Law / Brit/Pol divorce. Husband - British, non resident Poland. Wife - Polish resident, Poland. [10]

Surely those marriages conducted by the Church before they had the right to carry out officially recognised marriages simply aren't valid?

History / Is 5th partition of Poland possible? What kind? How? When? [73]


Indeed. Our Russian troll here may try and convince people otherwise, but this news report from last year about some treaty between Russia and South Ossetia shows it to be absolute tosh.

Focus on the thread, not on other posters

civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=28143

History / Is 5th partition of Poland possible? What kind? How? When? [73]


It seems pretty clear that we have yet another paid Kremlin troll on here, doesn't it?

Russian trolls tend to push the idea of Kresy returning to Poland as a means of dismembering Ukraine and Belarus while also providing a context to seize part of Lithuania.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Normal. The same thing happened throughout Polish history, but what matters is that what started with around 3000 in Wrocław has now swelled to 15,000.


Problem is that society has already made it clear that they support KOD over the government on this one.

I'm just surprised how easy it was for Kaczyński to divide Poles. Talk about doing Putin's dirty work for him!

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

It's exactly the same tactic. As the independent civil service has been destroyed, we can expect jobs to only go to PiS activists in future. Anyone else simply won't be considered - Party membership will become obligatory in order to be hired. Your criminal record will be irrelevant, just so long as you have the correct political loyalties.

The problem is that the longer this goes on, the more damage will be done and the harder it will be to recover from it. Party membership will stop incompetent people from being fired, and because these people will be dependent on the Party to pay their bills, we can expect a swift change back to the pre-1989 mentality that used to dominate Polish life.


Given that it was the first hot day of the year and many people chose to escape the city, it's not a bad turnout at all.

Then again, you have to actually be in Poland to understand that.

Life / I suggest a new Poland with gay marriage with universal recognition/passport etc [36]


It's certainly far more normal than spending hours and hours online every day talking about it.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


He certainly will do something, which is to make sure that no NATO base goes near Poland. Furthermore, the next President is likely to follow exactly the same path.


47% approval? Not bad at all, and not really embarrassing in the slightest, given that a significant part of his disapproval comes from people that would rather Obama was chained up in their fields.

Incidentally, another 15 thousand were on the streets of Wrocław today in defence of Polish democracy. Not bad, not bad at all.

Ah, now we're starting to see the real harassment towards members of the opposition.

It transpires that in Żagań, the leader of the town council and coordinator of KOD in Żagań, has been threatened with being fired from her job in the Labour Office because of alleged misconduct. The case against her is clearly nonsense - one complaint of being rude to a client and two reports of not transferring some files as quickly as possible.

As is becoming normal in Kaczyński's Poland, you can expect to be dismissed from your civil service job if you oppose the government in any way.

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


Yes, we should be highly suspicious of third worlders (especially from South America) that obtain their money from Saudi Arabia coming to Poland, allegedly to "invest" but more likely to be involved in radical terrorism.


Why? Would you like someone to go around demolishing Catholic churches in Ukraine?

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Nice spin, but the reality of Białowieża is that they want their hands on the undiseased trees which are worth a considerable amount on the market. Remember that foresters need to cut wood in order to keep their highly paid (by local standards) jobs.


Can't talk about Washington, but the situation with the horses dying and the devastation of Białowieża has been covered all over Europe.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Oh dear. You really call a couple of quick photographs while Obama more or less lectured to Duda briefly before supper to be any sort of significant meeting? It's well known that Obama told Duda straight that he expected Poland to obey democratic norms if Poland wanted to have a NATO base.


The latest poll shows that Obama is approved by 52% of the electorate and not approved by 45% of the electorate. Like your comments on Poland, you're completely misinformed.

Fortunately, regardless of who wins the Presidency in November - they're likely to have a hostile attitude towards Poland.

Life / I suggest a new Poland with gay marriage with universal recognition/passport etc [36]


I don't define them, the RCC does.


There is no difference. If you proclaim yourself to be Christian, then you could at least follow the rules laid down by the founder of the religion.


The Bible doesn't say anything about Poland, given that Poland didn't exist until 966. Furthermore, what Church of Poland? You seem to be getting your religions mixed up, as it's the Orthodox church that's known as the Church of Poland.

History / Association of Lovers of Lwów and Southeastern Kresy [27]


I haven't made enough trips there, but for example - I've visited Chyrów - it's a small town that used to have a very noted Jesuit school back in the II RP. Even if it became Poland tomorrow, it would take an astronomical amount of money just to get it to the level of a poor Polish town - roads aren't paved, there's no infrastructure, even the local churches are very poor (I visited the local Polish Catholic church and the Bishop of Sanok was in attendance!) - and the same story is repeated across the entire region.

We should encourage Ukraine to open the border as much as possible - put an end to huge bureaucratic requirements at the border, build many more border crossings and so on. There's a lot of things we can do - it just takes political will.

But really, the people are not hostile in the slightest. They might be very proud of Ukraine, but they aren't hostile.

Life / I suggest a new Poland with gay marriage with universal recognition/passport etc [36]


Poland is not anywhere near 98.5% Christian, given that the majority doesn't even meet the minimum obligations of their religion.

History / Association of Lovers of Lwów and Southeastern Kresy [27]


I didn't even mention the Jewish property.

Ironside, ever been to the Ukrainian lands that used to form part of Kresy? I have, and it's not a pretty sight. People are friendly to Polish speakers and there's no hostility there towards Poles, but if rich West Germany still hasn't managed to bring living standards up in the East to the same level as the West, what hope does relatively poor Poland have?

