News / Candidate for Poland's National Bank NBP chief Glapiński wants repolonisation of banks [60]


More revisionism. In fact, he liked what he saw so much that him and his brother joined Wałęsa's chancellery and took an active part in the post-1989 settlement.

As for PiS being on 37% - you forgot to mention that PO are on 19% and the coalition is on 26%. I make that 45-37 in favour of the opposition.

News / Candidate for Poland's National Bank NBP chief Glapiński wants repolonisation of banks [60]


Strange, because Lech Kaczyński took part in those negotiations.

As for "the little guy" - how could they be when they appointed endless cronies to top jobs, completely ignoring all the apolitical people that were perfectly capable of doing the jobs?

The little guy is now getting screwed worse than ever, because it's been made clear to him that without Party membership, he has no chance of ever running a company under government control.

News / Candidate for Poland's National Bank NBP chief Glapiński wants repolonisation of banks [60]

Polonius, if you honestly cared so much, why aren't you spitting fire over the sheer amount of nepotism that PiS have introduced to the civil service and state-controlled companies?

Surely the "common man" should have an equal chance at becoming the top man without needing to have political affiliations?

News / Candidate for Poland's National Bank NBP chief Glapiński wants repolonisation of banks [60]


What does that matter? Isn't it actually better to have foreign-owned banks taking on the risk and not domestic Polish ones?


Sounds very communist.


You mean PKO BP, Getin Bank and whatever PZU comes up with? They're doing quite fine, from what I can see.


It's a simple slogan used by economic illiterates.

News / Candidate for Poland's National Bank NBP chief Glapiński wants repolonisation of banks [60]


Poland has PKO BP along with the NBP - what more does she need?

Bear in mind that the Polish-controlled SKOKi are in a complete mess financially. Is that really better than having stable, foreign-owned banks?

News / Candidate for Poland's National Bank NBP chief Glapiński wants repolonisation of banks [60]

Would you risk a huge amount of capital in fighting with PKO BP? They have such deep pockets (and such a well known brand) that it would be commercial suicide for any new Polish entrant to take them on in the same way.

Anyway, Poland rather developed the credit union network as opposed to conventional banking. The problems are well known and they should have been regulated better from the very beginning, but they did well enough.

But really, what does it matter who owns the banks? PKO proved beyond all doubt with their last results that a Polish owned bank was still going to screw the customer over to maintain profit margins and that there's nothing patriotic about them.


That's a matter of logistics. Poland developed a lot of good retailers (Empik, Smyk, Alma, Piotr i Pawel) and left the big retailing to foreign companies. You're forgetting that a lot of companies found in shopping malls are actually Polish, as well.

Bear in mind that Poland actually got the best of both worlds - we've got the large hypermarkets, but we've also got a very strong domestic retailing industry and several chains of smaller supermarkets that do very well for themselves.

But you know - one thing to remember is that if you want strong Polish companies, you have to create a business environment that allows them to flourish. PiS are just about the tax the hell out of water use, which will heavily hurt food producers. Poland is quite clearly capable of being a European powerhouse when it comes to food - so why are PiS doing this?

News / Article on the West's propaganda war on Poland - Commies, 'apolitical' KODists, and G. Soros - Oh My [22]


Adrian, if you're going to quote nonsense, at least get your facts right. PiS voted for many of those judges all the same, including the President of the Tribunal Rzepliński.


Adrian, again, you really need to understand Poland better. There are plenty of ex-PZPR members in PiS these days.


It's complete pathology to fire renowned experts from their posts simply because they aren't connected to your party.

There is no propaganda war against Poland. This is entirely the making of PiS and nothing else - and they shouldn't be surprised that they've been getting criticised for it from such a broad section of society.

In reality, PiS are communists masquerading as patriots. It's exactly what the Communists did in the 40's, and anyone that claims to be as well read as you are should see the parallels. You take over the State in the background while enacting populist reforms. The Communists redistributed land, PiS redistributed wealth (500+). While people are stuffing their face with their new found gains, you use your new powers to take control of the judiciary and the security forces. Next elections are a formality.

News / How will BREXIT affect the immigrants in UK and Poland. [1114]


Not only! Gibraltar is voting too and it's not part of the UK :P

News / Candidate for Poland's National Bank NBP chief Glapiński wants repolonisation of banks [60]

Repolonisation of banks is fine and well, but where's the money coming from? It's a non-issue for me - if they want banks in Polish hands, the money has to be found to do it. But bear in mind that the 500+ programme is like a hungry child...

As for the CHF mortgages, it's pretty much clear that this is becoming a complete mess for PiS. Any attempt to force the banks to pay is going to cause carnage in the financial sector, yet the country simply doesn't have the money needed to cover it without destroying the budget.

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]

As per usual with you, you're conveniently ignoring the part where PiS called for the destruction of the Republic repeatedly and constantly, while also mouthing off to anyone that would listen about how Poland was a mess and being destroyed.

