / Times Higher Education rankings 2012 Poland's top universities at end! [93]


You always have the option to skip a grade.

Study / Times Higher Education rankings 2012 Poland's top universities at end! [93]


Especially if you consider that an affluent neighborhood almost always equals a good school district which delivers outstanding education. You just have to be born in the wrong neighborhood to be screwed these days.