News / "Plebs Out!" Roman Kuźniar, presidential advisor on educational matters talks about uni [14]

Prof. Roman Kuźniar z Instytutu Stosunków Międzynarodowych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego powiedział: "nawet na dobrych uczelniach widzimy ludzi, którzy zdecydowanie nie powinni oglądać uniwersytetu, nawet na wyciecze szkolnej, bo nie spełniają kulturowych i intelektualnych warunków, żeby otrzymać tytuł magistra".

In sum, he said some people shouldn't even think about higher education because they are plebs.

Strangely, back in the mid to late 1980s as a truly hardline Commie lecturer at Warsaw University he happily lowered himself to student level - leaving his wife at home while having a pretty Romanistyka studentka on his arm at student parties. Did he get divorced in the end, does anyone know?

History / People the Soviets planted in Poland [75]

Russian foreign policy has been pretty consistent for centuries. Hence they started preparing for the demise of Communism in the 1980s, just in case.

In Poland they decided to run the underground press and legitimise the anti-system credentials of certain individuals. The byword was credibility. Opposition figures had to look and smell like opposition figures. They also had to be slightly conservative, holding back the more extreme elements and maintaining some sort of cohesion that steered away from rampant populism, which by its very nature is unpredictable and uncontrollable.

In the worst-case scenario of Communist collapse, their medium term goal was to infiltrate the body politic and military and to ensure that bad business practice and corruption delivered: (i) personal benefit (ii) long-term disruption to the administration and economy and (iii) military intelligence.

Longer term, they were to try their utmost to (i) infiltrate EU and especially NATO bodies and (ii) try to sow discord and confusion in EU politics. The byword - credibility. "Of course people in these circles would say this or do that - it's normal isn't it?" - that's the reaction they seek.

Who fits these criteria? Who is in the 21st Century Big Game?

Or perhaps the Russians decided to capitulate their position entirely and say "We lost fair and square!" Does that sound believable? A total and utter volte-face after hundreds of years of subterfuge? Really. Has anyone seen Russia Today run a positive news story about any of Russia's neighbours?

History / Poles embraced Communism at the end of WW2 [8]

There are people around who want to rehabilitate Communism, in an understated way of course.

The fact was that at the end of WW2 Poles overwhelmingly wanted to rebuild Poland. Later on, everyone was affected by the totalitarian regime to a lesser or greater extent. Like it or not. Lives had to be lived - most people just wanted to get on as normally as they could, despite the bizarre situation.

However, it was an illegal regime founded on the threat of violence. The Czechs have acknowledged this in law, and handed back the stolen property. Poland's political elite decided it should stay stolen. The regime's crowning glory came in its last few years, as its elite handled the transition to perfection - keeping their ill-gotten gains.

Now we have people, like the moderators of this forum, doing the final bit of PR work connected with the transition. The villains weren't that bad, and if they were, it all happened a very long time ago and nobody is squeeky clean, are they?

Discuss.