Just typical double standards - it's OK for PiS to criticise and insult Poland and Poles, but if that damned Michnik says anything, then he's an enemy!!!!11

Perhaps instead of crying about what he says, it might be better to realise that he has a point.

UK, Ireland / A new mayor in London: opinion of Polish people in the UK? [317]


Until, of course, someone reminds him quietly that America projects considerable power into Europe and beyond through NATO and that it also provides many highly paid jobs for American contractors at the host nation's expense.

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]


You do realise that PiS spent 8 years (and counting, they're still doing it) criticising and insulting Poland?

Still, glad to see that you also admit that they aren't patriots.

By the way, if there was no mandate Ironside, why did the Kaczyński twins legitimise what happened by working under Wałęsa? Ah, that's right, hypocrisy!

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]


Strange. Weren't you the one that refused to accept Professor Gross as a historian because he didn't have a qualification in history?

It always goes back to ethnicity, doesn't it? There must be something about tin foil hats that instantly makes someone rant about Jews online.


Nice try, but while your family were feasting with SB men, he was spending a lot of time in solitary confinement.

I know who the real hero is here.

News / Poland directly threatened by ISIS. Do Islamists planning terrorist attacks in Poland? [390]


Gossip online suggests that it's connected to the recent violence by far right hooligans towards the police after that drug dealer died in police custody. Leaving an explosive on a bus doesn't fit the MO of Muslim terrorists - it's far more likely to be committed by a cowardly "patriot".

Life / Poland is safe to visit - "Daily Mail" [100]


No lies there. If you cared about her, you would've highlighted the real issue - the mental health of teenagers. Instead, you used it to launch yet another bitter attack on Britain.


Not really. It's mostly found on the internet and the people promoting such views tend to stay under the stairs. There are worse things to worry about, such as the rising amount of attacks on foreigners in Poland.


Au contaire, I have several published articles to my name. Never been interested in working in the bureaucratic and ridiculously formal university sector though.

Perhaps you should write something about imagined Polonophobia? You could explore the correlation between wearing a tin foil hat with perceived examples of Polonophobia. I imagine there's a very high correlation.

Life / Poland is safe to visit - "Daily Mail" [100]


The truth is that you couldn't care less about this girl. You only care about using her death to push your own agenda.


I doubt anyone would bother to study the invention of tin-foil hat enthusiasts. No-one would risk their academic career over something so nonsensical.

News / Polish girl, 16, found dead at school after complaints of racist bullying [29]

I see you just can't stop yourself from using the tragic death of this teenager to further your own agenda.

Polonophobia is nothing but an invention of the far-right to justify racism towards others. It's similar to Russophobia, which doesn't exist outside of the Ukrainian city of L'viv and is similarly used to justify racism and military occupations.

News / Polish girl, 16, found dead at school after complaints of racist bullying [29]


I really do despise these North American posters who have no knowledge of Europe trying to use what they learn on the internet to further their thinly-veiled agenda.

I had to deal with a situation in which a kid was bullied very, very badly. It was the worst form of bullying - sly threats made, assaults in changing rooms, etc etc. There was no proof whatsoever - only the word of the bullied kid against the word of the bully. The bully even apparently attempted to stab the victim with some scissors - and all this was in a Polish school. The victim was becoming more and more emotional, and if he'd been older, I wouldn't have been terribly shocked if something bad would have happened to him. The school director ignored it and claimed that the victim was to blame.

News / Polish girl, 16, found dead at school after complaints of racist bullying [29]


Couldn't agree more Roz. He's just jumping on it as an excuse for his usual tin foil hat racism, nothing more. It's disgusting.


You're discussing this tragedy as an excuse to bring up your tired old Polonophobia rants. If you actually cared about this, you'd suggest how things could be improved rather than claiming that it's an example of something that doesn't exist.


It simply doesn't exist, so it would be comparable to taking notes on the science used by anti-vaxxers.

Polonophobia is well documented to be something invented by racists to justify appalling racism towards others. Nothing more, nothing less.


I can understand just fine, and it's pretty clear that there's just speculation as to why she committed suicide. Don't you have any respect whatsoever?


Pretty disgusting that you're attempting to further your own racist agenda by using the suicide of a teenage girl.


Like in Poland, then? The bullying found in schools in Poland can be horrific. You know, I live here and worked in schools, so I have first hand experience of just how bad the Polish bullying culture can be.


You love it, don't you? The girl isn't even buried yet and you're using her to further your racist agenda.

News / Polish girl, 16, found dead at school after complaints of racist bullying [29]


Of course you would. It's a common theme among tin foil hat enthusiasts to use tragic incidents to justify appalling racism.


Raising awareness of what, exactly? You have no idea what happened, only a report in the Daily Wail which is hardly known for journalistic integrity.


There's no need to discuss it because it simply doesn't exist outside the confines of the cupboard under the stairs.