History / Association of Lovers of Lwów and Southeastern Kresy [27]


Like the "recovered territories", then.

Can't imagine many people in Poland would be willing to return to the pre-WW2 state of affairs. L'viv is beautiful in the centre, but a hell of a dump in many other areas. The towns and villages in L'viv oblast aren't even worth discussing - nothing in Poland looks like that, and that's before you even consider many other areas.

Life / I suggest a new Poland with gay marriage with universal recognition/passport etc [36]


Worth pointing out that thousands of people go to gay friendly bars and clubs every weekend without a single incident. These places operate freely and without anyone "frowning" - and a good night is normally had by all. Likewise, plenty of people live their lives freely and without discrimination.

Johnny's never been to Poland, so he simply has no idea how it works in reality.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Nice try, but it's simply not true.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Indeed, the 3rd biggest party in the UK Parliament and on course to win yet another majority in the Scottish Parliament with some predictions of them obtaining over 50% of the vote, which would be a true majority and rarely achieved in Western politics.

News / Visegrad Battle Group under the command of Poland [261]


Nice try, but Albania and Kosovo are so pro-West that it's not even funny. There are American flags all over those two countries!

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


I prefer not to judge people that did it in the face of certain genocide. As history shows, they were indeed subjected to genocide.


I actually wonder if it would have happened. Albanians were heavily, heavily in the majority in Kosovo - something like 81% were Albanian and only 9% were Serbian. They had access to arms through third countries (especially Albania, but not only) and Kosovo would be quite difficult for the Yugoslav Army to operate in. The KLA were certainly capable of doing damage to the Serbs, especially as Milosević had ruined Serbia economically.


I'm pretty sure you would do exactly what the Bosniaks did in Srebrenica.

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


Never?

Your people are circled and you know from previous incidents that the UN are not going to actually protect the "Safe Area". You know that in similar situations, the enemy has committed acts of genocide. Nothing is getting through, and the only way to try and feed people is to fight back. Meanwhile, the enemy is killing your innocents all over the country freely.

In that situation, would you be honourable, or would you do what had to be done?

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


Er...

reuters.com/article/us-bosnia-srebrenica-trial-idUSKCN0SD1IX20151019

But you have to remember the situation - they were facing genocide, they had no means to defend Srebrenica and the only way to survive was to raid these villages. You really have to wonder what the Bosnian Serb game was - they knew fine well that these raids were happening and did nothing to prevent them.

It's easy to take the moral high ground from hundreds of miles away, but in such a situation, I think most normal people would think about protecting their own over any higher ideals and morals.

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


Not in Bosnia, there weren't. The best estimate is around between 1-2000, and they were regarded with hostility/suspicion by the locals and the ARBiH. Given that the ARBiH was really in a poor state, they had no real choice - if they didn't accept them, then the supplies from friendly Muslim countries would have dried up. Given that there was officially an embargo in place (that both the Croats and Serbs could break easily) - it's easy to understand why they were accepted because the Bosniak side simply didn't have any choice.

Worth pointing out that Greeks and Russians were on the side of the Serbs (it's known that the Greek flag was raised over Srebrenica after it fell) and quite a few Catholics on the side of the Croats. A lot of the Croatian war crimes were funded by the Croatian diaspora as well.

As for the local Serbs killed in the villages around Srebrenica, it's not a big secret. The situation in the enclave was dreadful, and these nightly raids were pretty much the only thing keeping the enclave alive. The ARBiH didn't have the capability of breaking out, the Serbs knew that all they had to do was sit tight and let them suffer - and they didn't care that Serb civilians were getting killed.

Kosovo on the other hand was a total mess, and to this day, I have no idea why NATO intervened. The KLA were certainly no better than the Serbs. Can't say I agree with the idea of Kosovan independence when there was no legal basis for it.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Another day, and more costs for the ordinary Pole.

money.pl/gospodarka/wiadomosci/artykul/dziejesienazywo-koniec-darmowych-bankomatow,231,0,2050791.html

Travel / Mexican going to Poland (Katowice). What do I need? [18]


Don't worry, there are plenty of homosexuals teaching in Polish schools too. I'm sure they'll treat you nicely, though, because they're professional enough not to be judgemental to your face about your ridiculous views.

News / Poland -- Europe's only counterweight to Russia [271]


As they've said themselves, it was the result of driving over some debris on the A4.

Never experienced a blow-out?

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


I expected it the minute Macierewicz started insulting the United States. One thing about Americans is that they don't take kindly to being insulted.

UK, Ireland / Getting British Passport issue! Old name. I am Polish by birth and just received my British citizenship. [8]

The Polish government doesn't mind if you have British citizenship, you're simply not allowed to identify yourself to the Polish authorities using the British citizenship. Just get new Polish passports and the problem is solved.

(out of interest, if you have British citizenship confirmed, why don't you just use Polish documents anyway? There's no practical difference...)

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

You'll say anything to defend PiS, won't you?

It's pretty clear in the US media that it's a deliberate snub and that PiS was desperately trying to obtain a meeting between Duda and Obama to give them some legitimacy.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

We aren't so far apart ;)

I'm politically a centrist, and it's pretty obvious that deep relations with NATO (including plenty of NATO troops, planes and ships being stationed here) means that any aggressor is going to know that an attack on Poland is an attack on NATO. Right now, it's still not very clear that NATO would respond, especially if it was a localised invasion (for example, Białystok and Przemyśl) - but a decent NATO presence would soon change things in that respect.