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]


He wasn't. In fact, he spent a considerable amount of time being arrested, beaten up and imprisoned for his opposition to the state. Meanwhile, as I said, your family was feastingwith SB men.


Proven? What are you going on about? He might have been on good terms with people, but that means nothing by itself - in fact, I'd be quite worried if the editor of the largest daily newspaper in Poland wasn't on good terms with people.


Your grandpa was willingly drinking with SB men. Michnik was in prison while they were feasting. Says it all.

Adrian, if you want to attack others, you need to make sure your own house is in order. But don't worry, there's plenty of other hypocritical Poles that attack Michnik today while sucking on the breast of the PZPR at the time.

OK - enough about Michnik, it's time to discuss the latest piece of pure nastiness from PiS.

This time, it concerns the cutting of funding to an NGO that supports children that have been the victim of violence.

wyborcza.pl/1,75398,20097956,fundacja-pomagajaca-dzieciom-bez-dotacji-od-ziobry-jedno-zdanie.html




Meanwhile, we remember how PiS have given 20 million złoty to Rydzyk.

What kind of disgusting government is this? Not only are they cutting money from NGO's that support victims of domestic violence, but now also cutting money from NGO's that support abused children?

News / Polish girl, 16, found dead at school after complaints of racist bullying [29]


You didn't have genuine concerns at all, and it's disgusting that you're using the death of a Polish teenager to further your agenda.

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]


If you're using that logic, then vast swathes of Polish society are also communists. Fortunately, we're more mature here, and don't feel the need to brand people according to the dirty deeds of their families.


So were many other people. Are you suggesting that they're all communists as well?


What does it matter? The fact remains that Michnik was in prison while your family was feasting with SB men during times of food shortages. That's all we need to know.

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]


I never thought you were a commie-apologist, until now.


Keep on rocking those conspiracy theories, Greggy. I'd respect you a lot more if you just admitted that you hate him because you think he's Jewish.

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]


Except he didn't and isn't. While Michnik was busy getting arrested and imprisoned, your family was having nice meetings with SB agents. I think those of us in Poland with a brain can easily see who the hero and who the traitor is here.

But it says a lot that you obsess over his ethnicity (even though by all accounts, he considers himself Polish and nothing else) rather than his actions. Is that the old PZPR anti-semitism coming through again?


Have you noticed the attempts at historical revisionism concerning Kaczyński? It seems that they're trying to build some sort of narrative about his actions before 1990 - even though as we all know, he simply wasn't there.

Michnik had a lot more guts than the average PZPR family that willingly invited Party men round for feasts in the PRL, don't you think?

News / Adam Michnik awarded for integrity, professionalism and high standards. Poland's No. 1 fascist? [321]

[moved from]
Nice interview with Adam Michnik here, and it's worth a read. This quote in particular shows just how Michnik is one of the genuine heroes of Polish society.


wyborcza.pl/politykaekstra/1,152588,20091752,michnik-zobaczylem-druga-twarz-polski.html

He also makes a lot of good points, including that Polish society is not divided into "left" or "right" anymore, but rather "open" and "closed".

News / Why has the US dollar reached almost 3.99 zł in Poland? [56]


Don't forget that it comes at the expense of Polish businesses that cannot profit from very very favourable tax concessions and large amounts of starting capital. You seem to have gone very quiet about this.


Please. There are Polish companies out there that would happily do a lot with the hundreds of millions that Daimler will get.

This is just a continuation of PO-era economics, nothing more - PiS needed a propaganda boost and got it by transferring a large amount of Polish cash to a foreign company.

News / Moody's credit rating of Poland unchanged, but outlook slumps [64]

Care to remind us where the evidence is?

As almost everyone not connected to PiS has pointed out, the "audit" doesn't physically exist. There's no paperwork and no evidence, and the number appears to have been made up on the spot.

Even Morawiecki, normally the voice of reason, has been completely ridiculed for saying in the Sejm that the economy is in ruin while claiming to other news outlets that it's perfectly fine.

News / Why has the US dollar reached almost 3.99 zł in Poland? [56]

It is entirely normal. The problem is that many PiS supporters, Greggy included, were very vocal against such deals being done with foreign corporations. Which is it to be?

It's not even an issue of bribery. It's as simple as offering companies significant tax concessions combined with hard cash to build the facilities in question.

Personally, I'd rather that such "investments" were only permitted in the poorest 4 provinces - Lubelskie, Podlaskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie and Swietokrzyskie. Dolnoslaskie is nearly twice as wealthy as the poorest ones - does it make sense to spend large amounts of cash subsidising more factories there when the poorest provinces are starved of investment?

News / Moody's credit rating of Poland unchanged, but outlook slumps [64]

Poland was considered a decent, honest and reliable partner in both the EU and NATO and was widely considered a regional power.

These days, everyone is laughing at Poland.